Review of Valentine

Introduction

Remember that kid everyone ignored and picked on on Valentine`s Day? He`s all grown up and remembers you. Great, another scary teen movie. I knew nothing about this except that it starred Denise Richards and I wanted to see it because she`s the `pull` for me. :-)

Video

The anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer to DVD is flawless, from what I could see it`s reference quality in fact. It`s something which definitely stands out a mile when you play it for the first time. There are some great locations and this adds to the polished look of the film. No signs of compression or artifacting were noticable and the print is crisp and very sharp for NTSC. The colours were vibrant and very well reproduced with solid blacks in the right places.

Audio

There`s good use of music and sound throughout. The surround sound is effective in places where needed and adds atmosphere. There`s a gallery and party scene with good music and this comes through all the speakers well. The soundtrack is something I would look into listening to, featuring Marilyn Manson, Deftones, Electrostatic, Rob Zombie, DJ Sonic, Orgy and more.

Features

Valentine features static menus and transitions with little sound. Special Features extend to short text bio`s of Cast & Crew, Director Commentary, Club Reel (film clip cut to music), Studio Extras (Behind the Scenes) and Trailer. The Club Reel is nothing more than the film cut together to the music of Orgy`s `Opticon` track. This is a fantastic track, the Club Reel though is not a proper music video so I wasn`t impressed. Studio Extras is an eight minute featurette which is a typical movie promo and then there`s the trailer which is quite a good tease.

Listening to the Director Commentary all the way through was partly interesting. Jamie Blanks however seems to contradict himself in a number of places which I found tiring. I think he was appeasing Hollywood by not speaking constructively about the films poor points. He talks of the shots he used and of other things surrounding the film and some of it is interesting.

Conclusion

Good looking cast, excellent video transfer, but unfortunately nothing new. It`s predictable and the story has holes in it which I found to be annoying. Upon listening to the Director Commentary I found it frustrating that there was little if no mention of any problems with the story. He just laughs things off. I enjoy all kinds of films and I like goofy/silly things as much as anyone, but Valentine was just plain tiring. I wouldn`t recommend this movie as something to buy and cherish. There are a few scenes in the film which I find very funny however, but not enough to make Valentine a required purchase.

The one thing I did like about the film was the soundtrack and this is something I`d like to get my hands on since I enjoyed the music. Rent it if you have nothing else to do, or if you`re a Denise Richards fan.