My Bloody Valentine - Uncut Version (1981)

My Bloody Valentine (1981) - Trailer

The producers of the 1981 slasher film My Bloody Valentine had severe problems with the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) before its release. Namely, they requested cuts to the various death scenes in order to obtain an R rating, and even this version initially passed with an X. Various reasons have been cited for the cuts, the major one being the backlash against the violence in the previous year's Friday the 13th. Another reason was the murder of John Lennon two months before the film's release, which caused major negative reaction to violence in media in the wake of his death.

For a long time, it was believed that the uncut version of the film was the Holy Grail for horror fans. Paramount's 2002 DVD only contained the 90-minute theatrical cut, and it would be another seven years before a longer version saw release, when Lionsgate issued a DVD and Blu-ray of the uncut version as part of their deal with Paramount.

Director George Mihalka stated that 9 minutes of cuts were made before release, which caused concern for fans as when the new version was finally released, only two minutes and forty-five seconds of material were added to the film. He later explained that the rest of the footage was exposition that didn't impact the rest of the film and gave his seal of approval stating that this was how the film was meant to be seen. The original negative has either deteriorated beyond repair or has long since disappeared. The footage sourced was from the producer John Dunning's storage facility in Canada; this print was 35mm and the new footage noticeably grainy and in low quality, requiring color correction.

A scene where a character is drowned by forcing his head in a boiling pot is missing a frame, possibly because of damage or loss. One scene in particular, and possibly the most violent, is where a couple gets impaled with a mining drill. Mihalka remembered filming this scene and is quoted as saying:

"There was a scene with the two kids in the mine and they’re joined together forever,” ..... “There was a whole set up scene to that. They’re just necking and Tom’s lying on top of [Harriet] and the miner comes in and puts the [drill bit] through him. She’s got her eyes closed and thinks he’s just being a little frisky. She opens her mouth and her eyes just widen as he bleeds into her mouth. Then the miner goes whoomp! And [skewers] them both. That scene had to be taken out totally. It has disappeared and we’ll never see it.” 

In 2020, Shout! Factory, through their Scream Factory imprint, released a 2-disc Collector's Edition Blu-ray of My Bloody Valentine, with the theatrical version on one disc and the uncut version on the other. Both versions were touted as being 4K remasters, but like the 2009 release, the uncut version ran 93 minutes. One of its bonus features, titled "Holes in the Heart," was a comparison between both versions.

Additional Information

The film's original full running time was 99 minutes; the 2009 and 2020 releases both contain the salvaged 93 minute cut.

Movie Censorship's comparison between the R rated cut and the 2009 release