#18 - Bloody Birthday (1981)
(dir. Ed Hunt)
Ten years ago, during an eclipse, three children were born in the local hospital. Now, coming up on their 10th birthday, a series of mysterious deaths around town have left the police baffled. Are the children responsible for these grisly murders? The answer is yes, and the film tells you this almost immediately. There is no mystery to be solved here - the kids are bad for some reason and they enjoy killing people seemingly at random. That's more or less the whole plot. Sort of Children of the Corn meets Halloween.
Despite it's simplicity and lack of much plot, this is actually an okay slasher. It has a weird role reversal thing going on - the tension, instead of coming from "who is going to die next?", is more like "will the children get caught?". They aren't exactly sympathetic characters, but the film doesn't really offer many others who are, either. There are relatively few kills and the ones that happen are light on the blood and gore, so the film keeps things exciting by moving the plot along at a good pace, and not overstaying its welcome.
Recommended for fans of early slashers, maybe not so much for others. I enjoyed it for what it was.
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