Episode 7: Bloody Birthday (1981)

As some of you may have noticed, this place has been something of a ghost town for close to two years. For a number of reasons, I felt obliged to put the blog on the back burner. However, my passion for these films and for rambling on endlessly about them still burns bright.

Much has happened since my last update. I’ve written some new books, spent endless hours studying the French language, cultivated personal relationships, and sadly, suffered considerable vision loss due to a rare condition.

I’ve written about this at length on both Facebook, as well as my personal blog, but for those of you who are unaware, I was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in the summer of 2004 and over the years, my limitations have mounted. RP is a complex disease that is difficult to describe, even to seasoned specialists. Symptoms, as well as their severity, often vary from person to person. While I retain some vision, there are many things I can no longer do. Unfortunately, one of them is enjoy my favorite movies the way I once had. As someone who’s seen many of these films countless times—and someone with a pretty sharp memory—practically every frane has long been embedded in my brain, which makes talking about what’s on-screen easy, even if I can’t quite discern every detail.

Episode 7 of B-Movie Bonanza was originally recorded in late September 2014, but I never got around to posting it. Because of this, I consider it “the lost episode” and I’m excited to finally share with you.

Bloody Birthday, a slasher gem in the “killer kids” subgenre, is a film that is as campy as it is twisted. It’s 90 minutes of head-bashing, eye-gouging, and asphyxiation, all at the hands of three pre-adolescents. Further heightening its cult status is an extended nude scene by then-unknown comedienne Julie Brown (“Just Say Julie”).

In the commentary, I share early memories of seeing the film on VHS, compare the Severin DVD to the VCI release, and dare to ask why Steven, the blond kid in the murderous trio, has so few lines. I’m hoping this will be the first of many new episodes and B-Movie Bonanza’s triumphant return.


Lastly, I spent the past week converting the original MP3s and uploading them to my YouTube channel, which will undoubtedly make listening to the commentaries much simpler. Scroll through previous posts to make sure you’re all caught up!