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Reviews
Valentine (2001)
Never heard of My Bloody Valentine of Terror Train?
This is just a big budget, big studio update of old 80's slashermovies. They used to be made by independent companies with less money, so they had to rely on creativity and talent. Not so here. The plot is stolen from Terror Train (1979, with Jamie Lee Curtis), the title and setting from My Bloody Valentine (1981) and obviously all the Halloweens and Friday the 13ths. It's incredible it took four writers to come up with this mess! At least they could have made the killer look scarier and have a real heroine. Now they have a few nice looking girls, but who are absolute airheads. At least Jamie Lee and Neve Campbell had brains. The ending was especially stupid. So if you're looking for a good slashermovie, better look elsewhere, back to the 80's when they knew how to make them.
Self Defense (1983)
Great underrated thriller.
This is a Canadian movie originally called "Siege", very much in the tradition of John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13." The story is about a police strike in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which paves the way for violence to break loose in the city . When a gay bar is attacked by a group of thugs, one gets away and escapes to an intstitute for disabled young people. This house then comes under the siege of the gang and they must use all their imagination to survive this night. The movie is obviously low budget, but as so often happens, that's just good for the creativity and tone of the film. In Europe, the movie was retitled "Night Warriors", and made it look like this was another Mad Max/Escape From New York clone. But it's just a clever little thriller.