Bloody Birthday
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Movie Reviews of Bloody Birthday
Movie Review: "Just because you all have the same birthday doesn't mean you're special."
Summary: 3 Stars
Are children inherently evil? After watching such films as The Bad Seed (1956), The Brood (1979), Children of the Corn (1984), Devil Times Five (1974), Village of the Damned (1960), Children of the Damned (1963), Mikey (1992), The Godsend (1980), The Paper Boy (1994), The Good Son (1993), The Omen (1976), It's Alive (1974), and this film, Bloody Birthday (1981), I have to say yes, children are inherently evil little no-goodniks who spend most of their time thinking of ways to harm us adults...hell, look at the film Logan's Run (1976)...once you reached the age of 30, that was all she wrote...co-written and directed by Ed Hunt (Starship Invasions, Plague, The Brain), the film features Elizabeth Hoy (The Blues Brothers), Billy Jayne (Cujo, "Parker Lewis Can't Lose"), Andy Freeman (The Corpse Grinders 2), Lori Lethin (Return to Horror High), K.C. Martel (The Amityville Horror), Melinda Cordell ("The Young and the Restless"), and former MTV VJ West Coast Julie Brown (Earth Girls Are Easy, Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful), who's been a veritable on the Dr. Demento radio program with her song "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun". Also appearing (in bit parts) are José Ferrer (Dracula's Dog, The Swarm), Susan Strasberg (Taste of Fear, The Manitou), Joe Penny ("Riptide", "Jake and the Fatman"), Cyril O'Reilly (Porky's, Navy Seals), and Michael Dudikoff (Bachelor Party, American Ninja), in a `don't blink or you'll miss him' role.
As the title credits appear, I find myself watching something called `oody Birthda'...what the hell? I'll talk more about this later...once past the opening credits, we're told it's the year 1970, and José Ferrer is rushing into a hospital to deliver three babies from three, separate mothers...turns out all three babies are born about the same time, and during a solar eclipse (that smacks of bad mojo if you ask me). Fast-forward about ten years, and we see a young couple making out in the graveyard at night (nothing gets a girl hotter than tombstones and dead bodies). The pair is getting hot and heavy, but due to fear of being caught, they retire to a freshly dug, yet empty plot (now I'm really turned on). The noises persist, the man sticks his head up to check things out, and has a face to face meeting with the business end of a shovel...followed by the woman getting herself strangulated by a jump rope, and then the pair buried in the dirt...as the film progresses, we learn the three children born at the beginning of the movie are tight friends, and nearing their tenth birthday, for which a huge party is planned...there's Curtis (Jayne), Debbie (Hoy), and Steven (Freeman). They seem normal enough children...except for the fact all three are unconscionable, manipulative, killing machines, doling out death at any given opportunity...especially so if you cross them...which is what happens to high school student Joyce (Lethin) and her younger brother Timmy (Martel), whose parents happen to be out of town. Seems Timmy witnessed one of their crimes (although I don't think he fully understood what he was seeing), and now the terrible trio have decided he's got to go, along with his sister once she gets involved. And then let's not forget Miss Davis (Strasberg), the oh so strict elementary school teacher, who probably wouldn't be so bad if she ever had that steel rod surgically removed from her behind. Yes, this birthday is shaping up to be a real doozy, that is if there's anyone left to enjoy it...
I did like this movie. It may not have much of an actual story, but there is plenty of creepy thrills, quite a few chills, and even some laughs, if you have a gruesome sense of humor like me. One strength the film has is in the creation of suspense, which I wasn't expecting, as the three, little, seemingly innocent children lure various victims to their eventual doom. The death scenes may not be spectacular, but I don't think they were meant to be, as more focus was put towards the uneasy build up prior to these scenes. None of the performers stood out, but, then again, no one was raucously bad. José Ferrer and Susan Strasberg are prominently promoted as being in the film, but that's really just the filmmakers capitalizing on their fame, as Ferrer appeared for about a total of one minute, his time divided into two scenes, while Ms. Strasberg had a little larger role, but not much (she probably had all of about 5 minutes of screen time). One thing I did appreciate was the dialog wasn't awful, and director Hunt did manage to work the cast, which included a number of children (who can be notoriously difficult to work with), very well. I suppose the most memorable scene involved the character of Joyce, played by Julie Brown, who was the older sister to Debbie, one of the three, evil wee ones. Seems Debbie charges the neighborhood boys to peep on sis as she changes clothes, and business is good (one sequence has Brown, who has excellent mellonage, stripping down and dancing around to some lame rock music). Later on, after Joyce and Debbie have a falling out, Debbie puts her bow an arrow set to good use, luring Joyce to look through the hole by making noises on the other side of the wall...you can probably imagine what follows...besides Ms. Brown baring her assets (and her chest set), there are a couple other scenes, featuring other women, with some nice, all natural nekkidness, if you're into that kind of thing (I know I am). All in all a sinister, ghoulish thriller worth seeing if you're expectations aren't to high. Also, I think it's important to mention that while this movie did come out at the height of the popularity of the slasher genre in the early 80's, it's not of that ilk.
