A decades-old folk tale surrounding a deranged murderer killing those who celebrate Valentine's Day turns out to be true to legend when a group defies the killer's order and people start turning up dead.
Valentine's Day is coming around and the young people of the small mining town of Valentine's BLuffs are organising a party. A few decades earlier an explosion at the mine trapped six miners underground. One, Harry Warden, survived, though in a deranged state. Warden is sent to a mental hospital but escapes and murders those he deems responsible for the mine accident. Now people are being brutally murdered again, and the townsfolk suspect that it is the work of Harry Warden.Written by
grantss
In an interview with TerrorTrap.com director George Mihalka said that the shooting location at Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia was chosen because of its rustic atmospheric appearance. However when the locals found out that a movie was to be shot there they decided to spend $50,000 to have the mine painted and cleaned! This, of course, diminished the reason that the production wanted the location to begin with. Mihalka said that $75,000 of the film's budget was then used to return the mine to its original state for shooting. See more »
Goofs
When Jessie and Axel are arguing over Sarah beside the car, Jessie points at Axel with his left hand in the long shot, but with his right in the close-up. See more »
Quotes
Howard Landers:
Well, last one into town gets the broom, lets go!
Axel Palmer:
Okay, let's go, guys!
Hollis:
Yee-haw, whoop!
[the miner guys head outside to their cars and Hollace struggles to pull up his pants. Howard kicks him in the butt as they run to a beat-up old Volkswagen]
See more »
Crazy Credits
At the beginning of the rolling credits, you will hear the evil-doer miner (Harry Warden) laugh. See more »
Alternate Versions
The following scenes were trimmed or re-edited to avoid an "X" rating from the MPAA:
Gore was cut from the pre-credits sequence where the woman is pushed backwards onto a pickax.
Mabel's mutilated body was originally on screen for much longer.
In the flashback, Harry Warden is shown cannibalizing a severed arm, in the edited theatrical release, he is simply shown picking the arm up.
The scene where the bartender is playing peek-a-boo with the Harry Warden dummy was edited so that no blood is shown. He was pickaxed up his chin and out his left eye, then dragged along the ground with his eyeball hanging out.
The face-boiling of Dave was shortened so you don't see the after-effects while he is dying.
Graphic head-on shots of Sylvia's shower impalement were deleted.
A stock footage close-up of the miner's light being shown at the camera replaces the bulk of a shot of Hollis' bleeding face after he has been nail-gunned. In the widely-seen release, the scene picks up after Hollis has mostly turned away.
Howard's hanging is shortened. In the original print, he was decapitated. The decapitation was cut out, so it looks like his body just falls, stops short when the end of the wire is reached, sprays blood all over Patty and Sarah, and then resumes falling. Not only do the cuts imposed render the scene senseless, but they also make it so there's no payoff to Hollis' earlier comment that Howard would lose his head if it weren't attached.
The girl killed by the pick ax near the end was edited of all blood.
The flashback of Axel's father being murdered originally showed the miner ripping out his father's heart. In the "R" rated version, all we see is a brief, non-bloody shot of the pick ax going in.
Axel's left arm gets trapped under rocks in the cave-in at the end. He rips it off to get away, leaving his limb behind to horrify everybody else. But since the key footage of the arm removal all had to be removed itself, it is hard to see exactly what happened.
Valentine's Day is coming around and the young people of the small mining town of Valentine's BLuffs are organising a party. A few decades earlier an explosion at the mine trapped six miners underground. One, Harry Warden, survived, though in a deranged state. Warden is sent to a mental hospital but escapes and murders those he deems responsible for the mine accident. Now people are being brutally murdered again, and the townsfolk suspect that it is the work of Harry Warden.
Better than your average slasher-horror, not that this says much. Reasonable set up, and a decent amount of intrigue. Does fall back on many horror clichés, and the performances are so-so. Plot is ultimately fairly formulaic, but has its moments.
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Valentine's Day is coming around and the young people of the small mining town of Valentine's BLuffs are organising a party. A few decades earlier an explosion at the mine trapped six miners underground. One, Harry Warden, survived, though in a deranged state. Warden is sent to a mental hospital but escapes and murders those he deems responsible for the mine accident. Now people are being brutally murdered again, and the townsfolk suspect that it is the work of Harry Warden.
Better than your average slasher-horror, not that this says much. Reasonable set up, and a decent amount of intrigue. Does fall back on many horror clichés, and the performances are so-so. Plot is ultimately fairly formulaic, but has its moments.