Customer Reviews

Bloody Birthday [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

In BLOODY BIRTHDAY, three sociopathic 10 year olds murder the town sheriff, their school-teacher (Susan Strasberg), and a slew of naked teens! I particularly enjoyed Timmy (K.C. Martel), the one kid who the terrible trio cannot seem to kill! They lock him in an old refrigerator- He escapes! They try to shoot him (twice)- He is saved! One of the little creeps even tries to push him from a high place, only to be interrupted by the telephone! Yep, Timmy is indestructible, which infuriates the homicidal tots to no end! Go Timmy! The maniacal threesome themselves are so bratty and psychotic, that I hoped for their demise! BD is the perfect early 80s drive-in movie, especially since none of the adult females are able to keep their clothes on for very long at all...

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.

I was aware of this film, but I have always avoided it because I figured "who wants to watch a movie with a bunch of bratty kids who can't act"? Last night, I was bored and it just so happened to be on Turner Classic Movies so I started watching it. I was blown away at what a great "evil child" movie this was! I would easily put it up there with 'Village of the Damned' (the original of course) and 'The Omen' (do I have to say also the original ; damn there's so many remakes out there). The kids are really good actors. The evil deeds they do, come across as a normal everyday thing to these little psychopaths. A lot of familiar faces here and most of them play their roles very well. I really don't understand why some reviewers give this only one star unless they think the way I originally did about kids in movies. I almost rated this film 5 stars, but it isn't quite to the level that the afore mentioned evil kiddies films were, but it's close.

Deep down I know that BLOODY BIRTHDAY is not a very good movie. It's full of genre cliches, the acting is mediocre at best. But this was made in 1981 when slasher films were a dime a dozen so its departure to the child killers was a change of pace. The child actors are quite demonic in using their innocent appearance to mask their inherent evil. Future "name" actors Michael Dudikoff and Joe Penny have brief immemorable cameos and veteran Susan Strasberg has a brief appearance as the strict schoolteacher. Future MTV star Julie Brown gets a corny stripdance segment which allows horny males some breast shots. Lori Lethin is the expected virginal heroine and K.C. Martel is the luckiest kid in the world.
The movie's weakest point is the inane reason for the kids evil doings. Born simultaneously on the day of an eclipse supposedly did something to prevent them from developing a conscience. But why does it take ten years for the kids to go bonkers? Have they killed before? Didn't the parents see this in the kids formative years?
But I have to remember this is still a horror movie and suspending belief is a taken..and there is a perverse fascination in killer kids.
So.. BLOODY BIRTHDAY is an okay journey back to 80's horror.

OK, great film. Spooky, funny, sexy. The image quality not mind-blowing on this release, but hey, I'll take what I can get. It's been too long a wait for this. VCI needs to do more releases like this.

Someone said this is full-screen, and not anamorphic... but it actually is. Watched it on my friend's widescreen 16x9 TV, and it looked fine.

If you love this film, buy this DVD.

MTV had two Julie Browns, the black girl with the British accent, and the really hot red-head who had her own show titled 'Miss Julie Brown'. This movie stars the latter. And oh is she hot!

Three children of different parents from the same neighborhood are born on the same day during a lunar eclipse. They grow up together and are very close (and strange)! They are grade school murderous little imps that kill anyone they can.

The reason everyone wants this movie is for the sexualy exploiting Julie Brown scene. One of the little devils is Julie's younger sister. She charges her friends twenty-five cents to watch her undress. She has a secret hole in her closet that gives a perfect view to Julie's room. When one of the boys looks through the hole, he sees Julie undressing and gyrating to a forgetable 80's metal hair tune. The kid (and the camera) gets a great view of Julie's T&A.

By the way Julie ends up being shot through the eye with an arrow by her little sister. The three kid's plan to poisen a birthday cake and kill the whole family is foiled.......or is it?

Watching these kids kill was a bit disturbing at times. The naked ladies were beautiful. The story maintained my interest. The acting was fine. It's not spooky or scary or anything like the Omen, but more of a standard killer kids flick. If the kids don't like you or if you get in their way, watch out! Whether it's running people over, getting them with the shovel, through a peephole or more, they'll get you!
Severin's DVD looks beautiful from the original negative. And if you don't like the film, at least check out that cover art!

Bloody Birthday is an interesting killer kids movie that is like The Omen multiplied by three. It's about three children who were all born on the same night in the same town during a lunar eclipse. Now, they are psychotic killers who are racking up a pretty impressive body count.
I liked Bloody Birthday moreso than The Omen and Children of the Corn. In fact, I think it's the best killer kids flick, other than 2009's Orphan. And I liked the exploitation elements. There is a lot of nudity in this film, including a topless dance scene with Julie Brown.

Kiddie killers movie that does everything other movies with psychopathic evil children don't."The Bad Seed" and"The Omen" are great classic horror films,but Bloody Birthday is just silly fun.Total sleaze and cheeze flick.If your into the so bad it's good kinda movie.Then by all means pick this little piece of schlock up.Can't beat the cheap price here on Amazon.Worth every pennyfull of bad acting,cheesy unbelievable kills and gratuitous nudity. Also worth getting is "The Pit" another killer kiddie movie that shares all the same qualities as "Bloody Birthday".

OK, I was suspicious of this title initially, thinking how could any other horror movie capitalize on birthdays better than Happy Birthday to Me? Anyway, this gem for the diehard horror fan sells! It keeps you entertained! The film is obviously a "Halloween" knock-off, but many horror films from around this time were. I would characterize it as "Halloween" meets Village of the Damned. The camp value includes actress Susan Strasberg performing rather poorly as a school marm, and Julie Brown, who is better known for her song parodies ('Cause I'm A Blonde) than her acting. Yet, she does a great job portraying the requisite "hot gal" character in this type of movie. Also, note that one of the evil kids is portrayed by an actor who would later have a long career in television.

Check it out if you are hungering for horror from this era that hasn't really seen the light of day. If anything, it is a blast seeing the dreadful carpeting, wallpaper, etc. adorning the characters' homes in this flick!