Why leave the horror behind on Halloween? In late 2018, Hulu launched an original horror anthology series, Into the Dark, that took viewers through a night of terror on each holiday. During the second season and trip around the calendar, February brought us My Valentine, a colorful 79 minute horror film that lives on the junction where Black Mirror and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World meet.
Related: Share the Love—and the Terror—This February with Our Horror-Themed Valentine's Day Cards!
When pop star Valentine (Britt Baron) returns to performing for the first time since her break up with her abusive boyfriend and ex-manager, Royal (Benedict Samuel), she gets a shock when she meets his new girlfriend and singer, Trezzure (Anna Lore). Trezzure has not only become a mirror image of Valentine, she's taken the credit and fame for all of her songs. As the three of them are locked in a concert venue after hours, they hash out the tensions of the past and present. And then things take a bloody turn.
Particularly relevant to the current state of affairs in the music industry, this film takes on the horrors of toxic masculinity that so many men in charge adhere to. It unravels the ways in which lesser men often see women—both romantically and professionally—as interchangeable possessions. My Valentine doesn't flinch away from the realities of gaslighting, obsessive codependence, and manipulation, showing Royal as an abuser who takes the parts of women that he likes and alters the rest to his liking. And as Valentine swells with a righteous rage, Trezzure stands by her boyfriend's side, desperate to believe in his promises.
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The film has a monster at the center of the story that doesn't need claws or fangs to terrify. The theatricality of the electropop anthems threaded throughout the film lend the the heightened farce of romance so many abusers rely on. It's all a show, and it's meant to hurt. The bending of truth, perception, and identity in this film takes a realistic issue and cranks the stakes up to a thousand. So long as you don't mind a low budget and visually indulgent film, it's a short flick that is well worth a watch for the message alone.
Check out the trailer for My Valentine below, then stream it exclusively on Hulu.
