Bloody Birthday Year: 1981 Director: Ed Hunt Written by: Ed Hunt, Barry Pearson Threat: Evil children Weapon of Choice: Pistol Based upon: none IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
None

Rish's Reviews
Bloody Birthday, not to be confused with Party Crasher: My Bloody Birthday (not that you WOULD, but it's good to cover bases), comes from what I like to refer to as The Golden Age of the Slasher, 1981. I've been told, though, that due to its controversial nature, it wasn't released until a few years later. Damn.
The film tells the story of three evil nine year olds, all born on the same day, during a total eclipse. The children choose the start of the movie to unleash their naughtiness, expanding into true malevolence as the days leading up to their tenth birthday progress. Our cute, virginal heroine and her michevious little brother begin to suspect them, and end up doing battle with these heartless, intelligent killers as the body count begins to rise.
First of all, the Eighties will never go away, as long as blood still flows in my veins. What a boon it was to see there are still unseen 80's Slashers flicks out there, just waiting to be discovered. And it's all here, folks: Attractive girls! Good dialogue! An extended strip sequence! Great/awful 1980 fashions and hair! Ancient 7-Up cans! Blondie and Van Halen posters! A lot of sex and nudity (way more than usual)! Headphones the size of cinderblocks! Oh yeah, and evil kids!
It also had an interesting cast, including semi-famous Jose Ferrer, Susan Strassberg, Julie Brown, Joe Penny, and Michael Dudikoff. But the real star of the film is its great premise, and it pulls practically no punches (unlike John Carpenter's 1995 remake of Village of the Damned, or practically any evil child movie). They make no effort to hide who the killers are, nor do they really explain their evil (except for a throwaway reference to their not having consciences due to the arrangement of the stars). And it can get pretty chilling, as they are crafty, mean-spirited, and truly without remorse (even if they're not exactly Osments or Culkins in the acting department).
This reminded me a lot of Halloween. Perhaps it was shot in the same neighbourhood. Director Ed Hunt (you might be familiar with his brother, Mike) went on to direct that masterpiece of . . . wait, this guy didn't go on to accomplish anything. Poor guy.
The children of Bloody Birthday have no consciences. Sounds like ALL children today, doesn't it?
This is a Horror subgenre that I feel has gone largely unexploited (sure, we've got The Bad Seed, the Damned series, The Pit, Sleepaway Camp, The Good Son, and the Children of the Corn series, but it took me a long time to think of those), and I'm going to make one someday.
Unfortunately, the kids don't really get a comeuppance. But we do get to see them hand out bloodshed via jump rope, shovel, baseball bat, pistol, rat poison, bow & arrow, suffocation, and finally, jack.
If I ever open an abortion clinic, I'll definitely have this playing in the waiting room.
Bloody Birthday was no classic. Had tyranist and I reviewed this in the first year of this website, we would've decried it as terrible, or mediocre at best. But please allow that war can change a man. And I not only liked Bloody Birthday, but I'd recommend it. The Eighties will never die.
I'd Recommend It To: Oh man, if you can find it, this one is well worth picking up.

Total Skulls: 28

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?