Designated Hero: TJ, he's a flakey jerk who stalks his ex-girlfriend Sarah and doesn't care that she's moved on to Axel. Probably why he's the killer instead in the remake.
Fridge Logic: Axel chopping off his arm at the end is presented as a Life-or-Limb Decision and provides a Sequel Hook.... except with no way to stop the bleeding he would be dead anyway. Given that the plans for a sequel fell through, it's possible that he just bled out and died in the mines.
Vindicated by History: While largely ignored when it first came out as just another slasher film, the film is generally considered these days to be one of the best slasher films of the early eighties post-Halloween (1978) era.
The band:
Awesome Music: Everything they recorded starting in 1988. Loveless is usually cited as their best album, and "Soon" probably stands out as the best song on an album full of masterpieces. No less a source than Brian Eno declared that it "set a new standard for pop."
Snarky as it may sound to say that "they were so good they killed their own genre", Loveless did undoubtedly cause reviewers to shift to fomenting a Hype Backlash against the previously-championed Scene That Celebrates Itself (poor Slowdive even lampshaded the critical pasting they knew they were about to receive by naming an EP Holding Our Breath), and promote Grunge and Britpop instead. There is no denying that Loveless was (and is) a hard act to follow however, both for the band and the scene alike.
A very visible trend among music reviewers, both amateur and professional, is to instantly give any new shoegaze album a low grade simply for "trying to be My Bloody Valentine". Make of that what you will.
Gladly however with MBV's own return with the surprising amount of praise m b v got and even with the formation of blackgaze (and the recent formation of Slowdive as well), it's safe to say maybe Shoegaze isn't as dead as people think it is.
Epic Riff: Everything they recorded starting in 1988, although most examples can stem to "Only Shallow", "Soon", and of course, "You Made Me Realise".
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Loveless is popular enough in Japan that there's a cover album made entirely by Japanese artists as diverse as Shonen Knife and Boris that's entitled - and we swear we are not making this up - Yellow Loveless. The play in Final Fantasy VII and its sequels being named after Loveless is another sign of its popularity over there.
Memetic Mutation: DUT DUT DUT DUT VREEE WREEW (or some variant thereof) Explanation A reference to the drum and guitar introduction to "Only Shallow".
vacuum cleaner noisesExplanation A common description of the guitar tones on Loveless, particularly on "Only Shallow" and "To Here Knows When".
Most Wonderful Sound: The guitars will make you feel you've entered heaven. Heck, the entirety of Loveless might as well be this.
Oddly enough for some, the infamous Holocaust section off of "You Made Me Realise" is considered beautiful despite (or maybe because of) its cacophony of guitar noises.
Nightmare Fuel: Despite being borderline bliss beauty, make no mistake, My Bloody Valentine has some creepy moments in their music, in particular with "Touched" being unsettling and to say nothing about "You Made Me Realise" having the line "You might as well commit suicide" and the infamous midsection of distorted guitar noises called "The Holocaust Section". It's even worse when played live; "The Holocaust Section" has been known to go on for as long as 20 minutes, which has actually caused audience members to hallucinate.
Tough Act to Follow: The fans and music critics have acknowledged that, even if the band finishes their third record, it'll still be subject of judgement before Loveless's amazing music. And then, they released m b v, their third album, and while it's been debated if it trumps Loveless as their greatest work, it's been widely received and acclaimed as a fine piece of work, and as a great follow-up to their previous album.
