Alison's Birthday

In case you are - like I was - somewhat reluctant to watch "Alison's Birthday", then hopefully this review can help persuade you to give it a fair chance! Admittedly, it looks and sounds rather boring at first sight, but it's a surprisingly good and intense piece of occult horror from the land of Oz. The Aussies were perhaps a little late with their cashing in on the success of "Rosemary's Baby", but at least their contribution is far better and more memorable than the vast majority of cheap & trashy rip-offs that were released throughout the 70s.

"Alison's Birthday" has a really powerful opening sequence and a staggeringly bleak climax. That's already more than other movies have to show for, and everything in between isn't too bad, neither, albeit a bit slow, derivative and predictable. The intro is fabulous! I usually don't like séance sequences or Ouija-board horror, but this particular scene knows quite a grisly and effectively shocking twist.

A few days prior to her 19th birthday, Alison is begged to come home to the aunt and uncle who brought her up since she became an orphan. The girl has doubts, because a nightmarish séance on her 16th birthday (the one from to the intro) forewarned her to stay away from there at all costs. Boyfriend Peter accompanies Alison, but he's unsubtly shut out by the overbearing aunt and uncle. With Alison further and further out of reach, Peter discovers strange and mystic occurrences, involving a demonic cult, Stonehenge rituals, modern Druids and a 103-year-old granny wandering about! "Alison's Birthday" is far from perfect, but it's one of those rare horror movies that manages to be atmospheric and genuinely unsettling without featuring a single drop of blood. And that final shot, oh man, ... magnificent!

One of the best I've seen from the Occult genre of the 70s. Copyright year is 1979, so its not a 80s flick. Reminds me of movies on the CBS Late Night movie I use to enjoy watching when I was a in my late single digits to my early teens. When, as we kids called it, the midnight hour approached, the witching hour, we all knew 'scary' movies may be coming on, but we usually fell asleep at the TV set. I don't recall ever watching this one, but its in the likes of Gargoyles, Beyond the Door, Devil Dog, Devil's Rain, Shadow of the Hawk, and of course Rosemary's Baby; all of which is supernatural horror. If your a spoiled 21st century computer effects lover, then you will be disappointed since you are use to "visual" rather than "psychological" fun.

In the old days before CGI when special effects weren't very special there was a strange concept called imagination which incredibly, enhanced movies, which helps a lot with this one. The acting is amateurish as is the script and direction, but the ideas used are great, the kind you would expect to find in an episode of Tales of the Unexpected or The Twilight Zone. I enjoyed it.

This movie was part of a Down Under horror mini-boom that took place for some reason in late 1970's and early 1980's and included some pretty decent if low-watt films like "The Survivor", "Thirst", and "Razorback". It was kind of a little late therefore in getting into the whole satanic cult craze that started with "Rosemary's Baby" in the late 1960's. The cult in this movie though is not technically a satanic cult, but a Druid cult relocated from the British Isles, and they aren't trying to pass the devil's seed into an oblivious virgin, but some kind of ancient centuries-old spirit.

The movie starts with a Ouija board session, involving "Alison" the teenage protagonist, that goes horribly awry. One of Alison's friends starts speaking in her dead father's voice. She/he warns "Alison" not to "go with them" on her nineteenth birthday. Then a bookcase falls on the possessed friend, killing her. You would think she would heed this very compelling warning several years later on her nineteenth birthday when her creepy "uncle and aunt" invite her out to their country estate for a party, but then we wouldn't have much of a movie, would we? Once there "Alison", who is not the sharpest tool in the garage, is remarkably unperturbed to see that her relatives have a miniature of Stonehenge on their property. And what's up with her dessicated 104-year-old great grandmother?

Her slightly smarter friends eventually find the truth and ride to her rescue, and they turn out to be every bit as effective as Scatman Crothers in "The Shining". The ending is great and ALMOST redeems the occasional absurdities and periodic lulls of the earlier parts of the movie. Still, all in all, this isn't a bad little horror flick from the land of Oz.

I spent the first twenty or so minutes of Alison's Birthday trying to figure out where I had seen the lead actress before; I eventually gave up and consulted IMDb, and it's only Joanne Samuel - Mrs. Rockatansky from Mad Max! That sorted, I settled down happily for what turned out to be a very enjoyable occult horror movie in a similar vein to Rosemary's Baby.

At age 16, Alison Findlay (Samuel) and two school friends decide to hold a seance, contacting Alison's dead father, who warns his daughter to not attend her 19th birthday party. Despite her friend Chrissie (Margie McCrae) dying during the seance (crushed by a falling bookshelf), Alison seems to forget about the warning, and, a few days before turning 19, travels to the home of her Aunt Jennifer (Bunney Brooke) and Uncle Dean (John Bluthal) to celebrate her impending birthday. Joining Alison for the trip is her boyfriend Peter (Lou Brown), who, as the party draws nearer, comes to believe that Alison is in danger from her Aunt and Uncle, who might not be who they claim to be.

Yes, we've seen this sort of thing done before, and yes, the story develops as we expect it to, but with likeable leads, a strong supporting cast, and capable direction from Ian Coughlan, plus a neat, downbeat twist ending, what you have is a consistently entertaining 97 minutes of supernatural thrills. Furthermore, zero nudity and gore means that the film is ideal to introduce your kids to the horror genre.

7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.