Bloody Birthday - Lori Lethin

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Creepers" or "Creeps")

directed by Ed Hunt
USA 1981

Ten years ago, Debbie (Elizabeth Hoy, HOSPITAL MASSACRE), Curtis (Billy Jacoby, SUPERSTITION), and Steven (Andy Freeman, BEYOND WITCH MOUNTAIN) were all born on the same night during an eclipse. As their joint tenth birthday approaches, the inseparable trio take up baseball bats, handguns, and bow and arrow to take out their parents, teachers, and friends. Only Joyce (Lori Lethan, THE PREY) and her little brother Timmy (K.C. Martel, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR) suspect that the three kids are psychopathic murderers and they are next on the list of the precocious trio's targets. Then-unknowns Joe Penny (TV's JAKE AND THE FATMAN), Michael Dudikoff (TRON), and comedian Julie Brown (CLUELESS) co-star. Susan Strasberg (THE MANITOU) and Jose Ferrer (THE BEING) hang around for a day to pick up a paycheck. Killer kids pointing handguns at the screen should be more disturbing, but the film is better remembered today for Julie Brown's striptease early in the film. While THE BAD SEED was surely an influence, the use of a Southern California suburb for the Midwest recalls a similar look and atmosphere to John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN, while the score seems to be aping FRIDAY THE 13TH's shrieking strings. The notion that the kids have no souls because they were born during an eclipse is not really developed, and it is more unsettling that the child actors are actually close to the age of their characters (their smirking disingenuousness is more unsettling than their carnage). Lethin (who went onto more traditional slasher territory with THE PREY and the slasher comedy RETURN TO HORROR HIGH) makes a good "final girl" and the sequence of the three killer kids attacking Joyce and her little brother is the film's most exciting part.

Eric Cotenas

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Theatrical Release: 28 April 1981 (USA)

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DVD Comparison:

Severin Films - Region 0 - NTSC vs. VCI Home Video - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for all the Screen Caps!

(Severin Films - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. VCI Home Video - Region 0 - NTSC - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Severin Films Region 0 - NTSC	VCI Home Video Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:24:36	1:24:33
Video	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.3 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.76:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 4.95 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Severin Films
Bitrate: VCI Home Video
Audio	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
Subtitles	none	none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Severin Films Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1 Edition Details: • Audio Interview with director Ed Hunt (51:10) • Don't Eat the Cake: Interview with Actress Lori Lethin (16:9; 9:50) • A Brief History of Slasher Films featurette (16:9; 15:11) • Trailers for THE BABY, BLOODY MOON, NIGHTMARES, and HORROR EXPRESS DVD Release Date: June 28th, 2011 Amaray Chapters 16	Release Information: Studio: VCI Home Video Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.76:1 Edition Details: • Interview with producer Max Rosenberg (4:3; 17:22) • Director Biography • Trailers for KISS OF THE TARANTULA, DON'T OPEN THE DOOR, and HOMEWORK DVD Release Date: 23 January 2003 Amaray Chapters 12

Comments

Severin's new dual-layer is largely an improvement over the VCI edition, but the film isn't that great looking to start with, and the night scenes are underlit. Both transfers are framed at around 1.78:1 (Severin's cover claims 1.66:1, but the film would have been projected at 1.85:1 in the states). Night scenes look a little better, but the overall lower contrast of new transfer robs some of the shots of perceived depth while simultaneously revealing more detail. Audio is improved over the VCI version as well, but still has some minute distortion (noticeable on the music track). Despite some gunfire, the two tracks only exhibit some real bass during the song underscoring Julie Brown's striptease early in the film.

While the VCI disc had an interview with producer Max Rosenberg (formerly of Amicus) in which he has some disparaging things to say about director Ed Hunt, the Severin disc includes a lengthy telephone interview with the director and a pleasant and humorous interview with lead actress Lethin (she makes a humorous remark about Strasberg's small role: "How do you method act dying?"). Neither disc features the film's theatrical trailer. Anchor Bay UK also released a Region 2 DVD with a 5.1 remix (reportedly not very impressive) and the Rosenberg interview from the VCI disc.

- Eric Cotenas

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(Severin Films - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. VCI Home Video - Region 0 - NTSC - RIGHT)