Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.0

Bloody Birthday Blu-ray Movie Review

Happy death day to you.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 7, 2014

You have to make a living. Was that timeworn phrase lingering in the minds of such acting legends as José Ferrer and the scion of an acting teaching legend, Susan Strasberg, when they signed on to appear in the decidedly lo-fi quasi- slasher film Bloody Birthday? Evil and/or possessed kids have been a trope in cinematic outings like The Bad Seed, Children of the Corn and Village of the Damned, and Bloody Birthday simply takes that basic idea and plops it down in the then fashionable slasher idiom which had become a major moneymaker for filmmakers in the 1980s. Bloody Birthday gives a bit of lip service to the supposed astrological reasons behind a trio of tots becoming murderous savages, but the bottom line is, the rationale really doesn’t matter all that much because Bloody Birthday is all about the killing. Perhaps surprisingly, though, there's really very little on screen mayhem to go around (even for a film that came relatively early in the slasher cycle), and the film actually spends quite a bit of time detailing the kids’ usually dunderheaded plans to off various nemeses. That gives Bloody Birthday a somewhat more procedural twist than some slice and dice fests. Still, the film ends up feeling extremely derivative, with one of the characters, a flaxen haired little girl named Debbie (Elizabeth Hoy), seeming to be a “next generation” version of the sweetly sociopathic character brought so memorably to life (and death) by Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed.

As a kindly doctor (José Ferrer, hopefully picking up a decent paycheck) sidles up to a suburban hospital, he urges an assistant to get inside due to a complete solar eclipse (what, it was going to be too dark soon or something?). That fateful moment three babies are born, and for astrological reasons which involve the simultaneous eclipse of Saturn and which any decent astrologer would frankly be pretty hard pressed to explain, the children grow up to be complete sociopaths. Chief among them is “angel faced” (in the words of her sister) Debbie Brody (Elizabeth Hoy), who as a 10 year old schoolgirl listens dutifully as her father, Sheriff James Brody (Bert Kramer), leads the class in a fascinating discussion about what the term “murder” means (certainly appropriate fodder for discussion with third or fourth graders, don’t you think?). Sheriff Brody soon learns what murder means himself when little Debbie arranges a booby trap with a skateboard which unfortunately doesn’t do the trick. Luckily, her little cohorts Curtis Taylor (Billy Jayne) and Steven Seton (Andy Freeman) are there—with a baseball bat. Bye bye, Sheriff Brody.

But right here, at the first ostensible murder (after an obligatory prelude involving teen lovers where the culprits aren’t revealed), Bloody Birthday reveals its shortcomings right off the bat (so to speak). Why are these kids doing this to this individual, and, by inference, the couple shown in the opening scenes? Later, once two neighbors named Joyce (Lori Lethin) and Timmy (K.C. Martel) start suspecting the tykes are up to no good, there’s at least some rationale for the devilish trio to take off after those two. But a lot of Bloody Birthday just seems completely random. Now truth be told, slasher films aren’t exactly known for their tightly structured plots—the point is to get to the slashing, after all. But Debbie and her two acolytes just seem hell bent on killing people willy nilly some of the time, but with (in their own minds, anyway) good reason at other times. Perhaps that’s part of their “eclipse” sickness.

Despite an almost ludicrously increasing body count (which includes—minor spoiler alert—their teacher, played by Susan Strasberg), no one aside from Joyce and Timmy ever even slightly suspect the kids, despite mounting evidence against them. The kids themselves are not especially bright for such supposedly devious little murderers, with Debbie keeping a nicely cut and pasted scrapbook of all her kills around the house where, yes, it is ultimately found. That comes rather late in the film and ultimately involves Debbie’s older sister Beverly (Julie Brown, pre-MTV fame but au naturel here in one of the film’s more celebrated sequences) and mother (Melinda Cordell).

There are one or two decent scares in Bloody Birthday, but they’re just as frequently undermined by silly sequences like the kids (including one in a burlap sack “disguise” that plays like a miniature version of The Town That Dreaded Sundown) chasing Joyce through a junkyard—very, very slowly—in a beat up old sedan. Clunky direction and editing (and, no doubt, a miniscule budget) contribute to a haphazard feel that is oftentimes more funny than frightening.

Bloody Birthday Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bloody Birthday is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Severin's press material state this is sourced from "original vault elements", without actually describing what those "vault elements" are, but generally speaking this is a commendable if problematic presentation. The opening scenes are the worst in terms of overall clarity and (especially) contrast and color timing. This is the prologue where two teen lovers are getting it on in a graveyard, and the nighttime setting is almost completely devoid of shadow detail, as well as contrast issues which push blacks toward a smeary purple effulgence. Once the actual film gets underway, things are manifestly better, though color timing is still kind of odd, with fleshtones rather peach colored at times, and a kind of slightly yellowish tint to everything (this is something that I've noticed in other Severin releases, notably their recent slew of Australian horror offerings). The image is fairly cinematic, however, with a natural looking (and at times pretty heavy) grain field, and above average fine detail in close-ups.

Bloody Birthday Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bloody Birthday's LPCM 2.0 mono track has a somewhat muffled, murky sound that also has pretty rampant clipping in the high end (noticeable in little moments like when a school bell rings), but it's actually listenable, if awfully muddy sounding at times. The film's above average score fares a bit better, though even here there's occasional damage and distortion.

Bloody Birthday Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Interview with Director Ed Hunt. Lori Lethin refers to Hunt as something of an enigma in her interview included on this Blu-ray, but Hunt is rather forthcoming in this broad ranging interview, offering up quite a bit of information about the film which should certainly interest fans. This has a somewhat processed sound that may indicate the interview was done over the internet.


• Don't Eat That Cake! An Interview with Star Lori Lethin (480i; 9:52). Lethin seems more than a bit bemused by her career as a whole, let alone her participation in this film, but at least she shares my consternation about what Ferrer is doing in Bloody Birthday.


• A Brief History of Slasher Movies (480i; 15:13) features author Adam Rockoff discussing the history of this genre. This is very interesting, though the faux "tracking problems" get to be a bit annoying after a while.


• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 2:00) may actually be a piece for exhibitors, considering the easter egg listed below.


• ? (480i; 1:10)

Bloody Birthday Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bloody Birthday might have been marginally more effective had it gone the full blown slasher route, with lots of blood and guts and over the top violence. As it stands, it's a pretty lackluster entry in the "demon spawn kid" subgenre. A couple of decent shocks may give this some value for genre enthusiasts, but even those folks may walk away underwhelmed by this film. Both the video and audio of this release have issues, but the supplemental material is outstanding.