Deathday, Birthday, Bloody Birthday: Killer Celebrations in Horror

In this episode, we dive into the birthday bash from hell with three killer films that prove you should never blow out those candles without checking your guest list first.

We kick things off with the clever, time-looping slasher Happy Death Day (2017), where a college student must solve her own murder before the day repeats… and her killer strikes again. Then we travel back to the early '80s for two cult classics: the twisty, revenge-fueled Happy Birthday to Me (1981) starring a young Glenn Ford and Melissa Sue Anderson, and the delightfully deranged Bloody Birthday (1981), featuring a trio of psychotic 10-year-olds on a murderous rampage.

Grab your party hats… and maybe a weapon. Just in case.

Transcript

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Welcome to Dad Bot of Horror. I'm your host, Butch Barr. Still flying solo. I did talk to the person who I have asked to be my first co-host. They have been not committal about it. So, um, not really any housekeeping stuff. I guess I just wanted to talk about one thing real quick. Now, if you've listened to a lot of my podcasts, you realize I don't get really in-depth. I don't view these movies necessarily from an artistic standpoint. Like I had like poetry classes, you know, in the classes, uh, the teacher or the professor is like, what did the author mean by the rose? This is a rose. It's all it means. Doesn't mean love, red, whatever. It means it's a rose. I I never understood that. So you may hear other podcasts where they get into the symbolism of the knife. And no, I'm not gonna do that. That's not what this is about. This is, for the most part, someone just talking about movies and horror movies at that. Um, hopefully, when I do get a co-host, it'll be more like two friends talking about horror movies. But until that happens, it's just me. So I will start in on the episode again, season one, episode 17. I mean, soon we're gonna get up higher than I'm able to count. So it won't it won't take that long. So uh the movie, first movie, is Happy Death Day from 2017. You can find it on Disney Plus and HBO Max. The production companies are Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, and Digital Riot Media. Director Christopher Landon and writer Scott Lobdel. I'm assuming that's how that's pronounced. Stars Jessica Roth, Israel Broussard, and Ruby Modine. The plot: a college student must relive the day of her murder over and over again in a loop that will only end only when she discovers her killer's identity. I don't agree with 100% of that plot, but it's pretty close. So why this movie? Next week is my birthday. So I decided to choose movies that had like a birthday type theme, something about birthday. In fact, except for this one, the other ones actually have birthday in the title. How did I see it? I am pretty sure I watched this on Netflix for the first time. I think it sounded interesting, and so I watched it, and I was correct. It was very interesting. My favorite kill. So the lead character in this movie gets killed quite a bit. Her name is, well, they call her Tree. It's hard to pick my favorite killing, but I'm gonna try. And again, I don't know if this is necessarily about how it was killed, but the concept and meaning behind it. So basically, every time she gets killed, she resets. The day resets. So she wakes up in this dorm, this guy's dorm room, and uh the day starts all over. So as the movie goes on, this guy is the only one that is like even semi-believing her every time she comes up. And at one point, he kind of saves her life, and then he gets killed, and so she's actually getting away from the murderer, and she's getting away, and then she realizes if she gets away, like the day won't reset, and this kid, this boy that she's starting to like is gonna remain dead. So she's in a bell tower of some sort, and she runs up the steps of the bell tower and ends up and ends up, you know, hanging herself. And then when uh she wakes up the next, well, she wakes up in the morning in that guy's uh dorm room, she like kind of cricks her neck and and gives this like huge crack. It is pretty funny. I I don't think I described it well enough, but it is pretty fun. So I really like this movie, you know. Going in, I wasn't sure what to make of it because I mean, for for all of you people out there that have seen Groundhog's Day, it sounds like Groundhog's Day. So I I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not, but I really did enjoy it. Again, as much as it steals a lot of its plot from Groundhog's Day, it does pay homage to you know, Groundhog's Day. It's kind of like, you know, in Groundhog's Day, Bill Murray is kind of a jerk. And then as he relives the same day over and over again, it's like it's until he gets it right. And by the by the end of it, you know, he's a he's a much better person by the end. You know, he learns, I think he learns that he was kind of a jerk. And as he gets to know these people, and he just becomes a better person. And I think um it's the same way for her. She is she's kind of she's kind of a bitch, really. She's in a sorority, and it's you know, the the stereotypical snooty for our uh sorority, and you know, they're all pretty girls and they're kind of like backstabbers