"Bloody Birthday (1981/DVD/Severin Films)" Review
Synopsis: In 1970, three children are born at the height of a total eclipse. Due to the sun and moon blocking Saturn, which controls emotions, they have become heartless killers ten years later, and are able to escape detection because of their youthful and innocent facades. A boy and his teenage sister become endangered when they stumble onto the bloody truth.
Review: There is a few good killer kid movies out there and like always there is some crappy ones. Bloody Birthday does luckily land in the good category. Unlike films like "Beware Children At Play (1989)" this film actually has some pretty good acting as well as a very cool plot. Now is the plot believable, not really but it does make for a fun film. The plot takes supernatural elements and then adds them to a good old slasher film, kinda like they did later on in the Halloween series in the much hated Halloween 6. The plot also brings up the taboo question of "Could you kill or hurt a kid, if they tried to kill you?". To me the answer would be yes, before you get all huffy about that think of it as that if they had the balls to pick up a gun and try to shoot you, then they should be able to suffer the consequences no matter how young they are.
Even though the suspense of trying to find out who the killer is taken away from the start there is still some very tense and suspenseful scenes that will have you on the edge of your seat. One in particular is when they lock Timmy into an old freezer in a junk yard. Like you would expect the kids have the adults wrapped around their fingers so no one will suspect them or believe Timmy or Timmy's bigger sister Joyce when they try to get them caught. The plot is very well thought out and terrifically executed. Sadly this one of the last films that director Edward Hunt did along with one of my faves "The Brain (1988)" starring David Gale (R.I.P.). I think he made something that could of turned out very cheesy and made it into something great.
The cast in Bloody Birthday is great as well. You get Julie Brown (MTV VJ) as Beverly Brody who had an awesome nude dancing scene, K.C. Martel (E.T.) as Timmy Russel, Lori Lethin (Return To Horror High) as Joyce Russel, and Elizabeth Hoy (Hospital Massacre) as Debbie Brody to name a few. Some of the cast did go onto other things and some just quite not long after this film. The adult actors did a great job but I give it up most to the child actors because they did a great job at making what they did somewhat believeable and realistic. That is hard to find in a film like this. Most the time the characters are made too much over the top and silly which kills the atmosphere it could of had. Overall great cast and great acting.
When it comes down to it there is not really anything that I did not like about this film. Now as far as this release goes Severin did a great job. The picture is for the most part quite clear and you get the original mono soundtrack. Also included is an audio interview with the director Ed Hunt, and interview with star Lori Lethin, and a featurette called "A Brief History of Slasher Films". The special features help to make this a very well rounded DVD release!
Overall this was a very cool and quite unique release in the horror and slasher genres! I highly recommend this to slasher fans and those looking for a suspenseful film!
Director: Ed Hunt
Genre: Horror/Slasher
Theatrical Release Year:1981
Company: Severin Films
Website: www.severin-films.com
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