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At a school gathering, high school nerd, young Jeremy Melton (Joel Palmer) is laughed at and
rejected by every girl he invites for a dance, except the chubby Dorothy Wheeler. Shamed by some boys catching them making out, Dorothy accuses Jeremy of forcing himself on
her; for which the guys strip and maul him. He is sent to a reform school.
Thirteen years later, the girls who traumatized Jeremy – they have remained friends and
neighbors – begin to receive threatening Valentine cards and gifts signed JM. They easily conclude, it must be Jeremy Melton. The killing begins. Is it Jeremy? No one can
truly say, not even the police. The killer cleverly hides behind a cupid's mask. He, or maybe she, is also very elusive.
The moviemakers lead viewers to believe, with some certainty, that the masked killer is the
grown up Jeremy. There are leading clues. To keep the suspense, information is added that after reform school, he was sent to the mental hospital. The latest news is that he
has undergone plastic surgery, so no one knows what he looks like now. He could easily be any one of the girls' boyfriends. After all these, the movie ends with a woman behind
the cupid's mask. What happened? What is the explanation? Nothing is quite clear. Could she be some "fall guy"? If so, then the nerd is still around! Although there are some
familiar faces among the cast – Marley Shelton of Sugar and Spice plays Kate who is nice to Jeremy; David Boreanaz who stars as TV's Angel (a spin-off of
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer); and Katherine Heigl of TV's Roswell
– their presence and acting do not make the movie better. Besides, the ensemble cast of so many does not help the story nor the character development of Valentine.
The focus is on the acts of violence. There are six violent deaths, "creatively", viciously
and bloodily perpetrated for the audience to "enjoy". There is some light to medium intensity of sexually suggestive language, some partial nudity and other sadistic actions.
The main visual impact is that of someone gone mad and is on a killing rampage. The movie wants viewers to see the what and the how of this, not necessarily the why.
(Date reviewed: May 18, 2001)
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