and whatnot. And by the end of it, she is a better person and and and she's more the person that she wants to be. I always felt it had to do with so so with this movie, um, you find out that her mother had died, and I don't know how many years prior, if it was one or two, to this movie, but her mother dying affected her a lot, and it kind of turned her from you know the white-eyed adolescent into this jaded bitch for better, for lack of a better term. And as the movie goes on, and as she keeps dying, and as she's getting to know this guy who is just a wide-eyed, goody goody kind of guy, she she kind of figures out what happened and where it's gone, and and she she does try to better herself. Which again, to me, it was a great job by the writers because you know, just like with Bill Murray and Groundhog's Day, you kind of didn't like the character at first, but as the movie goes on and on, you really, really care for her. I mean, the first time she gets killed, you're like, yeah, yeah, okay. But by the end, you know, you're really glad, you know, that she makes it through and and she's a better person. And the other thing behind this is that um this day that she's repeating over and over again, it's not Groundhog's Day, but it's her birthday that she repeats over and over again. And and I always thought, as I watched the movie, and I just earlier than this episode, this isn't a symbolism thing, but I always thought in my head that this was happening because let's go back. Her mother and her share this birthday, okay? So my thought is is that this was kind of a gift from her mother, like her mother in heaven saw that she was what was going on with her, and she also saw she was gonna die that day on her birthday, and somehow gave this ability for her to keep reliving and living, reliving it until she makes it through the day alive, but also becomes the person that she knew her to be, you know, before she passed. So it was a good job writing, it really was. This movie is funny because it kind of starts out as like a true slasher kind of horror, but it it evolves into this like comedy because of all the ways that she's getting killed and some of the things she does. It's it is really funny. She does a great job. The actress does a great job. And another good thing I like about this movie is so she's trying to figure out who the killer is. You don't know who the killer is, and they really give you suspects, and uh it's fun to watch her like follow some of the suspects. It is again, it's good writing, and it was it was well done. The uh there's a streaking scene in this where again as she gets killed over and over again, she kind of you know, you kind of like start to get an edge on you. I mean, again, groundhogs they watch Bill Murray's driving around in a pickup truck with uh with a freaking groundhog. So you you start to get a little loopy, and at one point she goes through the day like naked, and you just see her like from from from behind and and and above the behind, but she's walking through campus like naked, so you see the opening scene as she goes through it every day, and now you see it, and this time she's naked. Funny thing was this is one of these weird film facts. To film that, she actually was naked, to film that part, and apparently they used an all-female crew so that she wouldn't be overexposed. Let's say the killer at the end was great. I'm not gonna say who the killer was. Everything pieced together well. I hate going through a movie. I'm not gonna say scream, but I'm gonna say scream. I hate going through a movie, and you're like, that is totally implausible that that person was a killer. That annoys me. Not this. It it totally worked again. Uh the lead in this called Therese Tree, her real name's Teresa, but they call her Tree. I have no idea. I thought her name might have been Trina, but apparently it's Teresa, and they just call her Tree. Again, sometimes when I see a movie a lot, I pick certain things out that I think are funny. And either other people notice it and don't think it's funny, or they don't notice it. So again, she relives the same day over and over again. And at one point, she goes back to the sorority house where she's at, where she's staying, and she's walking in, and there's this girl sitting there, there's this Asian girl sitting there, and she's listening to headphones. And Trina says hi to her every time, and the girl just waves. She doesn't say a word, she doesn't say a word at all. You don't hear a single, you know, anything out of her mouth until the end, where she lets out this huge scream. I thought that was hilarious. I mean, I thought it was this great setup where you see this girl every time, you don't hear a thing out of her until like the last moment, and then you hear this scream. It's awesome. Um, the end of the movie, again, going back to Groundhog's day, the two survivors are talking to each other, and you know, it's Tree, she's final girl, and then the guy in the uh in the dorm, not to give too much away, but I think that's makes a lot of sense. And at one point he just goes, Well, you know, you know, she's telling him all about the day because again, she has to fill him in every day, he's not reliving it over and over again. She is, so she's filling him in, and he just goes, Well, you know, that