Oh Lordy, where do I start with Ed Hunt’s Bloody Birthday? This is one of those movies that rocks the killer kid genre with all of that great 80’s splatter. Movies like Mikey and The Good Son owe a little bit to this classic as much as they owe The Bad Seed or Village of the Damned.
This film is nasty, bloody, and perverted! Everything that an 80’s horror fan loves. The dialog is better than average, the violence is disturbing, and the practical effects are on point! Bloody Birthday sets itself apart from all the other 80’s splatter films by making the three killers young, of course, but that’s just part of it. They are cold, calculating, and manipulative. After all, who would believe that children would be capable of such violence?
This in my opinion is what makes this film stand out. Children capable of being so sweet and innocent, yet having such a visceral violent side, giving them much more personality, vulnerability, and even an emotional attachment from the viewer. They are the villains, they are horrible and monstrous, but you don’t necessarily root for them to be killed. I feel like Ed Hunt and Barry Pearson set out to make a film like that — one that was gratuitous in every way that could somehow leave you satisfied yet conflicted.
I enjoy this film a great deal and love that it still gets brought up in random conversations with me. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest you do so.
Bloody Birthday gets 3 arrows out of 5.
