Bloody Birthday... Everytime!!!
When I was about 12, I saw Ed Hunt's "Bloody Birthday" for the first time. The experience was coring. Of course there have been other films that have tackled evil kids, but none of them has ever done for me, or to me what "Bloody Birthday" does.
Craft wise the film is very much a 70's TV movie with boobs and blood. The music sounds like it's culled from some lost episode of Banacek; the lighting is often flat and the acting in most spots is not note-worthy. Plot wise it isn't a script that wants the viewer to do a lot of extrapolating.
Oh but then there are those murderous kids. Elizabeth Hoy, Billy Jayne or Billy Jacoby,if you prefer, and Andy Freeman are all too familiar. I knew the kids they portray or at least their non-homicidal facsimiles. Shit, I may have been one of these conscienceless little bastards at times during my youth. This is the gold in "Bloody Birthday's" plastic package. While your watching, you just might recognize the little monster that coaxed you into burning ants with a magnifying glass or pushing the kid who was afraid to go down the slide. Hopefully you're like me, and your little Satan didn't stay long or leave any bodies behind.
After viewing this for the third time not an hour ago, I feel like this might be a cinematic version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory; a test used to help pinpoint specific personality disorders. Relate a little too closely with the kids in this thing and...excuse me, I'm gonna go re-watch E.T. and try to convince myself that I'm not a sociopath.