sounds like like Groundhog's Day, and she has no idea what that is. Okay, which is funny, and then he keeps going on about Bill Murray, does have no idea who Bill Murray is, you know, Ghostbusters has no idea. It's it's funny and it works, and I thought it was great. So, starring in this, uh Jessica Roth or possibly Roth, R-O-T-H-E, I'm not sure. Like, I do go on IDB because I I don't remember seeing her in anything else. It looks like she's had quite a career already, she's fairly young. I think my problem as I get older is there's all these like cute young blonde actresses out there, and I really can't tell them apart. They all really are looking the same to me. And I think it's because I'm an old man. They're just this little you know 20 something blonde, and and I don't know. They all really start to look the same. Now, in my defense, I have not seen her in any other movies, and like any other movie she's been in, I haven't seen it, so I will take a little heat off myself for that. The the male lead, Israel Broussard. Same thing. He's been in a bunch of stuff that I haven't seen, and I think it falls under think the same thing. He's like this very average guy with brown hair. Yeah, now he might be a little distinctive with his hair, but that's really it. I they do a great job. I'm not saying anything other than that. They do a great job, and you know, maybe this generation now, like generation whatever it is now, alpha, beta, gamma, I don't remember. Whatever it is, you know, maybe they know them much better than I do. Number two for season one, episode 17. I still can't believe I'm on episode 17. That's awesome. Is Happy Birthday to me. This is from 1981. Uh, you can find it on Tubi. The production company is Canadian Film Development Corporation, famous players, and the birthday film company. I do like when they make like the some producer who doesn't really have a production company but has money, just makes a production company after the name of the movie. That I like that. Director is Jay Lee Thompson. The writers are John C.W. Saxton, Peter Jobin, or possibly Jobin, and Bond. Timothy Bond. It stars Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, and Lawrence Dane. The plot at the Snobby Crawford Academy, Virginia's group of friends start to go missing years after horrible events that happened to her as a child around her birthday. So, why this movie? Again, birthday theme. And I did remember, you know, I do remember watching this in my youth. So, um, how did I see this? Again, I know I saw it as a kid. It came out in '81, I was 10. Probably, I probably didn't see it until I was 12 or 13 or or or whatever. I'm pretty sure it was, it had to be either HBO or rented on VHS. I'm thinking HBO. I really am. Again, it's funny. I put in my notes. I'm pretty sure it was HBO. And I'm pretty sure I watched it with my sister Tiffany for the first time. I don't know why, but I vaguely remember her being there. My favorite kill. So there are a couple of good kills in this movie. And I think I'm gonna go with I think my favorite was when Etienne gets killed. So Etienne is a motorcycle racer and he finishes a race, and his friends, which Virginia's among them, is going to a pub. And Etienne says he's got a shower and he wants to work on his motorcycle a little bit. So he's in his garage. Sorry, he's in his garage, and he's revving the motorcycle engine and the back tires spinning because he's kind of working on it, looking at it. And uh the back tires raised and spinning, and he's wearing a scarf. It's like uh it's like Harry Potter, where they have a scarf for their uh for the school, for this academy. And the killer kind of sneaks in because he's revving, you don't hear anything. And the killer sneaks in and grabs a scarf and throws it in between the spokes of his uh motorcycle tires, and it pulls his head, and it's funny, I just jerked towards the mic like uh like his head jerked towards the uh the back wheel of his bike, and it just pulls me close and is like scraping the uh the tire along his face, and and that's how he he dies. So, first thing I want to say is, and it kind of goes back to what I talked about in this last movie, like there were too many brunettes in this movie that looked like each other. Like I had trouble telling them apart. That kind of annoys me because I have generally have trouble telling some people apart. Weirdly enough, it's kind of part of the storyline, but it still bugged me because it's like, wait a minute, wait, who's who's that one? Like, ah, I thought she was saying, and then when these when these movies when they have the kids trading sexual partners, you know, like young kids used to trade baseball cards, it makes it even harder. Because you're like, wait a minute, I thought that guy was with her. Wait, no, don't confuse. So, anyway, I like horror movies that follow like what I'm gonna start calling the Halloween method of movie making, where you just kill someone right off the bat, like beginning of the movie, boom, you're killing someone and get things going, get yeah, killing going, and and you can build your story later. I love it. And the first kill, the whole thing is really good because it kind of sets up like you should be invested in this character. And like George R. R. Martin, no, you shouldn't, because