Bloody Birthday

Bloody Birthday is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Ed Hunt, produced by Gerald T. Olson, and starring Susan Strasberg, José Ferrer, and Lori Lethin. Its plot follows a group of three children born on the same day during a solar eclipse who begin committing murders on their tenth birthdays. Despite mixed reception, it has since accrued a cult following.

Plot
On June 9, 1970, at a hospital in Southern California, three women give birth at the same time during a solar eclipse. Two boys and a girl are born - Curtis Taylor, Debbie Brody, and Steven Seton.

Ten years later, on June 1, 1980, a young couple are murdered in a cemetery by unseen assailants. The next day, the town sheriff and Debbie's father, James Brody, goes to the local primary school, where Debbie, Curtis and Steven are friends and classmates. Sheriff Brody shows the class a jump rope handle that was found at the scene of yesterday's crime, but fails to obtain any new information about the murders and leaves. Later, after school, Debbie is playing in the backyard with Curtis and Steven. After Debbie shows James that the handle of her jump rope is missing, she gets Steven to beat him to death with a baseball bat, and the kids frame the death as an accidental fall. However, Debbie notices that their classmate Timmy Russell had witnessed the murder.

After the sheriff's funeral, Curtis and Steve lure Timmy to a junkyard and lock him inside an old refrigerator. Timmy manages to escape and tries to tell his older sister Joyce about the incident, but she doesn't believe him. A few days later, Curtis murders schoolteacher Ms. Davis. The kids also attempt to kill both Timmy and Joyce, but fail. That night, Joyce talks with Timmy about horoscopes, saying that, because the solar eclipse that occurred during the births of the three kids blocked Saturn, the planet controlling the way a person treats other people, it means that something is missing from their personalities. Meanwhile, Curtis murders another young couple making out in a van.

At the kids' birthday party on June 9, Curtis tricks Joyce into believing that he poisoned the cake to make her look crazy to everyone. That evening, Debbie's older sister Beverly discovers a scrapbook owned by Debbie, which contains photos and news articles about the murders she and her friends have commited. She confronts Debbie over it, but Debbie lies and says the scrapbook belongs to Curtis. That night, Debbie murders Beverly and gets Curtis and Steven to help her move the body away from the house in order to avert suspicion.

After Beverly's funeral, Curtis, Steven, and Debbie attempt to murder Timmy again before Joyce intervenes. Debbie once again blames Curtis and Steven to make herself look innocent. Joyce threatens to call the police, but Curtis says they'll dismiss her as crazy due to the incident at the birthday party, so an infuriated Joyce lets them go.

The next day, Debbie asks Joyce to babysit her, to which she agrees, unaware of her trap. After Joyce and Timmy arrive at Debbie's house, she lets Curtis and Steven in though the back door. Curtis and Steven try to kill Joyce and Timmy, but due to Debbie "fighting back", they successfully subdue the two kids and are able to call the police, whom arrest Curtis and Steven the next morning.

Some time later, Debbie and her mother have fled to a new town and are staying at a motel, with Debbie now going by the name "Beth". Beth promises to be a good girl from now on, and the two head off together, not realising that a mechanic has been murdered close by.

Release
Bloody Birthday was given a belated limited release theatrically in the United States by Rearguard Productions in 1981. It was later released on VHS by Prism Entertainment in 1986 and Starmaker Entertainment in 1990.

The film was officially released on DVD by VCI Home Video in 2003.

It was released on Blu-ray by 88 Films in 2014. Arrow Video also released it on Blu-ray in 2018.

Critical reception
Bloody Birthday received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, but the performances (particularly those of Jayne, Freeman, and Hoy) were praised. Allmovie called it "a bloody-fun time that's great for all of the wrong reasons."

On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 71% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2 out of 10. On Metacritic, it has a score of 49%, indicating "mixed or average reviews".