L'occhio della spirale

I first saw this in the late 80s and found the cemetery scene pretty tension filled n scary. Surrounded by satanic cultists in broad daylight in a desolated cemetery n most of em in black ties n one fella with a scythe.

Revisited it recently n found it a bit slow.

The movie doesn't have any gore, nudity or kill scene.

At least they shud have shown the Celtic goddess nude.

Felt sad for Peter.

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!

This movie about a girl STRONGLY/RIGHTFULLY warned to avoid her 19th birthday party started good, got increasingly MST3k-bad and ended exactly how you thought it would and yet.... I LOVED the ending. That saved this entire movie and believe me...it needed it. I was laughing out loud SOOO many times in the second act, I almost turned it off several times. But, I didn't and I even knew how it'd end. It was the ending I'd crave in these creepy movies made in the late 70s. If you like creepy 70s occult films, check this out on Shudder.

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.

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.