Kids These Days Don't Have Valentine's Day Dances Anymore
Happy Valentine’s Day, all! Whether you’re spending it with a partner, with friends, or with just yourself, I’m glad you’re spending at least some of it here with me. Sit back, have your heart-shaped box of chocolates handy, and let’s talk about My Bloody Valentine.
[This post’s charity is the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network, or RAINN. This charity helps people who are stuck in abusive relationships, or have experienced sexual violence or domestic abuse. Please donate or otherwise support this cause if you are able, to help those who aren’t having the most romantic of Valentine’s Days. https://give.rainn.org/a/donate?_ga=2.182707360.768597878.1739569680-311842707.1739569679 ]
Horror is no stranger to holidays. From Black Christmas to Halloween to Leprechaun, horror movies set during holidays are a fine old tradition. However, with most of these movies the holiday itself has little to no impact on the actual story. As discussed in my article about A Christmas Carol, the holiday each movie is set in doesn’t usually matter that much to the plot, other than creating an atmosphere. My Bloody Valentine is an exception to that nebulous rule.
A common, and unfair, criticism often leveled at horror movies and their fans is that they’re unempathetic. The average horror hater, or disregarder, believes that people who watch and enjoy horror movies - which they think are only slashers - do so out of a desire to see their fellow human beings come to harm. If you know one of these people, show them My Bloody Valentine to prove them wrong.
My Bloody Valentine is, as its name would suggest, largely set during Valentine’s Day, which contributes largely to both the story itself and the themes it contains. By choosing to set their film during a holiday based solely around love, the creators of My Bloody Valentine created a horror movie based solely around love. In fact, a good amount of the movie is dedicated to developing the characters, their relationships, and their town. The audience can’t help but love these characters, and their town, from the word go. Even the first murder is extrememly impactful, because of the way the movie is written around both the in habitants of the town and their impending deaths at the same time. My Bloody Valentine cuts open horror’s chest and holds up its bloody heart to show you what horror is meant to be - empathetic. The audiences are not supposed to want these characters to die. If they do, chances are, they’re not watching a good movie. In fact, the empathy inherent in watching a horror movie is a good amount of what makes them scary. The fear the audience feels is the characters’, not their own. They aren’t the ones climbing up that horrible ladder, or exploring those dark mines - the characters are. But the viewers feel that fear anyway, because they have empathy. And My Bloody Valentine, by being set during a holiday about love, raises the empathy stakes even higher by showing you just how much these characters care about each other and Valentine’s Day, while all the while making you excrutiatingly aware of just how much danger they’re in.
My Bloody Valentine isn’t just an extremely empathetic slasher, though. The creators managed to go the extra mile and tie in political and societal commentary about unsafe workplace conditions and incompetent authority figures. The reason Harry Warden comes back to town on a murder spree on Valentine’s Day is because his foremen let their haste to get to the Valentine’s Day dance distract them from doing their jobs properly, leading to the mine exploding and caving in, killing Harry’s crew and forcing him to survive underground, surrounded by his dead friends, for six weeks before he is found. The supervisors’ inability to do their jobs properly leads to the deaths of several innocent people, and they aren’t held accountable for their actions until Harry Warden comes back one year later and kills them himself. Even twenty years after that, when the film is set, teenagers are still working in the mines, and the police chief’s decision to not inform his town of the threat facing it leads to their deaths, as well as the deaths of several other Valentine’s Bluff citizens. He cancels the Valentine’s Day dance, but doesn’t tell anyone why, which causes to the kids deciding to have a party of their own at the mine, which causes their murders.
As well as containing huge amounts of empathy, character building, and social and political commentary, My Bloody Valentine also has an undeniable aesthetic. Set in a coal tinted Canadian mining town, it beautifully contrasts the bright kitsch of Valentine’s Day with the dark atmosphere of the mines, and of the man who has come back to town to ruin it all. From human hearts stuffed inside heart-shaped chocolate boxes, to the dingy welcome sign and its blinking neon heart, to teenagers all dressed up for a Valentine’s party stuck in the dank, twisting tunnels of a coal mine, My Bloody Valentine is a masterclass in how to use a holiday aesthetic to your advantage in a horror movie.
My Bloody Valentine is nothing short of masterful. With a wonderful aesthetic sense, striking commentary on unsafe workplaces and the impact of irresponsible/incompetent authorities, and a story that is, in the end, about people caring for each other and learning what that means to them, My Bloody Valentine is a beautiful classic that is everything a horror movie is supposed to be.
Thanks for reading, all! I hope you enjoyed, and have a happy Valentine’s Day! I’ll see you again on the 28th for some more Fearmongering, so prepare yourselves for some more horror and history. Stay spooky! 🩸