Genre fans were finally rewarded for all their dedication to a 1981 cult classic when My Bloody Valentine 3D hit theaters earlier this year. Now available on DVD, the cult lives on with a 2-Disc Special Edition release (Lionsgate; MSRP: $34.98) that features both the 2-D and 3-D versions of the film.

“There are some very special reasons to owning the DVD,” said director Patrick Lussier. “The Special Edition DVD comes with four pairs of 3-D glasses; audio commentary provided by myself and co-writer Todd Farmer; two featurettes--‘Deep Inside My Bloody Valentine,’ which is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, and ‘Sex, Blood, and Screams,’ which reveals the special effect makeup used within the film by the makeup artist; deleted scenes; and a gag reel.”

The original My Bloody Valentine created a lasting impression back in the early ’80s, standing head and shoulders above most of the trash released in the wake of the original Halloween and Friday the 13th. The 2009 remake improved on the original horror classic by adding the 3-D format.

“The basic case for getting the green light for the remake was 3-D,” Lussier recalled. “But for actually making the film, Mike Paseornek from Lionsgate had worked as an executive on the original film and had always loved it and loved the killer in it and loved the setting; I guess for 20-some years he had kept it in his mind that it would be great to revisit it if he ever had an opportunity to do so. Events transpired that allowed Lionsgate to acquire the rights, and at the time I was working with [Paseornek] on another project, and he came and approached me and asked me if I’d be interested in doing the updating. Then they talked to Zane [Smith] and Todd [Farmer] about creating the script.”

Even in 2-D, viewers can pick up most of the 3-D effects featured in the film since Lussier uses the gimmick in a fun, unique way. Of course, there is the expected pickax and numerous gun barrels coming at the screen, but the opening credits with the newspaper headlines have that 3-D appearance as well. Viewers should also watch for a clever bit with a shovel. It is easy to see that the strength of this movie is that even with one dimension short of a full 3-D experience, the filmmakers still milk the gimmick for all it’s worth.

The plot of the movie is that once upon a time there was a mine accident, and Harry Warden (Richard John Walters) went a bit crazy and started killing people (the body count by the end of the title credits might be a record for one guy using something other than a gun as a weapon). Then audiences jump ahead 10 years where viewers meet up with the kids who got away. First there’s Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles), the son of the owner of the mine, who was responsible for the original cave-in. His old flame Sarah (Jaime King) has married Axel Palmer (Kerr Smith), who is now the sheriff of the town, while Irene (Betsy Rue), Axel's date on the fateful night way back when, has become the local party girl. Also in the mix is the former Sheriff Burke (Tom Atkins), his deputy (Edi Gathegi) and Ben Foley (Kevin Tighe), who manages the mine. Then there is Megan (Megan Boone), one of those sweet young things who is just begging to be one of the victims. Let the mayhem begin.

“It should be noted that the 3-D effects were accomplished by CGI,” stated Lussier. “The film itself was very safe, considering the world of 3-D. The thing we had to be careful of was going underground. We all had to go to safety class before we could enter the cave. We all had to wear hard hats and things like that, and we had to know all the safety rules. Of course, the instructors had to tell you their stories, like, ‘Yeah, we were in here one day and we were just chatting away and suddenly this piece of the ceiling came down and cut my friend’s nose off.’ Truth is stranger than fiction, as they say.”

The filmmakers never thought about building a set for the film, as they wanted the actual nuances that only a real cave can provide. In doing so, it put a lot of demands on the director with the 3-D format.

“Horror films don’t need a lot of light. However, this film needed much, much more light,” stated Lussier. “Lighting was the biggest albatross. It is unbelievable how much light we needed for this film, which also created a lot of heat, which is great shooting underground where it’s constantly 55 degrees.”

Every scene of the film was carefully planned in advance, and the movie was originally released in theaters as a director’s cut, “which I am very proud of,” said Lussier. “This means that this DVD release provides no alternate endings, but there are variations on themes of the ending. There are the different ways it kind of could have gone in its final moment. The [version] we have in the film we actually came up with while we were shooting the final sequence, and it was very clear that was the way to go. When we had talked to the studio, though, they were like, ‘Well, please shoot what was originally written,’ so that’s how the alternates came to be. It wasn’t because we didn’t know what we wanted. We knew what we wanted the second we thought of it, but because these other things existed, they were like, ‘Please protect us in case this doesn’t work as well as you think it does.’ However, the second we shot it, we knew, ‘Oh, yeah. That’s so it.’ It was very clear. We were proud of what we did.”

Pick up My Bloody Valentine 3D on DVD today and you’ll be proud you did. Only, don’t watch it alone.

My Bloody Valentine 3D is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.