Valentine (2001)

"Valentine" is just another insipid slasher flick that tries to capitalize on a holiday. It has a similiar feel to "Prom Night" and doesn't add anything new to the slasher sub-genre, effectively tripping over all of the cliches that the first "Scream" film so politely pointed out. It is clever enough that it includes an element of foreshadowing as to how everyone will die, something that I really appreciate. The casting choices were made be who was pretty and not necessarily for their acting skills, although the film does star Katherine Heigl a few years before she became a household name.


During a junior high dance, a socially awkward boy bravely asks five girls to dance. Three of them are mean and insult him, the fourth politely turns him down, and the fifth accepts. The two soon find themselves making out under the bleachers but when they are discovered by some other kids, the girl screams that he is assualting her. The boy is badly beaten and transfers away from the school soon after. Thirteen years later, after everyone has grown up to be as gorgeous as models, the five five friends begin to pay for their behaviour from that dance that happened so long ago. Some receive cards with threatening messages while one recieves a box of chocolates filled with maggots. And then people start dying; the girls, their boyfriends, police detectives. The movie boils down to trying to figure out who the killer is and if it is indeed the boy from thirteen years ago or someone who is using him as an excuse....