Valentine | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Jamie Blanks |
Produced by | Dylan Sellers |
Written by |
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Based on |
Valentine by Tom Savage |
Starring | |
Music by | Don Davis |
Cinematography | Rick Bota |
Edited by | Steve Mirkovich |
Production
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Distributed by | |
Release date
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Running time
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96 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $10 million |
Box office | $36.7 million |
Valentine is a 2001 American slasher film directed by Jamie Blanks, and starring Denise Richards, David Boreanaz, Marley Shelton, Jessica Capshaw, and Katherine Heigl. Loosely based on the novel of the same name by Tom Savage, the film follows a group of women in San Francisco who are stalked by a man whom they tormented during their childhood.
Release theatrically in February 2001, the film received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising its performances and cinematography, and others criticizing its conclusion and deeming it too redolent of 1980s horror films. In spite of the mixed critical response, the film was a box office success, earning a total of USD$36.7 million.
At a junior high school St. Valentine's Day dance in 1988, Jeremy Melton, an outcast student, asks four popular girls to dance. Three girls, Shelley, Lily and Paige reject him cruelly, while the fourth girl, Kate, politely turns down his offer. Their overweight friend Dorothy accepts Jeremy's invitation and they proceed to secretly make out underneath the bleachers. When Joe Tulga and his friends discover the pair, Dorothy claims that Jeremy sexually assaulted her, causing the boys to publicly strip and severely beat him, and his nose starts bleeding under the distress.
Thirteen years later, Shelley, now a medical student at UCLA, is at the morgue one evening studying on a cadaver. After receiving a vulgar Valentine's card in her locker, she is attacked by a man in a trench coat and Cupid mask. She is cornered in a cooler used to store cadavers, where she attempts to hide in a body bag, but has her throat slit by the killer. The killer's nose is seen to bleed as he performs the act.
Kate, Paige, Lily, and Dorothy attend Shelley's funeral, and admit to not having seen her in some time after her move from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Kate and Paige receive cards in the same fashion as Shelley after her funeral. Dorothy who is now much thinner, receives a card which reads "Roses are red, Violets are blue, They'll need dental records to identify you". Her boyfriend, Campbell, loses his apartment and stays with her. Lily receives a box of chocolates and a card which says "You are what you eat". She then takes a bite of one of the chocolates, and vomits upon realizing that there are maggots inside of it.