Movies
Bloody Birthday
” ‘Bloody Birthday‘ could have only been made in the 80s. It has an incredible amount of violence, tons of gratuitous nudity and it just flat-out makes no sense for most of its runtime – so much so that the guys who wrote JJ Abrams’ Star Trek would self-combust from confusion. Interestingly enough, these two films work on the same level: they’re full of plot holes and “huh?” moments, but are extremely fun. The kids are convincing deviants and pretty damn crafty, the kills are fun and the dialogue has more than a few gems (“All her brains are in her bra” comes to mind), which makes it an enjoyable, head-scratching time in my book.”
My mom used to say that when you’re born, you’re a clean slate; you don’t know up from down, hot from cold, or right from wrong. That last one is especially important, because you can teach a kid anything you want when they’re young enough and they’ll probably take it as gospel. According to Jean Piaget, a famous developmental psychologist, children follow the morality of their family, teachers and friends before the age of ten. Once they’re a decade old, they develop their conscience and begin forming their own opinions and making their own decisions. It’s also at this age when a couple of kids – who were all born during an eclipse – go on a killing spree in Ed Hunt’s ridiculously fun Bloody Birthday.
The solar anomaly causes those who are born during it to be emotionless and without a conscience and Debbie (Elizabeth Hoy), Curtis (Billy Jacoby) and Steven (Andy Freeman) decide that their birthday week celebration is a good enough reason as any to start murdering… well, pretty much anyone. Two teens making out in an open grave? Iced with a shovel and jump rope. Sheriff Brody (Jaws reference!)? Head beaten in with a baseball bat. Debbie’s older sister, played by Julie Brown (no, not the MTV VJ, the other one), who likes to prance around naked in her bedroom at least once every act? Shot with an arrow through a peephole.
The most amazing deaths in the film come at the hands of Curtis, who – despite being ten – handles a gun better than most adults I know and is an electronics genius. Not only that but, with help from Steven, he successfully maneuvers a car through a junk yard like a world-class stunt driver while trying to run Joyce (Lori Lethin) down – never mind how they even managed to get a broken down car to work. See, her and her brother Timmy are the only people in the whole town who see through the birthday buddies’ façade. Everyone else in the town is either completely stupid and oblivious or the kids have extremely impressive (and unmentioned) mind control powers because I don’t know how else to explain the fact that Curtis brings a real gun to school and the teachers think it’s a toy. Different times, I suppose.
Bloody Birthday could have only been made in the 80s. It has an incredible amount of violence, tons of gratuitous nudity and it just flat-out makes no sense for most of its runtime – so much so that the guys who wrote JJ Abrams’ Star Trek would self-combust from confusion. Interestingly enough, these two films work on the same level: they’re full of plot holes and “huh?” moments, but are extremely fun. The kids are convincing deviants and pretty damn crafty, the kills are fun and the dialogue has more than a few gems (“All her brains are in her bra” comes to mind), which makes it an enjoyable, head-scratching time in my book.
Special Features
Don’t Eat That Cake! (9:51) – Bloody Birthday star Lori Lethin reminisces about her work on the film and several other low-budget quickies, like The Prey. She remembers Ed Hunt’s killer kid tale fondly and shares a few stories from the set and such.
A Brief History of Slasher Films (15:12) – This featurette is a condensed version of Adam Rockoff’s Going To Pieces, which delves into exactly what its title suggests. It’s not anything you haven’t heard before, but Rockoff is well spoken and keeps things entertaining.
Audio Interview with Director Ed Hunt (51:13) – An extremely long audio-only interview with Ed Hunt that is a good listen for aspiring low-budget directors. He goes over most – if not all – of his filmography, discussing his tricks and techniques, but spends very little time on Bloody Birthday. It’s kind of a snoozefest for everyone else and it certainly doesn’t help that there’s a single still used for the entire interview rather than a slideshow.
This week kicked off with the release of hippo horror movie Hungry at home, and four more horror movies have arrived for at-home viewing as we head into the final weekend of June.
Here are the new horror movies that released on Friday, June 26, 2026!
The Halloween season can no longer be contained to the months of September and October, with “Summerween” becoming a thing in recent years. Essentially, it allows for Halloween to bleed into the warmer Summer months, and the first ever Summerween movie has arrived.
The Asylum released Summerween onto Digital outlets today.
In the film from writer/director Ryan Ebert, “On Summerween, a former circus clown escapes a mental institution to return to his abandoned mansion and hunt the teens partying there.”
Cole Chapleski, Chase Breithoff, Logan Roe, Sophia Sabol, and Clint Morrison star.
Director Ryan Ebert is the man behind a string of recent indie horrors we’ve covered, including Shark Side of the Moon, The Jolly Monkey, Jurassic Reborn, and Predator: Wastelands.
A witchy coming-of-age story from Dark Sky Films, Camp is now playing in select theaters.
Check your local listings to find a theater near you.
Camp is from writer-director Avalon Fast (Honeycomb, The Serpent’s Skin).
“Emily is the root cause of two devastating tragedies very early in her life, and she feels the weight of these accidents as though cursed. At her father’s suggestion, she takes a position at a summer camp for troubled youth to ease her guilt. When Emily arrives, she is welcomed by the other counselors, who accept her as she is and surround her with peace and forgiveness.
“As Emily begins to believe in a new kind of life, she starts to hear a voice whispering from deep in the woods — one that urges her to go home, and one that may be impossible to ignore.”
The film stars Zola Grimmer in her screen debut alongside Alice Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Lea Rose Sebastianis (Castration Movie Part 1 & 2, In A Violent Nature), Ella Reece, Austyn Van de Kamp (This Too Shall Pass), Sophie Bawks-Smith (Honeycomb), Izza Jarvis, and Aiden Laudersmith.
Producers Tyler Perry and Jason Blum have joined forces for Peacock Original Strung.
The film is now streaming only on Peacock.
“A talented violinist takes a prestigious job as a music tutor for the gifted daughter of an influential and enigmatic family. As she becomes entangled in their opulent world, unsettling secrets begin to surface, forcing her to question her safety, her dreams, and even her sanity.”
Malcolm D. Lee (Scary Movie 5, Space Jam: A New Legacy) directs from a script written by Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers).
Chloe Bailey (“Swarm“), Lynn Whitfield (Jaws: The Revenge), Lucien Laviscount (“Scream Queens”), Anna Diop (Us), Coco Jones (Vampires vs. the Bronx), Langley Kirkwood (“Banshee”), and Romy Woods star in Peacock’s Strung.
Produced by Diablo Cody, director Meredith Alloway’s Forbidden Fruits brought a new coven of witches to the big screen earlier this year, and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Victoria Pedretti (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Alexandra Shipp (Tragedy Girls), Gabrielle Union (Breaking In), and Emma Chamberlain star in Forbidden Fruits, released by IFC and Shudder.
Free Eden employee Apple secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of the mall store after hours. But when new hire Pumpkin challenges the group’s ‘girl boss’ ways, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate.
“Forbidden Fruits grabbed me by the neck the very first time I read it,” Diablo Cody said. “It’s one of the craziest, most creative, beautifully bonkers projects I’ve ever worked on.”
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Forbidden Fruits may not necessarily forge new terrain in the teen satire space, but Alloway brings so much style and energy to her well-cast single-location stage play adaptation for the Gen Z crowd.”
The film is an adaptation of playwright Lily Houghton’s stage play Of the Women Came the Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die. Alloway and Houghton co-adapted.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by HUNGRY.
All aboard the swamp tour from hell – this hippo isn’t playing games…
HUNGRY is now available on Digital. Watch it now!
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