This VCI Entertainment release claims a widescreen (1.78:1) anamorphic print on the DVD case, but all I got was a full screen, extremely cropped picture, one noticeable from the beginning as the title is cut off. The picture quality on the DVD was decent, as was the Dolby Digital 2.0 audio, which wasn't always clear, but very loud. There are some extras available, like a bio on the director Ed Hunt, an interview with the producer Max Rosenberg (17:22), who looked about as old as dirt, riddled with liver spots, sporting a pair of binocular eyeglasses, and trailers for various VCI DVD releases like Kiss of the Tarantula (1976), Don't Open the Door (1975), and Homework (1982). Besides the false advertising, I didn't care for the cover art on the DVD case, which I think was originally used on a German promotional poster. The artwork has three children standing in front of a house, the whole affair making the film appear to be one about the supernatural, which wasn't the case. The original U.S. poster artwork was is much better, showing three or four children standing around the corpse of a woman, birthday candles planted on her chest, and one of the children holding a large knife, like he's getting ready to cut into a birthday cake.
Cookieman108
If I learned anything from this movie it's never to stare into holes in closet walls, junked refrigerators make poor hiding places, and beware of malicious looking children in groups of three.
Movie Review: Kid killers, relentless and p-oed
Summary: 3 Stars
[good things]
I really liked the little kids in this movie, they were relentless, evil and just down right hateful. The movie was very suspenseful, even though we knew who all of the killers were from the start. The acing was good, and even though the kills weren't bloody or entirely unique, they were great. The directing and photography were also good for this genre. There is also a scene where the killer is wearing a sack over his head, it gave me alot of great visions of Friday The 13th: Part 2, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, etc.
All in all, I like that this movie featured young kids as the killers, something that is not done very often.
[the bad]
With movies like this you have to take the good with the bad, and the lack of blood took alot away from this movie. Since it featured kids as the killer, the movie was lacking alot, such as worthwhile dialogue. Other than that I reall don't have much complaints.
[final thoughts]
What a nice find this movie was. I had never heard about it until recently, I bought it and it became an instant favorite of mine. Billy (Jane) Jacoby plays the lead adolescent killer, and does a great job. Definitely the highlight character of the movie. The girl who played his companion (who's name escapes me at this second) was definitely a great supporting role. Between the two they made this movie work.
At any rate, this is an old and forgotten gem of the genre, if you liked The Good Son, I can almost guarantee you'll like this.
Movie Review: interesting little horror flick
Summary: 3 Stars
This is the tragic tale of three children, all born during a solar eclipse. Unfortunately, Saturn is blocked during the eclipse. Saturn, as we all know, is responsible for one's moral conscience. What does this mean for our three solar babies? Well, with a title like Bloody Birthday, it's not to hard to figure out. Before their 10th birthday, the kids decide to start killing some folks. The town goes into a frenzy as they try to figure out who is killing their citizens.
Overall, this picture looks good considering its age. The DVD doesn't look much different than the VHS. The acting is pretty decent for this type of film with the ringleader of the boys, 'Kurtis' standing out. Mind you, I kind of got tired of Kurtis trying, over and over to kill the neighbors. Do the job already or move on to someone else! Your bumbling and fumbling lessened the fear factor considerably!
Oh well. A solid, if not spectacular disk.
Movie Review: Just an average slasher film.
Summary: 3 Stars
Although the story might have been interesting I thought the film was just average, there were some scenes that were so boring or stupid. The 10 year old kids were realy good actors even better than the adults who are just awful, there is also some humor although it is unintentional like the scene where one of the kids lets the other two spy on her sister through a peep hole while her older sister starts dancing and taking her clothes off. I don't think that there was an explanation to why the three 10 year old kids are starting to kill these people except for when they were born all in the same date and that there was an eclipse during that day. The best death scene has to be when the little girl pulls a bow and arrow and launches it straight through her sisters eye, it was about time that bitch died. I only recomend this film to hardcore slasher fans or if you have seen every single good horror film and theres nothing left.Movie Review: interesting little horror flick
Summary: 3 Stars
This is the tragic tale of three children, all born during a solar eclipse. Unfortunatly, saturn is blocked during the eclipse. Saturn, as we all know is responsible for one's moral conscience. What does this mean for our three solar babies? Well, with a title like Bloody Birthday, its not to hard to figure out. Before their 10th birthday, the kids decide to start killing some folks. The town goes in a frenzy as they try to figure out who is killing their citizens. Overall, this picture looks good considering its age. The DVD doesn't look much different than the vhs. The acting is pretty decent for this type of film with the ringleader of the boys, 'Kurtis' standing out. Mind you, i kind of got tired of kurtis trying over and over to kill the neighbours. Do the job already or move on to someone else! Your bumbling and fumbling lessenned the fear factor considerably! oh well. A solid, if not spectacular disk.