A holiday slasher, 2001’s Valentine tells the story of five girls and the nosebleed-prone incel who has never forgiven them for not dancing with him in high school….

Well, no, actually, it’s a bit more serious than that.  In high school, dorky Jeremy Melton asked four popular girls to dance with him at the Valentine’s Day dance.  Shelley, Lilly, and Paige rejected him and were rather rude about it.  Kate was polite and promised that maybe she would dance with him later.  Only Dorothy agreed to dance with him but when Dorothy and Jeremy were subsequently discovered making out underneath the bleachers, Dorothy falsely claimed that Jeremy forced himself on her.  School jock Joe beat up Jeremy and humiliated him in front of the entire school.  Jeremy ended up in a reform school and was eventually sent to a mental institution.

Years later, everyone has grown up.  Shelley (Katherine Heigl) is a medical student.  Lily (Jessica Caufiel) is dating an artist named Max (Johnny Whitworth) and having to deal with Max’s angry ex, Ruthie (Heddy Burress).  Dorothy (Jessica Capshaw) is insecure and dating the caddish Campbell (Daniel Cosgrove).  Paige (Denise Richards) is still living her life as if she’s everyone’s favorite mean girl.  And Kate (Marley Shelton) is in an on-and-off again relationship with Adam (David Boreanaz), a recovering alcoholic and writer.  No one is really sure what has happened to Jeremy but when someone starts picking off the members of their group and they start to get morbid Valentines in the mail, everyone starts to wonder if maybe Jeremy has returned.

Of course, this group isn’t going to let the fact that a murderer is stalking them keep them from throwing a big Valentine’s party as Dorothy’s house.  These are extremely stupid people, as you may have guessed.  It’s a bit of an awkward party, largely because everyone is having relationship issues and Ruthie Walker shows up and yells at everyone.  Things get even more awkward when the a killer wearing a cupid’s mask shows up and starts killing everyone at the party.

I always remember Valentine as being a really big deal when it was first released but, when I was doing a little research for this review, I discovered that Valentine was actually considered to be a flop at the box office.  Maybe I just got in into my head that it was some sort of huge success because Valentine was one of those films that used to show up on Showtime constantly.  I think I’ve seen the film’s ending over a hundred times, just while waiting for the next movie to start.

As far as slasher films go, it’s adequate without being particularly memorable.  The killer is creepy but the victims are all so shallow that it’s difficult to have much sympathy for them.  Probably the most interesting thing about this film is that all of the supporting characters are so strange and perverse that it almost feels as if they’ve wondered over from an old giallo film.  This the type of film where everyone’s either an ex-addict or a notorious con artist or an underwear thief.  Undoubtedly, the best supporting character is Ruthie Walker, if just because she’s the only character in the film who is willing to call out everyone on their shallowness.  Unfortunately, Ruthie doesn’t come to a good end but she does get the best death scene in the film and, when it comes to something like Valentine, that has to be considered a triumph.

Anyway, Valentine ends with the set up for a sequel but it never happened.  Valentine’s Day remains an awesome holiday!  Don’t let any killer cupids ruin it for you.