Bloody Birthday

Bloody Birthday (1981)
Dir:Ed Hunt (The Brain/Alien Warrior)

The Horror genre is full of sub-genre's such as Slasher's,Monster's, Ghost's and son on but for each specific genre there is equally just as many sub-sub-genre's, Like The revenge films, gore, snuff porn and so on. Bloody birthday is one film that falls into one of the many sub sub genre's being a Killer Kid movie, Joining films like Children of the Corn, Children at Play and Devil times Five.. The Killer Kid film is a hit or miss style and this particular one is a hit in the specific genre of film.

The film opens with some children being born in succession during  a solar eclipse, Ten years later the three kids happen to live in the same neighborhood and are very close friends. After a young couple is killed in a graveyard it becomes almost immediately apparent that the kids are the killers but it really does not hurt the film as the townsfolk refuse to believe that the random murders have anything to do with these young children.The young kids  are obviously not normal as they are always looking for trouble . In the opening moments we are treated to an awesome scene when the two boys pay Debbie to see her sister Beverly , Played by a young Julie Brown (Earth Girls are easy) changes in her room, through a peephole in her closet.
Right off the bat we see the three kids plot to kill Debbie, the girl of the bunches father the town Sheriff and play it off as an accident. A fellow classmate Timmy  witnesses the attack but does not quite see them in the act. After the funeral Debbie,Steve and Curtis decide to take care of their loose ends and take out young Timmy by locking him in a refrigerator in a wreck yard while playing Hide and seek. Timmy eventually free's himself and returns to his house where his sister Joyce is watching over him while the parents are away. After telling her of the incident Timmy is banned from playing with Curtis.

The kids keep a scrapbook of all their killings and they plan on hitting their teacher next. Curtis steals Debbie's dads gun and hits the campus to waste the teacher.After Curtis shoots the teacher , Joyce happens to come in to the class and finds her body hidden in a locker. She narrowly escapes being shot herself as she returns home to find a note from Timmy stating he had left to hang out with Curtis at the wreck yard. The note turns out to be a hoax as it is a trap set up by Curtis and Steve in order to get Joyce stuck alone in the wreck yard where they try to run her down with a car. Later that night Curtis is seen lurking around Timmy's house trying to get a clear shot at Joyce or Timmy. When he realizes he is not gonna get the clear shot he stumbles upon a couple having sex in a van and he opens fire on the couple killing them.

The Three kids have a big birthday party and during the festivities Curtis is caught trying to poison the icing on some of the cakes. This is a trick to get Joyce to catch him and accuse him in order to make Joyce look paranoid. After she calls him out, She is made to look crazy so they can later get away with murder unsuspected. Debbie is banned from playing with Curtis after Beverly finds the kids book filled with news clipping of the recent murders. Debbie then kills her sister with a bow and arrow through the eye and the kids drag her body to the street. After Bev's funeral Debbie's mom checks herself into a psych ward for depression after losing her husband and daughter. Now the big plot to kill Joyce and Timmy is put in to play as Debbie asks Joyce to babysit for her. While Joyce and Timmy are at Debbie's the kids attempt to kill them. After a big game of hide and seek where Curtis unloads a gun several times in attempt to kill Joyce , She manages to trap Steve in a trunk and then tie up Curtis as Debbie escapes and happens to run into her returning mother who see's police arriving at her house. The Mom knows something is wrong but appears to get the point and they drive off to escape the trouble. Curtis and Steve are arrested and Joyce and Timmy survive the attack. Then we see Debbie and her Mom on the run and they have changed their name , As they drive off in the sunset we see Debbie has not changed her ways as she has killed a mechanic at a filling station.

Bloody Birthday is a fun little slasher flick, But one thing that does kill any suspense there could have been by giving up the killers so early in the film. However the movie is entertaining and the character of Curtis is played excellently . All the killer kids are creepy and appear heartless and vicious which is a nice touch.As far as the sub genre of killer kids is concerned this is one of the better ones out there. The personal high light for me was Julie Brown getting nude, I had a huge crush on her as a child and to find this little gem was a big selling poitn in getting me to watch. Having seen it now I will say as far as 80's cheesy horror flicks this one is a bit more serious and it is a well put together flick. If you are looking for a fun , creepy film this one is a good choice although the end is a bit lackluster and the fact you pretty much know nothing bad is gonna happen to the killers due to their age kinda softens the blow in the end. The entire time I was hoping for a brutal finish like the kid killing spree at the end of Beware,Children at play but I was disappointed by the end in this one. the rest of the film however is entertaining and that's all I could ask for in an 80's horror film so this one does deliver the goods.

Gore:6
Nudity:6
Characters:6
Story:6
Overall: 6 out of 10