A Disappointing Continuation

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This movie was part of a Down Under horror mini-boom that took place for some reason in late 1970's and early 1980's and included some pretty decent if low-watt films like "The Survivor", "Thirst", and "Razorback". It was kind of a little late therefore in getting into the whole satanic cult craze that started with "Rosemary's Baby" in the late 1960's. The cult in this movie though is not technically a satanic cult, but a Druid cult relocated from the British Isles, and they aren't trying to pass the devil's seed into an oblivious virgin, but some kind of ancient centuries-old spirit.The movie starts with a Ouija board session, involving "Alison" the teenage protagonist, that goes horribly awry. One of Alison's friends starts speaking in her dead father's voice. She/he warns "Alison" not to "go with them" on her nineteenth birthday. Then a bookcase falls on the possessed friend, killing her. You would think she would heed this very compelling warning several years later on her nineteenth birthday when her creepy "uncle and aunt" invite her out to their country estate for a party, but then we wouldn't have much of a movie, would we? Once there "Alison", who is not the sharpest tool in the garage, is remarkably unperturbed to see that her relatives have a miniature of Stonehenge on their property. And what's up with her dessicated 104-year-old great grandmother?Her slightly smarter friends eventually find the truth and ride to her rescue, and they turn out to be every bit as effective as Scatman Crothers in "The Shining". The ending is great and ALMOST redeems the occasional absurdities and periodic lulls of the earlier parts of the movie. Still, all in all, this isn't a bad little horror flick from the land of Oz.

The film has a decent script and cast, nothing too outstanding but certainly can stand on it's own.Don't be fooled by the tag-line "Satan's only gift is death" as this has nothing to do with Satan, and there are no naked women in this movie.Actually come to think of it I am now wondering why this movie got a 18 certificate in the UK as there is as far as I can remember from just watching it; No Gore, No Nudity, No Sex(except it is slightly implied that they 'did it' when then are lying in bed together in one scene), No Bad Language and minimal violence.It's actually a pretty safe film except for the supernatural plot which the more religious 'may' have a problem with. But nothing that Buffy hasn't done, in fact I'd say if this was resubmitted now it would have no problem getting away with a PG certificate.But this doesn't mean it's a bad movie, as I've said it has a decent script and cast and everything is done quite competently even if it doesn't come near raising the bar it's a perfectly acceptable watch for it's 95 minute running time keeping up a good air of menace.4/10

A sixteen-year-old named Alison and two friends play "ask the glass," a variation on Ouija, played here on a glass table, using square tiles featuring numbers and the alphabet arranged in a circle, and two titles for yes and no in the middle, and an upturned glass as a planchette. A warning is spelled out for Alison from her deceased father, who is then pushed out by some other power. The girl he briefly possessed snatches a circular amulet from Alison's neck, then is crushed by a bookcase.Close to Alison's nineteenth birthday, she goes to visit her aunt and uncle. Her boyfriend tries to continue visiting her, but the family tries to keep him away. Alison discovers a miniature (though still large) stonehenge in a secret garden, has nightmares, and gets hypnotized. The boyfriend tries to do some research about the name Mirne, which the warning mentioned, and also Alison's real family.The stonehenge is neat, and I liked that a character takes the time to do research. However, the movie on the whole is on the boring side. The picture quality on the video is not terribly good either. The VidAmerica videobox is sort of a warning: the cover features a drawing, and the back has no pictures from the movie.

An on screen caption informs us 'Alison - Sixteen years, Four months'. Alison Findlay (Joanne Samuel) & two of her school friends, Chrissie Willis (Margie McCrae) & Maureen Tate (Julie Wilson) are holding a séance. Spooky things begin to happen & Chrissie becomes possessed with Alison's dead Father's spirit who warns her about what will happen on her nineteenth birthday. Chrissie is crushed to death by a bookcase that falls on her. The credits roll & then another on screen caption now helpfully informs us 'Alison - Eighteen years, Eleven months, Twenty Six days'. As Alison's nineteenth birthday fast approaches her Aunt Jenny (Bunny Brooke as Bunney Brooke), who along with her Uncle Dean (John Bluthal) brought Alison up when her parent died while she was a baby, phones her & invites Alison to her childhood home for her birthday. Alison agrees as Jenny also informs her that her Uncle is ill & has only a short time to live. Alison decides to take along her boyfriend Peter Healy (Lou Brown, the IMDb is wrong as Peter is not Alison's uncle, it's definitely Uncle Dean), they travel down & at first things are fine as Alison remembers her childhood & is reunited with Jenny & Dean, Alison is untroubled by the miniature Stone Hendge at the bottom of their garden. But that night Alison has terrible nightmares & wakes up to find a 103 year old woman (Marion Johns) in a wheelchair by the side of her bed. Jenny & Dean claim that the woman is her Grandmother they never told her about, despite this Alison still thinks everything is fine. Peter becomes suspicious when Uncle Dean warns him to stay away from Alison for a couple of days, Peter tries to see Alison but is told a phony excuse about her having nervous exhaustion by a dodgy looking Doctor named Jeremy Lyall (Vincent Ball) who when questioned is very evasive. When Peter forcibly tries to remove Alison the police are called & he is arrested. Peter decides to investigate further & visits a friend named Sally Brown (Lisa Peers) who seems to be some sort of astrologer, Peter mentions the name Mirne, the name Alison mentioned from her nightmare. Sally looks in a book & authoritatively says that Mirne was in ancient Celtic mythology a powerful female demon worshipped by Celtic magicians & was said to dwell in stone. Things turn nasty quickly for both Peter as he unearth's some sinister & shocking facts, & for Alison as her Aunt & Uncle have special plans for her nineteenth birthday party...Written & directed by Ian Coughlan Alison's Birthday is as dull as dishwater & as exciting as watching paint dry, I was bored to tears. The script is so slow it's untrue, the script goes for psychological terror totally ignoring the exploitative possibilities, & it fails completely which is no surprise. There is no suspense or tension & everything is so uninteresting & just plain dull. Nothing exciting, scary, gory or interesting happens until the last ten or so minutes when there is a decent climax & twist ending, unfortunately for Alison's Birthday this is far too little, far too late. Not one single drop of blood is spilt throughout, there is no nudity or bad language either & while these things aren't necessary for a horror film to be either good or entertaining they sure as hell help & since Alison's Birthday is so drawn out & dull some decent exploitation elements would have livened things up considerably. As it is Alison's Birthday is one of the most boring uneventful films I've seen. The film is also very flat & basic in terms of production values, it's not a poorly made made film but it isn't a particularly well made one either which makes it even more painful to sit through. Another minus against Alison's Birthday is that it is an Australian produced film & therefore everyone have annoying accents (G'day mate want to come to me barbie?), sorry but it's true! I can't think of a single good feature about Alison's Birthday by which I could recommend it. I pretty much hate this film, no matter how cheap you may be able to pick this up for don't bother unless your an insomniac that is. Guaranteed to have most people reaching for the 'stop' or 'fastforward' buttons well before it's anywhere near finished, do yourself a favour & avoid Alison's Birthday. Trust me you'll be glad you did.