My Bloody Valentine

In the mine shaft, a female miner strips off her gear in front of a male coworker. The moment turns deadly as he shoves her onto a mining pickaxe, killing her. A heart tattoo on her body hints at the killer's motive and foreshadows later violence.

Twenty years earlier, a mining accident traps five miners after methane levels were not checked. An explosion and cave-in devastate the tunnel and leave the town with a lingering fear of the mine. The tragedy becomes the town's dark memory.

The following year, Harry Warden hunts down the two supervisors who abandoned their posts. He removes their hearts and places them in Valentine candy boxes with a note warning the town never to hold the Valentine's Day dance again. His acts seed the legends that haunt the town for years.

Warden is confined to an insane asylum, and the incident fades from memory as life in the town returns. Eventually the Valentine's Day dance is reinstated, setting the stage for the present-day events.

Mayor Hanniger reinstates the long-suspended Valentine’s Day dance, and the town’s young people look forward to it. The group includes Gretchen, Dave, Hollis, Patty, Sylvia, Howard, Mike, John, Tommy, and Harriet, with a tense love triangle among Sarah, Axel, and TJ.

An anonymous box of Valentine chocolates arrives for the mayor and police chief, containing a human heart and a warning that murders will begin if the dance proceeds. The ominous delivery unsettles the town and hints at the killer's identity.

Mabel is murdered in a laundromat, and her heart is removed. Chief Newby covers up the death as a heart attack to prevent panic and to avoid drawing attention to the spreading threat.

The mayor cancels the dance, but the town’s youngsters decide to hold their own party at the mine. A bartender warns against the plan but is killed by the killer as he tries to set up a dummy miner.

At the party, Dave is brutally killed. His heart is later found boiling in a pot of hot dogs in the kitchen, signaling the killer's brutal methods and leaving the others increasingly paranoid.

Shortly after, Sylvia is impaled on a showerhead, showcasing the killer's sadistic precision and escalating the panic among the survivors.

TJ and Axel descend into the mines to rescue anyone who survived the party. Hollis goes to find Mike and Harriet but is killed when the killer shoots him with a nail gun, abruptly turning the search into a chase.

Patty, TJ, Axel, and Sarah attempt to climb to the surface with a ladder, but Howard's corpse, tied to a rope, falls from above, heightening the danger and trapping the survivors in a deadly stalemate.

The killer is revealed to be Axel, who had faked his death earlier in the night. A flashback shows Axel as a child witnessing Harry Warden murder his father and tear out his heart, explaining his fixation with blood and revenge.

TJ strikes Axel, triggering a tunnel collapse that traps him. Newby and the police arrive to rescue TJ and Sarah, but Axel frees himself by amputating his trapped arm and escapes deeper into the mine, shouting that he and Harry Warden will return. The film ends with Axel laughing maniacally as the ballad for Harry Warden plays over the credits.