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Three children born at the same time, in the same place, during a solar eclipse are delivered to their parents without souls. Years later these soulless elementary school monsters waste no time preparing for their upcoming group birthday party by brutally murdering townsfolk! When a teacher’s assistant and her younger brother stumble upon the truth behind the slayings, the three slashers-in-training decide to silence them before their horrifying deeds can be discovered.
Remember when every slasher film you saw, as a child, was the best slasher film you ever saw? Each and every one was better than the last and you couldn’t wait to tell your friends about the copious amounts of gore and nudity you’d just subjected yourself to. The VHS box art sitting on the shelves at your local video rental outlet promised big kills, big breasts and gallons of gore and, for the most part, that’s exactly what you received. There wasn’t much to them, just the tried and true slasher film formula of “Psychopath + Mask + Weapon + Victims = Mindless Entertainment,” and that was just fine with you. Am I right?
If the above applies to you, you are going to dig Severin’s release of Bloody Birthday. While I certainly can’t say Bloody Birthday is a good film, that’s completely subjective, I can say that it requires few brain cells, a passion for late-night cable slasher fare and a cult cinema geek’s passion for cameos (Michael Dudikoff & José Ferrer!). If that doesn’t sound like enough reasons to check this release out, you’d be dead wrong! Severin Films hook up a beautiful transfer and some interesting special features including an audio interview with the director, an entertaining video interview with the lead actress, an informative featurette on slasher films, a few trailers and an Easter Egg (Happy Hunting!). While this can’t be considered a seminal entry into the slasher sub-genre or a hard-to-find rarity, the presentation is applaudable. If you already own this film, I’d say it’s time for an upgrade.
Considering Bloody Birthday’s low budget and vague supernatural angle, it’s not one of the worst films I’ve seen. The children all did admirably, the nudity was gratuitous and the production values, despite looking like a made-for-TV film-of-the-week, weren’t too hard on the eyes. It certainly hasn’t aged all that well but not all thirty year old films do. In the end, I enjoyed this and those of you that have seen it or enjoy slasher films just might too.
