After releasing Urban Legend a few months ago, Scream Factory is releasing the next film by Jamie Blanks, Valentine, just in time for the film’s namesake. The film that came in at the tail end of the ‘90s slasher boom, heralding the beginning of the end of this multiplex trend. Scream was by this time on its third installment, and its plethora of wannabes and parodies were starting to fatigue audiences with their half-baked twists that, thanks to this new thing called the internet, were now being spoiled before the films even opened. Catching up with Valentine now almost 20 years after the fact, it’s a real eye opener, since this film, like Urban Legend, was a much more feminist foray into horror. It was a film that I am going to be completely honest and say I didn’t get the first time I saw it on the big screen, because it wasn’t intended for me.
Starring Denise Richards in her horror prime, David Boreanaz fresh off Buffy, Marley Shelton, a pre-Grey’s Anatomy Jessica Capshaw, and Katherine Heigl, Valentine begins its story at the Robert F. Kennedy Middle School Valentine’s Day dance. Geeky Jeremy Melton is striking out with almost every girl at the dance; that is, until he ends up with Dorothy, a heavier, less popular girl. The two are making out under the bleachers when they are caught by the school bullies looking for trouble. Dorothy, too embarrassed to be caught with Jeremy, accuses the boy of sexually assaulting her. The young nerd is then beaten and humiliated in front of the entire school, which in typical horror fashion sets him off on his path of revenge 13 years later during Valentine’s week. We then catch up with the same five girls from that fateful night who are all getting twisted cards signed “JM” and are being dispatched in grizzly fashion by a dark figure with a super creepy Cupid mask. The film throws a couple of really interesting twists in with the standard revenge slasher tropes; that coupled with its fierce female cast might have been a bit too ahead of its time.
As we slowly get to the bottom of the mystery of who is behind the mask, it becomes painfully apparent all the men in the film are basically scumbags. Even for the protagonist Kate, who is setup as the final girl from the get go — her charming ex-boyfriend Adam (David Boreanaz) is an recovering alcoholic with a mean streak. It’s also worth noting Boreanaz’s role here is similar to the male protagonist’s girlfriend role in a traditional slasher, echoing his stint on Buffy. I think that is what sets this film apart, because at its core it’s a group of strong, intelligent women who are trying to navigate this genre with its tropes, which are swapped around for this film. Without getting into too many spoilers, the film also does something interesting and switches gears as the killer goes from simply killing the women who wronged him to also killing the toxic men in their lives as well. This adds a new dynamic to the way these films tend to operate that affects the twist ending that all these films had to have back in the day.
I know when I first saw Valentine I was lukewarm to it, and now I know why: this film wasn’t aimed at post-pubescent teenage males, but female horror fans. Sadly, the female horror fans, like most everyone else in general, had started to tire of these films by the time Valentine opened, and it barely made its money back after both its theatrical and DVD profits were tallied up. The next big trend, J-Horror, was only a few months away with the release of Gore Verbinski’s The Ring, which would dominate the multiplex. Revisiting Valentine now with a little more experience under my belt, it’s a fascinating and much more nuanced story about toxic masculinity than I probably expected at the time or was even ready for. The ending and twist also elevated the film, finding a new way to incorporate the required twist in the third act, but still adding a fresh spin on the formula while still leaving you almost speechless at the end as you mull through what just transpired. It was something I was curious why more folks weren’t talking about it when word hit that it was being re-released by Scream Factory; but now watching it in the proper context, it’s a much more complex film than most probably give it credit for and is definitely due for a reappraisal.
Valentine is presented here in a new 2K scan from the original film elements, supervised and approved by director Jamie Blanks and director of photography Rick Bota. I’m going to be honest here, this transfer was a bit disappointing compared to their previous Urban Legend disc, which was a beautiful looking disc. Here the muted colors and limited contrast don’t hurt Valentine, but it could have looked better. As for extras, even with two weeks of review time I couldn’t cull through all of the stuff here. This is definitely one of the more robust collector’s editions Scream has released in a recent memory, because it really goes out of its way to leave no stone unturned to present a very comprehensive document on this film for both fans and those just stumbling upon the film for the first time. My favorite has to be either the two hours of behind the scenes footage or the deleted scenes that add a double horror whammy to poor Jeremy Melton’s background, as he also catches his mother and an abusive man that probably isn’t his dad having sex before going to the dance.
Check out the full list below:
- NEW 2K Scan Of The Original Film Elements Supervised And Approved By Director Jamie Blanks And Director Of Photography Rick Bota
- NEW Audio Commentary With Director Jamie Blanks And Filmmaker Don Coscarelli, Moderated By Author Peter Bracke
- NEW Thrill Of The Drill — An Interview With Actress Denise Richards
- NEW The Final Girl — An Interview With Actress Marley Shelton
- NEW Shot Through The Heart — An Interview With Actress Jessica Cauffiel
- NEW Writing Valentine — An Interview With Co-writers Gretchen J. Berg And Aaron Harberts
- NEW Editing Valentine– An Interview With Editor Steve Mirkovich
- NEW Scoring Valentine — An Interview With Composer Don Davis
- NEW Almost 2 Hours Of Never-Before-Seen Behind-The-Scenes Footage From Director Jamie Blanks’ Personal Archive
- Audio Commentary With Director Jamie Blanks
- Vintage “Making Of” Featurette Featuring Cast And Crew
- Extended Interviews And Behind-The-Scenes Footage From The Electronic Press Kit
- Deleted Scenes Including Extended Death Scenes
- Music Video
- Teaser Trailer
- Theatrical Trailer
- TV Spots
- Still Gallery
- Hidden Easter Egg
What can I say? Call me a convert. I just loved Valentine. I mean in the weeks since I’ve seen it I keep bringing it up, trying to find someone in my horror circles that shares my new view of the film. Hopefully more will now that this disc is out there and more folks are checking out this unique take on the horror mainstay. As much as some fans probably really just dig the more mainstream horror stuff Scream tends to put out, I am really enjoying this effort to put out more of these underappreciated ‘90s films. For films like this that definitely stumbled on their original release, it gives them another chance to find their way with the horror community.