they just kill her. So the deal is that this girl Virginia is at this posh academy, as it says, and her friends are getting killed. And this girl Virginia, through a series of flashbacks, you see that something happened to her, and she went through some experimental surgeries. It was a car accident, and in that car accident, her mother was killed. So then there's like two people that are part of her life, her father, and then this doctor. And I think the doctor's a psychiatrist. Like, I knew right off the bat that this movie was not shot in the United States, it was made in Quebec. First off, there was a kid named Etienne, so that the first time I had ever heard that name. And uh, second, the sport that is highlighted in the movie is soccer, not American football or baseball. I mean, in 1981, there was no American-made movie that cared a whit about soccer. Soccer was just not what they used. So as soon as I see from the 80s that they have soccer going on in their movie, I'm like, okay, this is not American, it's probably European, in this case, Canadian. And truth be told, the soccer that was in the movie was not very good. This is uh like the first like the one uh like Happy Death Day. It's kind of a good mystery. You know, you're trying to figure out who the killer is because her friends are getting killed, and you know, they keep presenting options for who the killer is. It has a really kind of neat reveal at the end. Actually, the reveal at the end would make M. Knight Shyalama really jealous. Now, I'm also gonna warn you about this movie that there is a really gross scene in the movie. When I told you about they do flashbacks to kind of show you surgeries that Virginia's had and this set. Well, there is one flashback that really gets in the surgery, and it's really freaking gross. Like I had to turn away. It was that gross. So let's see, stars of the movie, Melissa Sue Anderson. She kind of looks familiar to me, but I really didn't know who she was. Uh, she played Mary Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie. That was a hit show in the 70s and 80s, but I never watched it. My family did not watch that show. Um, apparently, in that show, she played a goody-goody, and she made this movie to kind of break out of those roles, but I don't think it worked. I think she, in just looking in her IMDB, looked like she always kind of played goody-goodies. Glenn Ford was in it, probably the biggest name in it at that time. Um, he's not in it a whole lot. He plays he plays a doctor who helps out Virginia. And he was a big name in the 40s and 50s and 60s in movie making. So it's kind of interesting to see him in this. Uh, maybe he needed money for a car or something. And two actors that are connected. I don't know if it was before or after this movie, but Matt Craven and Jack Blum. So Matt Craven is a great character actor. He's in, he's still in stuff. Like, he made his film debut in Meatballs, so I guess Meatballs came out before this. And again, he's still acting today. You can see him, he's like uh a guy, he's got a strong, like a strong face, but his thing is his nose. His nose is slightly bigger than it should be for his face. But yes, he was in Meatballs and he was in this, and so was Jack Blum. So this guy, Jack Blum, definitely got tight cats because he was in Meatballs, where he played Spaz, who was kind of a geek. And then in this play, in this movie, he plays Alfred, who is kind of a weirdo and kind of a geek. And I had to check, Jack Blum is not related to Jason Blum of Blum House. So movie number three is Bloody Birthday from 1981. It would, I would really try to find movies about birthdays, and and it's it's harder than you think until like you start. I don't know. Like when I was all done and ready to start recording this, and it's like, oh, I could have done that. Oh, I could have done that. Yeah, well, this is what happens, and this is an independent movie, so it still fits to the number three movie slot. Um, you can find it, you can only rent or buy it on Prime. Production company Judica Productions. The director is Ed Hunt. Writer is Ed Hunt. His nickname is Mike, and Barry Pearson is I lied about the nickname is Mike. And star. Lori Lathan, Melinda Cordell, and Julie Brown. Not downtown Julie Brown, the redhead Julie Brown. Plot. So three children are born at the height of an eclipse of the sun. Ten years later, they begin to murder the people around them, even their family members. Again, this movie because it's related to birthdays, as you just heard in the plot. How did I see it? I watched it a few years ago for the first time. And, you know, I went through just a whole lot of time where I was just trying to watch movies, horror movies I hadn't seen before. And I was going on to different uh streaming services and whatnot. And if I saw, you know, basically I pick like Paramount and I go on there and I'd find a horror movie I hadn't seen, I'd watch it. And then the next time I'm watching the movie, I would look on Peacock or Prime or Netflix or whatever. So that's kind of how I saw this. Favorite kill. So so again, these are kids, these are 10-year-old kids, three of them, two boys and a girl. So the little 10-year-old girl, and I don't remember their names. I might have one down here, but I don't remember off the top of