The sinful saviors of sleaze over at Severin Films continue their unparalleled 2011 lineup of releases on June 28th with a trifecta of horror! I’ll be reviewing all three of the DVDs and first up is the disturbing 1981 killer kiddie flick Bloody Birthday!

In 1970, three children – Curtis, Debbie, and Steven – are born at the same time, in the same hospital on the night of an eclipse. 10 years later, the kids develop an uncontrollable urge for murder and mayhem. No one is safe: parents, teachers, and playmates all fall victim to the unassuming kids’ bloodlust. It’s up to the babysitter Joyce (Lori Lethin) to end the twisted 10-year-olds’ killing spree. But not before future MTV personality Julie Brown can bust a sweet topless dance in her bedroom. Working against Joyce is the fact that when dealing with murderous children, no one ever believes these adorable kids have blood on their hands.

It’s not the first subversive killer kid movie (maybe The Bad Seed?) and certainly not the last (The Good Son is seriously underrated), but it’s certainly the most graphic and outrageous. The three kids beat, stab, shoot, and practice archery relentlessly and for no explicable reason other than that they were born simultaneously during an eclipse. Coincidentally, Joyce dabbles in astrology. Her research concludes that because of the eclipse, Saturn was blocked and…awww fuck it! These kids want blood! No exposition necessary!

The dichotomy of the group runs as follows: Curtis is the brains, Debbie the bait, and Steven the muscle. Curtis, the unappointed leader of the three and my favorite fictional child murderer, is an immense badass who packs a hand cannon 1/3 the length of his arm. He’s played by Billy Jayne, who would later star in the classic cross-dressing comedy Just One of the Guys and play Mikey on the quirky TV series Parker Lewis Can’t Lose (flashback to Mikey’s song!).

Although it’s been released on DVD before (by VCI Video in 2003), Severin gives Bloody Birthday the enthusiastic release it deserves. The Severin DVD sports an all new, crisp HD transfer and in-depth interviews with star Lori Lethin and director Ed Hunt. The lengthy audio interview with Ed Hunt provides great info on not only the genesis and development of Bloody Birthday, but also on what it was like to work within the sci-fi/UFO/horror film genre during the ’70s/’80s (all serious indie film discussions should go back to Roger Corman, or die). The upbeat Lori Lethin generously talks about director Ed Hunt, ’80s horror, and what it was like to work with the “sweet” kids. There’s also a brief but seriously informative history of slasher films featurette hosted by Adam Rockoff, author of Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film.

Severin is like the Criterion Collection for sleazebags with a more realistic budget and Bloody Birthday is a perfect exhibit of the company’s intentions. It’s a subversive ’80s horror flick on the verge of being forgotten, revived by a distribution company who treats it with savage kid gloves. The outcome couldn’t be more fun. Bloody Birthday is a greasy, bloody film that is a genuine classic as far as low-budget horror goes. Beyond that, it’s also a damn good thriller.

Buy it June 28th from Severin, you swine.

- Oh Mars