My Bloody Valentine 3D

My Bloody Valentine 3D is based on the screenplay by John Beaird and story by Stephen Miller. The town of Harmony would like to forget its horrific past. Ten years ago, after a tragic mining accident, Harry Warden awoke from his coma on Valentine's Day—and brutally murdered 22 people with a pickax before being killed himself. Now, after years of peace, there's a killer on the loose, again wearing a miner's mask and brandishing a pickax. Has Harry Warden returned from the dead? (Gary Reber)

Special features include the 2-D and 3-D versions, audio commentary with Director Patrick Lussier and Co-Writer Todd Farmer, two featurettes: Deep Inside My Bloody Valentine (SD 07:18) and Sex, Blood & Screams (SD 05:47), 14 deleted and extended scenes (SD 60:56), the "Tom, Pick, And Harry" alternate ending (SD 01:03), a gag reel, the theatrical trailer, bookmarks, plus MoLog™ BD-Live interactivity and a digital copy of the 2-D standard-definition version of the film.

The 1080p AVC 3-D picture's visual impact is terrific and exhilarating! One expects a horror film to display exaggerated in-your-face 3-D effects, and this certainly delivers in that regard. Normal photography is impressively enhanced, with the exceptional depth-of-field that 3D produces. The resulting realism further enhances the suspension of disbelief. As with all 3-D color-coded releases, color fidelity is seriously deficient, though, blacks retain a deep and solid presence, and shadow depth is visually revealing. Color coding, typically the infamous anaglyph format, uses the red and cyan filter glasses to see 3D (four pairs are provided with this release). The industry has yet to set a standard or standards for advanced home 3D, which will likely embrace the spatial compression and 2D + Metadata methods (see Issue 138, January/February 2009 for an article on 3-D technology). These have the potential to deliver 3-D quality to the home that rivals RealD and IMAX® in theatres. The 2-D version of the film is nicely rendered with excellent contrast, deep blacks, and superb shadow delineation. Colors appear perfectly natural, with accurate fleshtones and warm hues, for an impressive natural look. Resolution also is excellent and reveals fine facial features and textures. While not 3D, dimensionality is excellent. At some point, hopefully, in the very near future, this film will be released in either the spatial compression format (such as SENSIO) or the uncompressed 2D + Metadata format, which then will exhibit accurate color fidelity. Nevertheless, the 3-D version is a real sensual trip that will have you clutching your significant other. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 7.1-channel soundtrack is outstanding! The music score is wonderful and sounds incredibly dimensional, to the extent that the sound floats as if suspended within the soundfield and delivers an exceptionally deep and wide
soundstage that wraps dimensionally into the surrounds. Dialogue sounds perfectly natural, with excellent spatial integration. Sound effects are heard around the soundfield, providing impressive directionalized surround envelopment that will have you squirming in your seat. Bass extension is deep and powerful, with impactful .1 LFE energy. Foley effects are impressive as well. The added side channels dramatically enhance the enveloping soundfield experience. These channels are fully independent of the normal surround channels. This excellent 7.1-channel mix was performed by Brant Biles of Mi Casa Multimedia. Unfortunately, the creative community, the studios, and the equipment manufacturers, have not dictated a spatial loudspeaker setup standard, nor has the DTS® seven-position loudspeaker remapping software been implemented in receivers and processors. This is supposed to allow the end user to tell the processor how his or her 7.1-channel loudspeaker system is positioned in the room. Our preferred 7.1-channel setup is a perfect circle, with each full-range loudspeaker location equidistant from the sweet spot and equidistant from each other along the perimeter of the 360-degree circle, forming six equally defined 60-degree segments relative to the sweet spot. In this arrangement, the added mid-left and mid-right surrounds at 90 degrees convey enhanced surround envelopment, dimensionality, and directionality. This is the case here. When engaged fully with music and atmospheric sound effects, the sonic soundfield is impressive. Sonically, everything works wonderfully, resulting in an impressive 7.1-channel holosonic® experience. (Gary Reber)