Review: Bloody Birthday (1981)

Bloody Birthday (1981)
Director: Ed Hunt
Stars: Lori Lethin, Melinda Cordell and Julie Brown

File under “They don’t make them like this anymore.”

Three children all born in the same hospital, around the same time during a solar eclipse all turn into maniac killers at the age of ten. A classmate starts to suspect the kids are up to no good and finds himself and his teenage sister is next on the list to be murdered.

Bloody Birthday is an interesting side note in the slasher cycle of films. It wasn’t the first slasher film to feature kids as the main killers, but considered by many to be the best.

Released in 1981 this film looks wonderfully dated but it not just the set pieces that look that look out of place. There would be very little chance of a movie like this being made today in the U.S. The kids kill their victims in all sorts of inventive, gory ways. They were born just plain evil, without any chance of redemption.

The cast is great and three murderess children all play their parts well. One of the kids is played by a very young Billy Jacoby who went on to play parts in some other great B-Movies like Part Camp, Hospital Massacre, and The Beastmaster to name just a few.

Severin did a great job on the transfer from the original vault elements. Special features include an audio interview with director Ed Hunt and the featurette “A Brief History of Slasher Films.” There is also an Easter Egg hidden on the special features menu screen which plays the original theatrical trailer. My guess is it wasn’t advertised to be on the disc because it’s terrible quality. It literally looks like it was ripped from youtbe.

In today’s politically correct climate of Hollywood, where things like bullying and kid on kid violence is a no go it’s good to see an old school slasher film with a taboo subject done so very well.