urbanlegend23
02-14-2002, 04:31 AM
Hey guys...Happy Valentines Day! Have a good one over there. I don't think it'll be Valentines Day by the time you get this coz NZ and US are so far behind in time, but anyways, heres my review of...
Valentine
This is a typical teen slasher movie. It delivers where it counts, makes us jump out of our seats on the occasional bump in the score, has girls with big breasts that never care to show them, and overall its one of those movies with the 1 dimensional characters and endless amounts of blood and guts, but, hey, that’s what I expected. Don’t expect too much with Valentine and you’ll probably find it fun enough. I know I did.
The best thing about Valentine is that it takes on a daring new premise and is able to succeed in making us scared quite a lot at times and provides tension and suspense in the atmosphere, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Valentine actually had my muscles very tensed at times and I found a couple of killing sequences right near the end particularly suspenseful. The killings are also very creative and gory, and the camera-tricks used when the killings are been shot are very attractive and impressive, and add to the atmosphere of the movie.
Valentine’s acting is not exactly superior to other teen slashers such as the Scream series or I Know What You Did Last Summer, and we don’t care for the characters an inch because they aren’t developed, but storyline and characters aren’t exactly a big thing with slasher films. Valentine doesn’t actually have bad acting; it just could’ve been improved. Denise Richards plays the typical sexy bad girl, and does it well, although it would be nice to see her try something different. She looks good in a bathing suit, though. David Boreanaz has a lot of on-screen charisma but he doesn’t have enough screen time. Marley Shelton is the head and shoulders of the movie, she is a fairly good horror actress, but unfortunately she can’t anchor an entire film alone. I hate Jessica Cauffiel (from Urban Legends: Final Cut) and never will like her. She overacts horribly. Jessica Capshaw is probably the best actor in the film; she is one of the funniest characters and also one of the most emotional.
Jamie Blanks has proven himself as a good teen horror movie director. He knows how to provide mystery, have good set-ups, direct his cast well, pick neat tools for killings, and overall he impressed me with this movie. His directing in Urban Legend was also impressive. I would actually like to see this director take on something a little more challenging, because he has quite a lot of potential and I don’t want to see him stuck on teen slashers for the rest of his career. He just needs that script with more “oomph” and he’ll be on the road. I do applaud him for always bringing new life to the teen horror genre; first he makes legends scary, and now its Valentine’s Day. Who’d of thought?
I enjoyed this movie. Sure, it had plot holes, some of the deaths are too fast, the characters aren’t developed and we don’t care for them that much (it’s not like I wanted all of them to die, just some of them, but I was keen to see who would survive) and there is zero nudity. Not exactly the best flaws for a for a teen horror. Alas, the slick style, incredibly clever ending (especially for this genre) neat killings, fun premise, fantastic ideas and concepts, cool editing and camera tricks and an awesome atmosphere throughout kept Valentine on its toes for me.
Or maybe it’s just because I saw it on Valentine’s Day.
7/10
Valentine
This is a typical teen slasher movie. It delivers where it counts, makes us jump out of our seats on the occasional bump in the score, has girls with big breasts that never care to show them, and overall its one of those movies with the 1 dimensional characters and endless amounts of blood and guts, but, hey, that’s what I expected. Don’t expect too much with Valentine and you’ll probably find it fun enough. I know I did.
The best thing about Valentine is that it takes on a daring new premise and is able to succeed in making us scared quite a lot at times and provides tension and suspense in the atmosphere, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Valentine actually had my muscles very tensed at times and I found a couple of killing sequences right near the end particularly suspenseful. The killings are also very creative and gory, and the camera-tricks used when the killings are been shot are very attractive and impressive, and add to the atmosphere of the movie.
Valentine’s acting is not exactly superior to other teen slashers such as the Scream series or I Know What You Did Last Summer, and we don’t care for the characters an inch because they aren’t developed, but storyline and characters aren’t exactly a big thing with slasher films. Valentine doesn’t actually have bad acting; it just could’ve been improved. Denise Richards plays the typical sexy bad girl, and does it well, although it would be nice to see her try something different. She looks good in a bathing suit, though. David Boreanaz has a lot of on-screen charisma but he doesn’t have enough screen time. Marley Shelton is the head and shoulders of the movie, she is a fairly good horror actress, but unfortunately she can’t anchor an entire film alone. I hate Jessica Cauffiel (from Urban Legends: Final Cut) and never will like her. She overacts horribly. Jessica Capshaw is probably the best actor in the film; she is one of the funniest characters and also one of the most emotional.
Jamie Blanks has proven himself as a good teen horror movie director. He knows how to provide mystery, have good set-ups, direct his cast well, pick neat tools for killings, and overall he impressed me with this movie. His directing in Urban Legend was also impressive. I would actually like to see this director take on something a little more challenging, because he has quite a lot of potential and I don’t want to see him stuck on teen slashers for the rest of his career. He just needs that script with more “oomph” and he’ll be on the road. I do applaud him for always bringing new life to the teen horror genre; first he makes legends scary, and now its Valentine’s Day. Who’d of thought?
I enjoyed this movie. Sure, it had plot holes, some of the deaths are too fast, the characters aren’t developed and we don’t care for them that much (it’s not like I wanted all of them to die, just some of them, but I was keen to see who would survive) and there is zero nudity. Not exactly the best flaws for a for a teen horror. Alas, the slick style, incredibly clever ending (especially for this genre) neat killings, fun premise, fantastic ideas and concepts, cool editing and camera tricks and an awesome atmosphere throughout kept Valentine on its toes for me.
Or maybe it’s just because I saw it on Valentine’s Day.
7/10