Valentine (2001) may be based upon a novel, but its style and execution is clearly building off of Kevin Williamson’s hits in the slasher genre. For director Jamie Blanks Valentine was a follow up to Urban Legend (1998) and finds the director further honing his own take on the slasher film. The script for Valentine may be predictable, but Blanks offers enough camera flourishes to elevate the proceedings.
The most visually striking set piece in Valentine is the whirling arial view of Denise Richards drowning as the Cupid masked killer torments her with a giant drill. The camera spins round and round as it gradually spirals closer to the action. In a film that plays like a slasher genre greatest hits this scene of gratuitous torment is a welcome reprieve. It’s in moments like this that Blanks proves his mettle as a director of horror.
For the most part Valentine copies other more successful slasher movies. The premise is that a boy who was rebuffed by a group of girls at a Junior High Valentine’s Day dance has returned years later to exact his terrible revenge. It doesn’t speak well of Valentine that the entire time I was watching this entry in the slasher movie canon I wished I was watching The Prowler (1981).
There’s a certain nostalgia for these Kevin Williamson imitators and Valentine certainly fits that bill. But even nostalgia isn’t enough to sustain repeat viewings of Valentine. One comes for David Boreanaz’s weirdo performance and leaves because of Boreanaz’s limited range. Maybe if Denise Richards had more campy scenes Valentine would have landed better, but as is it’s a dud.
