Ash J. Williams
08-13-2008, 02:22 AM
I did a search, but I don't really see the point in resurrecting year-dead threads for the purpose of a different topic.
The killer in My Bloody Valentine is horrible.
The film itself is expertly directed, in a class all its own for its genre and time. But the killer really, really ruins it:
For starters, for Axel to have been the killer during the party, the way the film is edited doesn't make sense. There would have to be huge gaps in time to make up for all the costume switching, and there's simply no indication that time is taking place between scenes.
On top of that, while it could be predicted from several factors that Axel was the killer, none of them indicate why, so there's no motive to go on. Also, Axel seems to be totally and utterly off his rocker in the final scene - something that his character simply isn't for the rest of the film. It gets worse, though:
There's another character that would have been a much better killer. So much so, in fact, that I was positive he was behind the mask from the midway point on, and unlike Axel, there's nothing whatsoever to go against the theory...
The mayor. He gets the heart at the beginning, not seeming to know who left it there, and is in the truck alone with the sheriff when he opens it. This would be a great way to warn him and also write himself off as a suspect. There are other moments which indicate the mayor being Harry throughout, such as him completely disappearing from view for the last third of the film.
Beyond that, there would actually be a great motive for the mayor to be posing as Harry. The original murders took place as punishment for the town being too busy partying to care about a horrible accident. When the dance is canceled, the kids indicate that the mayor doesn't want them to have any fun, as if that's something he does often. To think this, they would need prior evidence of it. In the film as it stands, there's nothing to indicate why they would think this.
As a matter of fact, the mayor would have a great reason to "Not let them have any fun," because he would have felt immense personal guilt over letting the tragedy in the mines occur, this being a mining town. By warning them not to have any more Valentines Day dances, he would be ensuring that nothing of the sort would ever happen again, and in thinking this, could understandably have developed an unhealthy obsession with ensuring the public's safety. This could very easily lead to him totally snapping and killing off two or three people in the hopes of stopping any future thought of reinstating the dances. The mayor being the killer isn't only the most logical ending, but also the only one that doesn't have huge plot holes denying it - including the existing ending.
The killer in My Bloody Valentine is horrible.
The film itself is expertly directed, in a class all its own for its genre and time. But the killer really, really ruins it:
For starters, for Axel to have been the killer during the party, the way the film is edited doesn't make sense. There would have to be huge gaps in time to make up for all the costume switching, and there's simply no indication that time is taking place between scenes.
On top of that, while it could be predicted from several factors that Axel was the killer, none of them indicate why, so there's no motive to go on. Also, Axel seems to be totally and utterly off his rocker in the final scene - something that his character simply isn't for the rest of the film. It gets worse, though:
There's another character that would have been a much better killer. So much so, in fact, that I was positive he was behind the mask from the midway point on, and unlike Axel, there's nothing whatsoever to go against the theory...
The mayor. He gets the heart at the beginning, not seeming to know who left it there, and is in the truck alone with the sheriff when he opens it. This would be a great way to warn him and also write himself off as a suspect. There are other moments which indicate the mayor being Harry throughout, such as him completely disappearing from view for the last third of the film.
Beyond that, there would actually be a great motive for the mayor to be posing as Harry. The original murders took place as punishment for the town being too busy partying to care about a horrible accident. When the dance is canceled, the kids indicate that the mayor doesn't want them to have any fun, as if that's something he does often. To think this, they would need prior evidence of it. In the film as it stands, there's nothing to indicate why they would think this.
As a matter of fact, the mayor would have a great reason to "Not let them have any fun," because he would have felt immense personal guilt over letting the tragedy in the mines occur, this being a mining town. By warning them not to have any more Valentines Day dances, he would be ensuring that nothing of the sort would ever happen again, and in thinking this, could understandably have developed an unhealthy obsession with ensuring the public's safety. This could very easily lead to him totally snapping and killing off two or three people in the hopes of stopping any future thought of reinstating the dances. The mayor being the killer isn't only the most logical ending, but also the only one that doesn't have huge plot holes denying it - including the existing ending.