'Bloody Birthday' DVD Review: A total eclipse of the heart

It's the Summer of 1970. An eclipse is doing its thing while three babies are a birthing. These wee ones enter the world the same as most any other, but that sun and moon thing seems to have warped their brain pans just a bit. You see these kids grow up bad. By the age of Ten their psychosis is a raging.

The whole town is at the mercy of little Curtis (Billy Jayne), Debbie (Elizabeth Hoy), and Steven's (Andy Freeman) whims. High School senior Joyce (Lori Lethin) is an astrology nerd but its her investigative reporter nature that get our kiddos to turn their homicidal tendencies towards her and her kid brother Timmy (K.C. Martel). One junkyard icebox trap and car chase later and it looks like our maniacal trio may be done for, but then again never underestimate the power of a twisted brain.

'Bloody Birthday' is a low on the curve grade B slasher flick from 1981. It plays a bit upon some far better horror predecessors like 1978's 'Halloween' specifically. Laying a similar small town neighborhood in trouble backdrop for its anemic madness. Director Ed Hunt does a decent job of peppering this simple tale with some odd choices in plot and casting. We get cameos from American Stage great Susan Strasberg as school teacher Miss Viola Davis and comedian Julie Brown as Debbie's sexed up stripteasing big sister. Overall this is a fun if vapid bit of 1980's cinematic nostalgia if nothing more.

 Severin Films has brought us a lovely Blu-ray package with great image and sound, and featuring interesting if minimal bonus material  -  "Audio Interview with Director Ed Hunt Don't Eat The Cake!" "Interview With Star Lori Lethin" and  "A Brief History Of Slasher Films Featurette".  It streets on July 8th, 2014 and will probably interest many a cult film buff fitting nicely on their shelf somewhere between that worn out  'Evilspeak' doll and those sad dogeared "Galaxy of Terror" trading cards.