Some of the very best slasher movies ever made didn’t come from America, but rather Canada. First was Bob Clark’s Black Christmas, released in 1974, which to this day is thought of as a father of the subgenre nearly as much as John Carpenter’s Halloween. Then, when the slasher was experiencing its post-Halloween and Friday the 13th boom in the early ’80s, Canada gave fans many of the era’s top entries. These included The Burning (a 1981 co-production with the U.S.), Curtains, Happy Birthday to Me (another Canada-U.S. co-production), Prom Night, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, and Terror Train, which was helmed by Canadian British director Roger Spottiswoode, who went on the direct the James Bond adventure Tomorrow Never Dies.
But the best slasher to come from Canada in the ’80s just so happens to be the very best one without Jason (or Pamela) Voorhees, Leatherface, Michael Myers, or Freddy Krueger involved. Specifically, My Bloody Valentine, which without a doubt should have started a franchise. Prom Night did it, and so too should have Valentine.
Before 2009, My Bloody Valentine was only available in a butchered theatrical version, with three minutes of gore footage excised. This significantly diminished the film’s impact, because it has some of the absolute best gory practical effects of the slasher boom. Fortunately, when the 3D remake got the original movie trending once more, Lionsgate put the film out on home media with those three minutes re-inserted.
The gore effects aren’t the only thing that really work in My Bloody Valentine‘s favor, though. It also has a romantic triangle that is well-written (even if it overstays its welcome a bit), it’s a refreshing change to have the primary cast be in their late ’20s or early ’30s as opposed to teens, and much of the acting is better than one might expect from a member of this subgenre.
To a degree, this really does work as a standalone story, and over 40 years later it still functions as such. However, it ends with a surprise killer reveal and that surprise killer slinking off (minus one arm) screaming out a promise for more carnage to come.
Considering that quasi-cliffhanger of an ending and the fact the movie managed to avoid being universally lambasted by critics, one might have assumed that a sequel would have been fast-tracked, not unlike how Friday the 13th Part II came out just one year after Friday the 13th. After all, Prom Night got a sequel even though its ending in no way opened the door for more to come.
So why didn’t it? Unfortunately, it comes down to the simplest reason out there: disappointing financial returns. Friday the 13th netted nearly $60 million against at most $650,000 and Prom Night scored nearly ten times its $1.5 million budget but, as for My Bloody Valentine, it made only $5.7 million against $2.3 million. It’s only in time that the film has found its audience. Oh well, at least we got the remake which, while not nearly as effective, was some fun on the big screen.
Speaking of the remake, it’s somewhat baffling as to why that film never got a sequel. It’s similar to the original in that it ends with the killer still alive but different in that it made $100.7 million against just $14 million.
What makes the lack of a follow-up on My Bloody Valentine 3D even more surprising is the fact that writer Todd Farmer and director Patrick Lussier pitched a script for a sequel to Lionsgate. So, the opportunity to shoot the thing and rush it out and continue capitalizing on the audience’s desire to pay extra for 3D was certainly present.
The reason it wasn’t given a sequel is pretty surprising, too. The film which, again, is a slasher, only received mixed reviews from critics, so Lionsgate didn’t push for a follow-up. This may be the one case in slasher history where, one, money wasn’t the deciding factor on continuing the story and, two, “mixed” reviews were seen as a bad thing. Now that the Avatar era 3D boom has long since concluded, we’ll just have to chalk this one up to a major missed opportunity.
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