By Rick West

My Bloody Valentine: Be Mine 4 Ever! is definitely going to go down as the dark horse maze of Halloween Horror Nights 2009.  While Universal doesn't openly discuss the matter, it seems to us and other fans that Valentine was the last-minute replacement for a Wolfman maze that was likely dropped because of the motion picture's continued release delay.  Theme Park Adventure could be way off on this theory - but since Universal Orlando went ahead with a Wolfman maze and NBC Universal is ALL about synergy, we have a very hard time believing that the Hollywood park would not have had a Wolfman maze like its Floridian counterpart if not for the film's huge push back to February 2010.

Again, we could be all wrong and My Bloody Valentine could have been in the works as a 2009 HHN maze for months and months.  We just never got that vibe from John Murdy or anyone else at Universal, for that matter.  And if there never was a Wolfman maze planned for Uni Hollywood's event - we'd scratch our heads and wonder why the hell not.

Anyway...

Last-minute replacement maze or not, most everyone we talked to seemed a bit skeptical that Uni could pull off an effective Valentine maze.  It was the last to be constructed - and honestly, you'd think a lot would go into designing a maze that half takes place in an abandoned mine.  Personally, I was prepared for it to be absolutely inferior to the likes of Halloween and Saw.  So, when Opening Night came, Theme Park Adventure went into My Bloody Valentine with very, very low expectations.

And we were completely wrong.

My Bloody Valentine: Be Mine 4 Ever! turned out to be a really cool, beautifully-designed maze that delivered a ton of scares and had some fantastic visuals throughout.

If you've never seen either the original or re-make of My Bloody Valentine... first, you need to get your ass to the video store or click over to Netflix and RENT THIS (the original AND the remake - make a night of it, kids).  The 2009 remake of this '80s horror flick was actually really fun and deserves a watch.  Of course, by the time this review makes it to the Internet, most of you will have already BEEN to Halloween Horror Nights; the rest of you will be reading this from wherever you dwell and wish you were in SoCal so you too could experience all of this Halloween goodness!  Regardless, if you haven't seen My Bloody Valentine, do yourself a favor and check it out for an evening of fun and gory killing and blatant boob shots!  It's gross, hilarious and GOOD horror fun!

The maze itself is linear to the 2009 remake, and basically follows the storyline of the film, from the depths of the Hanniger Mine to a seedy motel and back to the Hanniger Mining Company.

One thing that we have learned about HHN's Creative Director, John Murdy, is that he likes his mazes to be linear when it comes to the flow.  He understands that the fans will be more familiar with - and in turn, more responsive to - a correct storyline in which they know what to kind of expect.  My Bloody Valentine is no exception - and it came off beautifully.  John has a keen sense of what will and will not translate well in his mazes.  During one of our chats with John as HHN was coming together, he said that as he watched My Bloody Valentine, he knew right away that it would make a great maze.  And that is the earmark of a truly driven, creative type of individual that is perfect for a gig like Creative Director of a large-scale Halloween event such as HHN.

Entering the maze through the mines was a great way to instantly plunge guests into terror, with lurking miners at every turn, pick axes at the ready!  There are great scares and they are constant.  It's amusing when you're actually HAPPY to find yourself at a seedy motel!

And the motel is everything you'd expect as you walk past the rooms - horny guests making gyrations and comments as you pass.  And for those listening carefully, someone is getting a work-out of the wildest kind in one of the rooms; nice soundtrack!

Back to the Hanniger Mining Company for the last leg of the journey (which seems to be the shortest of the HHN mazes) and more menacing miners at every turn.  The art direction for Valentine was very strong and as a maze, it totally worked on all levels - visually and with characters that everyone understands and is afraid of.

Considering the setting of this story, we feel that Valentine was absolutely the most creative maze at Horror Nights this year.  Props to the design and build teams on pulling this off.  You made believer out of us - and I'm sure, a LOT of people that were really uncertain about this particular maze.  Was My Bloody Valentine the best maze at Halloween Horror Nights?  No.  At least not for us.  But I will say that it was the most pleasant surprise at HHN this year - because we honestly thought it was going to bear the marks of a last-minute project.

And it didn't.  My Bloody Valentine was just as polished as the other Universal mazes.  So that is a good thing.

The talent did just what it was supposed to - and the acting was just fine.  There were great gags to accompany the pop-out scares throughout the maze, including my personal favorite (highlight the dark area for spoiler):

A female victim in the mine shaft has taken a shovel to the face and it's cut her head in half at the mouth.  As you passed, the body would lunge out at you, grabbing "blindly" for your legs, etc.  What a GREAT scare gag!  It actually made me jump a bit - which is a very difficult feat to accomplish!  Good stuff!

My Bloody Valentine: Be Mine 4 Ever! was a wonderful addition to the Halloween Horror Nights line up and we give huge props to all involved!

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