[A BREW TO A KILL] ‘MY BLOODY VALENTINE’ & Moosehead Lager

I am such a sucker for a Slasher film.  Maybe it was the late night viewings on cable that endeared me. Or perhaps the lurid video covers that are tucked deep in the recesses of my brain. But I’m hooked. For life.

The small town of Valentine Bluffs is ready to move forward. A horrible mining accident on Valentine’s night took the life of all the men in the mine, except one. Harry Warden. And exactly one year later he killed the men he deemed responsible. Tearing their hearts out and leaving them at the annual Valentine’s dance. Since then Valentine’s Day hasn’t been celebrated for fear of Harry Warden’s wrath. With the first dance in twenty years looming, people start turning up dead. Has Harry Warden finally returned?

My Bloody Valentine was released at the height of the Slasher craze. After Black Christmas, Halloween, Friday the 13th, New Year’s Evil, and Prom Night, the producers settled on the only day seemingly missing. Paramount Pictures, thinking they had another Friday the 13th on their hands, picked it up immediately for distribution. It did not perform well at the box office, and outside of Don Francks as the Sheriff, had no known actors. So, why is My Bloody Valentine considered a classic?

Shot in a decommissioned mine in Nova Scotia, the movie has an authenticity to it that so few other Slashers did. The mine cart, in real life, was a 30 minute trip one way. For lighting, the crew had to use low wattage bulbs for the build up of methane in the mine. The actors aren’t 30somethings trying to play college or high schoolers. They’re adults with jobs. Most of them went straight to the mine after high school. And after work is done, they drink all night and wake up the next day to do it all over again. And this is what they’ll do until they retire. TJ, the mine owner’s son, recently moved back after trying to make it elsewhere. He didn’t tell anyone where he was going, not even his girlfriend. TJ wanted to make a life outside of the Valentine’s Bluff, something besides life in the mine. And he failed. And had to come back home with his tail tucked between his legs. Heavy stuff for a movie with a body count of at least ten.

In the 1980s makeup artists were constantly trying to one-up each other. My Bloody Valentine was no exception with some stomach churning effects of its own. Unfortunately they were completely removed by the MPAA, even taking the backing soundtrack with them. The filmmakers were so close to the release date they didn’t have time to makes the excised scenes less obvious. In it’s cut form, a few scenes are quite jarring and a bit confusing. Unlike say, the Friday the 13th sequels, one of the producers kept the footage in hopes of restoring the film. With a poor box office performance and Paramount’s refusal to release anything uncut, it seemed  Harry Warden’s work would never see the light of day. Then Hollywood came knocking. Lionsgate bought the rights for a remake and to put out the original on DVD, finally uncut. The fact that My Bloody Valentine is so engrossing, even without its most gruesome bits, says a lot about the work that went into all parts of this movie.

The Moosehead Brewery was founded in Nova Scotia in 1867 by Susannah Oland. It’s Canada’s oldest independently owned brewery. It’s a company that has survived many hardships including two fires. Still owned by a sixth generation Oland, the main brewing facility is in Saint John. Inter-provincial trade barriers kept the company from spreading across Canada. So they set their sights on the United States.

Moosehead Lager, one of many beers brewed by them, is a Pale Lager. That is lighter in color than the tradition German lagers. It has a nice level of carbonation with a just a bit of bitterness from hops. Lagers are refreshing, which makes them perfect after work and summer days. Moosehead has a strong presence in My Bloody Valentine and why shouldn’t it? It adds another layer to the authentic feel of the movie. Small town supporting the independent brewery. That’s how it should be. At least once a year I brush off my copy of My Bloody Valentine and grab a six or twelve pack of Moosehead Lager. Drink up, kid. It’s getting warm.