Bloody Birthday

BLOODY BIRTHDAY

A 1981 film in which three ten-year-old kids go on a murder spree, Bloody Birthday features a couple shots (of teen girls walking and talking on a suburban street) that seem like an homage to John Carpenter’s Halloween, but this project unfortunately lacks the soul and tension of that masterpiece.  The ostensible protagonist of Bloody Birthday is a young lady named Joyce who spends much time searching for and babysitting her little brother.  Joyce is a non-traditional hero insofar as she has no clear goal that drives the story.  She mostly goes about her day-by-day existence (aside from one scene in which she is nearly run over by a car in a junkyard) until the final ten minutes or so (when she and her little brother realize that three of the neighborhood children are actively trying to murder them). 

The film opens with the near-simultaneous birth of the three killer kids during an eclipse in 1970.  Joyce later spouts some exposition about astrology and how someone born during an eclipse might have some key personality elements missing.  The bulk of the movie takes place in 1980 and includes the tenth birthday of the antagonists (and despite the title, I don’t recall any murders actually occurring at the birthday party). 

Bloody Birthday never evokes true chills (a major shortcoming for an alleged horror film).  The kill scenes are relatively tame (three of the victims are shot with a gun) aside from one bit that involves a peephole and a bow & arrow.  There’s no mystery about the identity of the killers after the first few minutes.  There’s never a sense of dread.  I’m not sure how three youngsters manage to outwit the local police force and get away with murder after murder.  Bloody Birthday runs less than ninety minutes but even so feels too long.  I don’t recommend wasting any time on this film.