Valentine

A moderately enjoyable by-the-numbers slasherflick, Valentine is more memorable for incidental characters and details than it is for its central plot or the various twists director Jamie Blanks and his large team of writers inflict on us. Years ago, in sixth grade, causal cruelty by a group of girl friends to an outsider boy had, accidentally, terrible consequences for him... and now someone disguised in a cherub mask is killing them, one after another. Most of them have more or less messy relationships--Kate (Marley Shelton) is dating the charming alcoholic Adam (David Boreanaz) and Dorothy (Jessica Capshaw) has attracted the exploitative conman Campbell; as the bitchy bad girl Paige, Denise Richards has a memorable sexual charisma. All of the performances have enough depth to be readable for subtextual clues as to who the killer really is. Some sequences--the pursuit of Lily through a maze on the walls of which highly sexualised advertising images are flickeringly projected--have an impact which, sustained, would have made for a far more interesting film.

On the DVD: The DVD has a commentary by Jaime Blanks in which he talks frankly about some of the working constraints, a club reel of the song "Opticon" by Orgy, a short behind-the-scenes documentary and subtitles in English, Arabic, Romanian and Bulgarian. The film is presented in a widescreen 2.35:1 visual ratio and has excellent Dolby Sound which ensures that the vigorous dance soundtrack never drowns the snappy dialogue. --Roz Kaveney