Valentine (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Main Menu Audio Dolby Digital Trailer-Canyon Filmographies-Cast & Crew Audio Commentary-Jamie Blanks (Director) Featurette-Club Reel Featurette-Studio Extras Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	92:09
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jamie Blanks
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Denise Richards David Boreanaz Marley Shelton Jessica Capshaw Katherine Heigl
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$34.95	Music	Don Davis

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Valentine is the latest in the steady flow of teen slasher flicks that have been appearing over the last few years. A few others of this genre that come immediately to mind are The Scream Trilogy and Urban Legend/Urban Legends: Final Cut. Valentine was directed by Melbourne's own Jamie Blanks, who made a name for himself in Hollywood when he directed Urban Legend. Blanks initially put his hand up to direct I Know What You Did Last Summer but got beaten to the post, although he did produce a pseudo-trailer for the aforementioned movie that so impressed studio executives that they offered him the chance to direct Urban Legend.

    Valentine continues along the theme of  teen slasher movies of late with plenty of blood and frights to keep you on your toes and looking over your shoulder. Shot in Vancouver, Canada, Valentine tells the story of five school friends now grown up. One by one they start to receive strange cards around Valentine's Day. The cards all bear the same initials and when the girls and the detective get together they all point the finger at a school nerd they knew years ago whom they had all humiliatingly knocked back at the local school dance. From then on in as the girls are killed one by one you are left to work out if is it the school nerd or whether someone else is responsible. Like all good horror films, it throws you a twist towards the end to keep you guessing even longer. Valentine stars Denise Richards (Wild Things), David Boreanaz, (TV's Angel) and Katherine Heigl from the TV show Roswell.

Video

    This is a beautiful looking video transfer, in keeping with the great work we have been seeing from Roadshow as of late. Everything about this transfer looks right, and this transfer is of reference quality.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness of this transfer is excellent with small details being clearly visible. Even blemishes on the actors' faces show up in all their glory. Indeed, this transfer looks better than when I  watched the movie theatrically. Shadow detail is very impressive considering a fair bit of this was shot in the dark. All the requisite details are clearly visible without looking washed out in any way. Low level noise was nonexistent.

    The colours present in this transfer looked amazing. Unsurprisingly, red was a colour that was used quite a bit in this film and it looks spot on. Everything looks vibrant and lively.

    There were no MPEG artefacts seen. Now and again I noticed the odd film to video artefact but they were very rare and should not distract.

    This disc is a dual layered disc but I certainly could not detect a layer change at any point in the movie itself which leads me to believe the layers simply separate the movie and the Special Features.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    This is a fine audio transfer. The soundtrack goes from whisper-quiet to extremely loud in the blink of an eye, adding to the suspense of the film.

    There are two audio tracks on this DVD. The default is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Also present is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 audio commentary track featuring director Jamie Blanks.

    The dialogue was extremely clear and easy to understand at all times. Audio sync was not a problem with this transfer and looked spot on.

    The musical score was used subtly throughout the movie with mainly strings used to heighten the tension when something was about to happen to someone.

    The surround channels were used to place discrete directional effects to the rear of the listener to heighten the suspense and put you in the middle of the soundfield.

    The subwoofer was used to great effect during the movie's many scary moments to heighten the suspense. The bottom end is excellent with intense deep bass coming through loud and clear.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Cast & Crew Biographies

    Biographies of  some of the movie's actors and the director.

Director's Commentary

    Fairly informative commentary by director Jamie Blanks telling us how he was not quite happy with certain bits of the film and a few of the changes that were made. He is fairly open and honest throughout the commentary, which is well worth a listen.

Club Reel

    This is just a music video from the soundtrack. It runs for 2:59 and is Dolby Digital 2.0 encoded. It has an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

Studio Extras

    This is a short making of special which shows some on-location sets. It also contains short interviews with the cast and crew. It runs for 8 minutes, has an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is Dolby Digital 2.0 encoded.

Trailer

    More a teaser than a trailer with a running time of only 40 seconds, it has an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    I also own the Region 1 version of this DVD and both copies are identical content-wise. The Region 4 version looks a hair sharper but it is almost impossible to pick them apart so stick with the Region 4 product.

    I love horror movies, and really enjoyed Valentine. Director Jamie Blanks has already stated this will be his last horror film (for a while anyway) which is a shame because he does them well and I think there is still an audience out there who like to watch them. If you enjoyed Scream and Urban Legend I am sure you will enjoy this movie.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall