Bloody Birthday

Three ten-year-old children born at the same time during a solar eclipse begin to slyly murder anybody that offends them.

While killer kid movies weren't exactly new at the time of this twisted 80's slasher the theme of children as murderers works nicely for this film. Bloody Birthday does deliver some good chills and suspense, while managing to be a competent killer thriller with some strange qualities. It straddles a fine line between cheesy and creepy, but it does remain entertaining throughout with an interesting plot. There's some strong murder scenes, as well as a good bit of nudity to establish this as a solid slasher guilty pleasure.

The cast does a fairly good job. Young stars Elizabeth Hoy and K.C. Martel deliver some menacing performances, while rising star Julie Brown does a striptease before a memorable murder scene. Veteran star Susan Strasberg does well as the teacher and Jose Ferrer has a cameo appearance.

All around this off-beat slasher entry isn't bad, though it's admittedly not flawless, but it is well worth watching for genre fans.

*** out of ****

This is an interesting and fun little horror movie from the early 80's that probably had a brief run in the drive-ins I would imagine. I won't break down by ridiculous "categories" such as "suspense" or "gore" which I personally find quite hilarious, but in sum, if you like grind-house films of the era, you might enjoy this. It seesaws between very dumb and quite entertaining with a few genuine scares (such as the opening sequence) and a little splash of suspense. It has that cheap, raw 70's feel that try as they might, horror movie makers just can't correctly emulate, and scenes of such utter nonsense that would never slip by editors these days; which is a good thing. Performances are pretty good. For instance, the updated Omen suffered severely by the less than convincing devil-child performance. However, the kids here are totally fine. This is a kooky little movie and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Three children born during an eclipse are born without empathy or normal human emotions and turn into sadistic killers after they've grown up a little bit and two other neighborhood kids think there's something horribly wrong and end up putting themselves in harm's way.

What a cruel, sadistic, and really nasty slasher Bloody Birthday is. And I mean that in the best possible way. I'm sure sure it's one of the best slashers from this time period, but it's far from the worst and there are a lot of interesting ideas at play here. Plus, it's awesome to see kids not only be the killers, but to be put in jeopardy themselves. It's a brave move that some might find offensive, but it worked for me.

Once of those rare classic 80's slashers collectors adore getting their hands on.I was instantly freaked out by the teen star Lori Lethin within 5 minutes of me going WHO THE HECK IS THAT, as collectors or DVD fanatics will do when they recognize someone. I of course had to stop the movie as I wouldn't rest until I knew where I knew her from, turns out she from the movie The Day After, that awesome 80'3 nuclear war TV movie that blew everyone's mind and sit proudly in my DVD collection. The movie itself, is great, good old fashion 80's horror with most all the ingredients required. Those kids, very well played, the girl selling peepshows to her sisters bedrooms trip shows was shockingly hilarious. I mean 10 and up to that, her own sister, whom when one of the boys asks "What ff we get caught" she retorts with "We wont' all her brains are in her bra".. I 'bout fell out...lmao Typical lower budget but the story (decent), the acting (no complaints, very well done by all), the follow through (well played and not too ridiculous) and the kills all came together for a good 7.5/10. Certainly nothing to sneeze at for all you slasher collectors

Talk about controversial story lines, this is THE GOOD SON taken to the next level! The plot concerns a murderous trio of triplets (two boys and a girl) who suddenly develop homicidal tendencies on their 11th (bloody) birthday and decide to try out their newfound murdering tendencies on their sleepy little town. Everybody thinks they're little angels, so the only people who can bring them down are a college student and her younger brother, who know the psychotic threesome's true nature. But our two heroes have just been added to the hit-list..

It doesn't have the best acting in the world and the movie print seems more than a bit fuzzy, but overall this is an effective little low-budget horror with effective moments of suspense and even a dash of gore. The novelty of having children as the villains helps the plot through its slower spots, and the movie makes good use of the weapons the kids have at their disposal, be they rat-poison smeared onto the icing of a cake or arrows shot into the peephole of a sister's bedroom. Some may find the premise of these youngsters going around slaughtering at will a little hard to swallow, but for anyone who can suspend disbelief for 90 minutes, this is a fun ride. I give it a 5/10. Watch out for the nice twist at the end..