The first 20 plus minutes of this film remind you of John Carpenter's ability to make you feel you are in a small scale apocalypse. This is one of his best openings. After the children are conceived this movie falls off a cliff. After the apocalyptic opening this movie becomes the least interesting film Carpenter has ever made. There are many decisions that would have made this movie more interesting and none of them are made. The children in this film start evil, and end evil. There is no in between, no reason why these adults shouldn't just try to kill them right away. There is no explanation as to why the mothers, who immaculately conceived these children, want to keep them either. A lot of the actors feel like they are in different films, making it harder to invest in any of them. There are fleeting moments and some merits to be had. Christopher Reeve acts well and his scene of confrontation with the children is one of the better moments. George Buck Flower also has a memorable moment and brings some energy to this film that otherwise has the energy of a sloth. The widescreen cinematography in northern California looks nice and provides a nice setting. That being said, of all the films of Carpenter's I've seen this is my least favorite. Even THE WARD was more exciting to watch than this was.
The opening to this film oozes atmospheric supernatural horror. The aerial shots and the kinetic camera movements through the mountains. One of Carpenter's better scores from his late period work to increase the ambience. I like seeing all the different characters we will see in the movie. This is exactly the way Carpenter would start a lot of his other films. Long credits, fundamentally explaining the story to come, and establishing the atmosphere through music and images rather than a lot of exposition. I enjoyed seeing the town fair and seeing these houses in this small but dense town. Once again no one makes more framable widescreen images than Carpenter. The moment where Christopher Reeve and Michael Pare's characters see each other at the gas station and know each other was a nice touch as well. People in smaller towns often do always know each other and that made it feel more real. There are aspects of the blackout and aftermath that are enjoyable. The practical effect of the man who gets grilled to death is one of the better effects and scarier images in a movie. It is also a great sci-fi film setup.
From here the movie really stumbles. The dreams these women have look and feel nonsensical because there is no explanation as to what makes them want to keep these babies. Once they have them the film never says whether or not they are growing up faster and there is not enough of the parents being concerned about their children not emotions. Some aspects of Carpenter's filmmaking history would suggest this "cut to the chase" approach can work. There are many of his films where romance happens quickly. In THE FOG and PRINCE OF DARKNESS men and women introduce themselves to each other and in the next scene we see them lying in bed. That approach can work, but this film has so little interest or conflict that not developing the relationships with these children and their parents feels like a missed opportunity.
A look at Lindsey Haun as Mara and the glowing eyes that the children show when they are using their powers.
The idea of the children in this film not having empathy or emotions actually makes them less scary. When they go into psychokinesis mode all the film really shows is them staring with some orange or green contact lenses in their eyes making one of the adults do something to hurt or kill themselves. It would have been more enjoyable if these kids had some personality. It would be more scary if they were doing it on purpose rather than some kind of base reaction to being hurt or threatened. It makes every adult interaction where they show emotion or do the slightest wrong by accident around these children too predictable. BLOODY BIRTHDAY is a film with mischievous killer children. There is a scene where one of the kids poisons a cake and tricks one of the main characters into giving the adults a cake that isn't actually poisoned. Nothing like that ever happens in this film. Everyone seems to think these kids are evil. There is no conflict with any parents wanting to love their kids or trying to get them to feel emotion.
The only hints of conflict in this film that do have some payoff are with the character of David (Thomas Dekker). David shows more emotion than the other kids. One of the kids' mothers, Melanie (Meredith Salenger) had a child that was stillborn. All the kids have a different person that they bond together with except for David. There is a touching scene where David talks to Alan about the death of his wife, Barbara, whom Mara forced to commit suicide with her psychic powers. They hold hands at the graveyard. The conflict with David could have been stronger if Michael Pare's character would have been left alive at the beginning of the film. There would have been more of a chance David would have broken away from the other children sooner. Linda Kozlowski, as Jill, gives one of the better performances in the movie as her genuine love for David and the conflict she feels about him taking the side of the other children comes across on screen.
CROCODILE DUNDEE's Linda Kozlowski gives a standout performance as Jill
Some other highlights for me include the scene where George Buck Flower goes into the classroom and threatens the kids. His death is one of the most memorable as he drives his truck into a nice miniature model gas tank for an explosion. The scene where the national guard and police show up at the end and and are forced to shoot each other is a well done action scene. Again this shows that the children aren't that scary because that is a scene of action rather than something scary. The children using their powers in this reminds me more of X-MEN and less of CARRIE. The difference is in CARRIE, the characters actually had some personality. Carrie as a character was more interesting and unpredictable than all of these kids. The suspense scene with the bucket at the prom in that film is more suspenseful than any of the scenes where the children use their powers in this movie. I also enjoy the scene where Alan finally confronts Mara about what the children actually are. They have an interesting showdown where Mara talks about only wanting to survive and Alan comes back at her saying that not being able to feel anything makes us superior.
Carpenter mainstay George Buck Flower gives a committed performance as Carlton, the school janitor
The heart of this film really is in the relationships between the characters of Jill, Alan, and David, and how they all oppose Mara. Mark Hamill as the minister and Kirstie Alley as Dr. Susan Verner feel like they are in different films. Kirstie Alley especially gives a wooden and stiff performance. The film does talk about different reports from different places where miraculous pregnancies have happened and children without empathy are born. This resulted in those town's complete destruction. The idea of Susan being able to hide the stillborn child from them for so long is an interesting idea on the surface but the film never develops the mind-blocking ability enough. Susan just says she can block her thoughts and we are supposed to with it. Later Alan develops the same ability and we just see a brick wall that is supposed to represent his thoughts.
Chrisopher Reeve as Dr. Alan Chaffee
SPOILER SECTION
The children have killed most of the parents at this point. The townspeople lead a lynch mob, FRANKENSTEIN style with torches and are forced to immolate themselves. The children then force the national guard and police to shoot each other. Alan resolves to destroy them, though he wants to make David safe by creating a distraction. He blocks off his thoughts long enough to bring a bomb into the vicinity of the children, hidden in a suitcase. David rebels against Mara so he and his mother can leave. Alan explodes with the bomb, killing the children.
I enjoyed aspects of this movie. Had the conflict with David been developed a little more I may have even been able to enjoy this enough to say it was average. The static nature of this film makes it really dull. The children never go through any changes. The adults know these children are evil, yet take way too long to decide to do anything about it. That could have worked if there was more conflict with them not wanting to kill or harm their own kids and trying to break through to them more. There are not enough interesting elements within the sci-fi elements to create anything there either. Linda Kozlowski shows great emotional range. Christopher Reeve gives a committed performance in his last one before his horse riding accident. The opening 20 minutes or so fit Carpenter's ability to create atmosphere to a tee. I enjoyed the mid-90s look as well. Apart from that this is a pedestrian effort, bereft of thrills, suspense, and not enough creativity.
Rating: 4/10
Trivia: This film was shot at John Carpenter's second home in Inverness, California. There was vandalism on the set as the locals didn't enjoy the attention. It soured Carpenter on living in the area. Parts of THE FOG were shot in the area as well.
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