Directed by: George Milhalka Written by: John Beaird Starring: Paul Kelman ... T.J. Hanniger Lori Hallier ... Sarah Neil Affleck ... Axel Palmer Keith Knight ... Hollis Alf Humphreys ... Howard Landers Cynthia Dale ... Patty Helene Udy ... Sylvia Release Date: Theatrical: February 11, 1981 Rating:

A small town called Valentine Bluffs when a man and a woman are together in a coal mine.
While the woman tried to make out with the guy he grabs her and impales her on his pickaxe, killing her.
The villagers are excited about their first Valentine's day dance in twenty years but the mayor opens a chocolate box with a threatening note and a human heart stuffed inside of it.
A local bartender at their local bar called The Cage warns people that their town is cursed on Valentine's day as he tells that the last dance there twenty years ago when seven miners were working underground.
Two supervisors had already finished their work, but anxious to go the party, they left before the other five were safely out. They also failed to check the methane gas levels.
Because of this oversight, a lantern that one of the five men was holding caused a huge explosion and the miners were buried alive.
For six weeks, rescuers tried to find survivors, but they could only reach one, Harry Warden. They found him eating the severed arm of one of his co-workers.
Harry went insane after the accident and spent the next year in a mental hospital. After he was released, he killed the two supervisors with a pickax and cut out their hearts.
He then stuffed them into heart-shaped candy boxes and left them at that year's Valentine's dance with a warning that the town should never again hold a party on the 14th of February.
The story goes that every year on that day, he comes back to town to kill anyone who does not heed his threat.
The people laugh at his story and carry on with the party and then the murders start with the victims being slayed by a pick axe through the heart then the killer puts their hearts in chocolate boxes with more deadly notes.
A group of coal miners decide to have a Valentine party even if the local town is against it and some of them decide to hang out inside the coal mine where one by one they are getting slayed by the killer.

A great slasher film in the same vein as Halloween.
Alot of the scenes are very similar and became a cult classic like other horror flicks such as Sleepaway Camp, Last House on the Left and Demons.
Very effective and creepy.
Rumour has it a sequel will be planned after all these years.
The film is well adored by slasher fans. Worth checking out as it shows a mysterious killer in the film.

For a b-film like this, the acting is not too bad if you enjoyed the same kind of acting like in Sleepaway Camp, Texas Chainsaw Massacre or the first Friday the 13th flick.
Most of the actors remain virtual unknowns like in those slasher films I mentioned as alot of big name actors usually avoid low budget films.
Paul Kelman is probably the best actor in this film as he brings alot of character to the big screen as a nice guy in the film and trying to mend things up with what he has done in the past.
Lori Hallier who plays his girlfriend is another fine cast member in this film showing a true character to her personality.
Neil Affleck is great with his role playing a bad ass in the film making his role mysterious too. He moved on to direct the adult animated series of the Simpsons and Family Guy.

Many gory scenes.
Peoples hearts are stuffed in candy boxes
A pick axe is stabbed in peoples chests and face
A person is eating a cut off arm
An old lady is found dead in a dryer at a Laundromat
A woman is impaled on a shower head
The killers arm is torn off.

The directing is well done and almost meets up to John Carpetner's directing in Halloween. The director is George Milhalka who did the same for the two TV series The Hitchhiker and DaVinci's Inquest as well as MTV's Undressed.
He shows a great beginning with Peter Cowper as Harry Warden and a lustful woman played by Pat Hemingway during their lustful moment befiore he kills her with a pick axe.
We also have great shots of the cast playing the coal miners acting silly and excited about the Valentine party.
There's a perfect dialogue scene between Paul Kelman and Lori Hallier as the two of them try to mend their relationship again. Both of them show nice emotions.
There's great shots on the mysterious killer doing away his victims too.
We also have an effective scene at the party between Kelman and Neil Affleck when they duke it out as it looked very real with their anger towards one another.
There's a great scene invovling actor Alf Humpreys when he tells the locals at the bar about the dangers in Valentine's bluff as that's what we need for a good slasher film as we've seen Crazy Ralph do it in Friday the 13th.
There's another good scene with him planning a prank with a dummy in a shack holding a pick axe as he tries it out and then the killer comes out of the shack and kills him which looks creepy and great for a slasher film.
The shots on the coal mine looked great as it looked like a creepy place for the killer to be doing away his victims.

The music is composed by Paul Zaza who has composed for tons of other motion puictures and TV shows and he totally gives the film that slasher type feel to it like you see in A Nightmare On Elm Street or Halloween. There is also music by some country artists that were unlisted for some reason.

U.S.A.	VHS	DVD
Canada	VHS	DVD
U.K.	DVD
Germany	DVD