Bloody Birthday (1981)
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.
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Bloody Birthday is a old school horror film from the 80's and is a children horror film and one rare,good one. Bloody Birthday revolves around three kids born during a solar eclipse and were born without emotion or like something and 10 years later,they begin to kill family members and friends. Bloody Birthday is a very good original film that I saw years back and still need to rewatch. If there's a favourite child horror film for me,this would'int be best,BUT,one. Bloody Birthday is a great horror film I advise you to see if you like good slasher horror films
Review is mostly nostalgia, but I LOVEd horror movies as a young kid and this is one of the earlier ones I saw. So, really a list of my old-time faves and not a legit review--I know more than anyone the danger of nostalgia and how bad some of these are, but hey. In no particular order and omitting the obvious franchises like Freddie and Jason: -Happy Birthday to Me (hello blind Mary from little house 🏡 on the prairie) -Alice Sweet Alice (hello little Brooke shields) -Blood Birthday -He knows you're alone (head in the fish tank, Tom Hanks, scary movie theater bathroom) -Bloody birthday -Mother's Day -April fools day (Deborah foreman and Clayton rohner version aka the original one) -dolls -troll (questionable in the horror category, enjoyed it in elementary school, also apparently remade. Sort of a creepy Batteries Not Included. Because, trolls. -The Kiss ((or maybe I just loved Meredith Salinger in dream a little dream. Also, escalators scare me.) -Children of the Corn,Linda Hamilton edition. -Sleepaway Camp 1 and 2 -Cutting Class (latecomer. Cheesy. But young Brad P and Donovan Leitch. And Shannen Dougherty-Esque Jill Scholen with her terrific raspy voice)Probably more but phone typing sucks...all great movies for some reasons.
A lot of fun, a lot of kills and effectively devious in its simplicity. The main three bad kids are pretty charismatic, considering the low budget side of 'Bloody birthday'. Then, there are some pretty teen girls of the legal age for the more spicy, topless scenes, and we're getting closer to a truly fun horror film from the (in)famous '80s.The story does not make much sense, with Jupiter being blacked out by the moon when the three killer kids are born, but who really cares? The kills are fun, the cast is pretty enthusiastic and the atmosphere of yet another American smalltown is caught on screen more than well enough.Yes, if this is the sort of cult horror you seek, you can't be disappointed. 8 out of 10.
The amusingly sleazy and tasteless "Bloody Birthday" is solid entertainment for fans of the "killer kiddie" genre. It deals with a trio of psychotic children all born during a solar eclipse, who begin a murder spree short of their tenth birthdays. It's up to a neighbourhood girl named Joyce (Lori Lethin, "Return to Horror High") and her kid brother Timmy (K.C. Martel, "The Amityville Horror" '79) to do something about this.Now, there isn't going to be a lot of grisliness for the gore hounds to enjoy, although there's one amusing arrow-through-the-eyeball gag. The body count isn't particularly high, and the kills aren't exactly on the creative side. The movie does make up for this by having tykes as the killers, and there's an irresistibly trashy feel to the whole damn enterprise: for one thing, one of the kids takes payment from the others for the chance to ogle her older sister, through a peep hole, as she does some dancing in the nude. (Future MTV personality Julie Brown fulfills this requirement satisfactorily.)Provided one is into warped premises such as this, they should get a kick out of seeing children delight in dispatching teens and adults. Elizabeth Hoy and Billy Jayne are good as Debbie and Curtis; her blonde moppet has "bad seed" written all over her and he makes his character such an annoying little creep. Andy Freeman as Steven doesn't come off as well but then not very much is done with his character. Lethin is an appealing heroine, and does a good job of selling the far-fetched idea that because these kids were born during a solar eclipse, it means they now exist without consciences. Jose Ferrer is wasted in an almost nothing part as the doctor who delivered the kids in the first place, but Susan Strasberg is a hoot as a frosty teacher. Other familiar faces in the cast include Joe Penny of 'Riptide' and 'Jake and the Fatman' (although he's barely in the movie) as Joyces' college adviser, the American Ninja himself, Michael Dudikoff, as Browns' boyfriend, Cyril O'Reilly ("Porky's") as Joyces' guy, and Ellen Geer ("Harold and Maude") as Madge."Bloody Birthday" is a fine diversion for horror aficionados, from director Ed Hunt who also gave the world "Starship Invasions" and "The Brain". It runs a very reasonable 85 minutes, coming up with good scenes like one that utilizes the old idea of being stuck inside an abandoned refrigerator, and another where Curtis and Steven try to run Joyce down with a car. It's great stuff right up until its fairly frustrating ending.Eight out of 10.