\”**_Born under a bad sign_** In a Southern Cal town people are dying in curious circumstances with everything pointing to some unlikely culprits. “Bloody Birthday” (1981) mixes the killer kid genre with slasher flick and works well enough. It came out a few years before the “Children of the Corn” series started, but it’s not like there weren’t plenty of predecessors going back to the early 60s. For instance, the Star Trek TV series had two episodes with sinister children, “Miri” and “The Children Shall Lead.” Then there’s “The Brood,” which debuted a couple years earlier. Elizabeth Hoy (Debbie) and Billy Jayne (Curtis) are particularly effective as the diabolical offspring. Meanwhile Julie Brown stands out on the feminine front as Beverly with a memorable scene reminiscent of Tom Cruise in “Risky Business” (1983), if you know what I mean. As far as the protagonist goes, Lori Lethin is winsome as Joyce with her Dorothy Hamill hairdo. There are a couple of memorable scenes, like Timmy locked in the metal cabinet and the junkyard sequence. The movie runs 1 hour, 25 minutes, and was shot in Glendale, California, which borders Los Angeles to the north and is east of Burbank. GRADE: B-”

Wuchak