my head. So the little girl in this made a peephole in her closet that matched. So her closet was on the other side of her sister's closet. And she put a peephole through that she could see into her sister's room. And she would charge boys, friends of hers, a quarter of pop to watch her sister undress. Her sister was played by Julie Brown. Now Julie Brown. I'll get into Julie Brown later. So Julie's character sees that there's someone on the other side of the peephole. She got clued in by her friend. And she sees someone's over there, and she starts like to put her eye against it to see who it is. And her little sister shoots her in the eye with an arrow and kills her. I don't know. There I, you know, I and that's other movies. If you listen to other podcasts, there's something about getting someone getting shot with an arrow that I just like. I don't know what it is. So this movie. It's in the 80s. Um they had a lot of time to kill. Um these kind of movies, like with like 10-year-old killers, it's it's like those movies with doll killers. You know, little dolls running around. I mean, stop it. I mean, like, they're 10-year-olds. I'm pretty sure I could take on three 10-year-olds. I'm fairly certain of that. Um, when I wrestled, which I was a lot lighter than I am now, um, I used to take on two, you know, 110-pound guys wrestling, and I held my own. So I'm pretty sure I could take on three 10-year-old kids, one of them being a girl. That's not a shot of girls, but at that age, you're probably not as strong as I am now. And and and so, like their first kill, these 10-year-olds, there's one 10-year-old boy, and he's strangling a girl, a a you know, high school girl with a piece of rope. And first off, I don't think that they actually have the arm strength to do that. Um, but the girl, I mean, she really I I don't believe she could be strangled by by that kid, not in that way. And the second kill, they they hit a cop with a baseball bat. And again, the the bat was swung by a 10-year-old. I'm sure it hurt, but I'm pretty sure no one knocked him out. Um, and and they certainly would have killed him, but I don't know. This this movie uh had to have some of the most inept cops ever since the Keystone cap. So the so the sheriff he gets hit, he gets hit with a bat in the head three times, and that allegedly kills him. And the kids are trying, I think, to hide the body. Well, they're moving it over to the steps, and then they're claiming they're claiming they saw him slip and fall and hit his head on the cement steps, killing him. Okay, but I would hope a medical examiner could tell the difference between a bat hitting someone's head three times and someone falling down on metal on cement steps. I mean, come on. And then the kids start killing people with a gun. Do they think the track down who may own a gun like the one used, you know, using ballistics? Apparently not. Worst cops ever. Glad I don't live in that town. Now, the one thing is would be interesting for like kids nowadays to watch is that like this is very indicative of the 80s. Like, these kids just roam around the town free, like no one's watching them. They just ran around and had fun without parental supervision, and they just had a blast and you know killed people, but you know, whatever. There weren't. I'll get to that part. In the end, the kids get found out and and captured. So the one girl is babysitting, it's supposed to be baby, okay. High school girl is babysitting, and she kind of knows what's going on, and she captures the two boys, and the little girl escapes with her mom's help. And like her mom doesn't do it, like her mom understands what is going on. Like, I think her mom suspects it. Now, okay, this little girl killed your husband and your older daughter, and you're just like, Yeah, we're we're just gonna get away. So she takes it all away, and of course, the little girl starts killing people again. It's bad parenting, is what it is. So, one of the biggest names in this movie had a super tiny part. There's a guy, Joe Penny, who plays a teacher who seems to take a bit more than proper interest in one of his students, but that that was never explored at all. Joe, if you're my age, you would remember him from a TV show called Riptide, and then a little bit after that, a show called Jake and the Fat Man. Again, they were both. And he was also in a series of like TV movies after that. And then there was a child actor from the 80s and early 90s. His current name is Billy Jane, but in the 80s and 90s, he went by uh Billy Jacobs. He was a child actor who was in Cujo, just one of the guys, and uh Parker Lewis can't lose. He still acts today, um, but I think he was bigger and better well known, or more well known when he was a child actor. Alright, that is the end of this episode. And uh don't forget, if you enjoyed this, tell your friends, your neighbors, or maybe if you didn't like the episode, tell your enemies. And so the previous episode, I asked you to try to figure out what movies I I was going to talk about in this episode because it was about birthdays. I wonder how you guys did. And then next episode, since that will be preceding Mother's Day, it will have a mother's theme to it. Let's see if you can figure out what movies I might be talking about in episode 18. Have fun out there.