Alison's Birthday
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''Alison's Birthday'' is a 1981 Australian
supernatural horror film Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of supernatural film and horror film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common them ...
, written and directed by Ian Coughlan, produced by the
Australian Film Commission The Australian Film Commission (AFC) was an Australian government agency was founded in 1975 with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a product ...
, Fontana Films and the
Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
, and starring
Joanne Samuel Joanne Samuel is an Australian film and television actress, who is best known for her role as the screen wife of Mel Gibson's title character in the 1979 film ''Mad Max''. Early life and education Joanne Samuel was born in Camperdown, Sydney, ...
, Lou Brown,
Bunney Brooke Bunney Brooke (9 January 1925 – 2 April 2000), born as Dorothy Jean Cronin, was an Australian actress, creator, producer, director, designer, playwright and casting agent, best known for her being one of the early faces of Australian televis ...
,
John Bluthal John Bluthal (born Isaac Bluthal; 12 August 1929 – 15 November 2018) was a Polish-born Australian actor and comedian, noted for his six-decade career internationally in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. He started his care ...
, and
Vincent Ball Vincent Martin Ball, (born 4 December 1923) is an Australian retired actor of film, theatre and radio active in the industry for nearly 55 years (with a brief return) firstly in Britain starting in the late 1940s and then his native Australia ...
. It follows a teenage girl who finds herself the subject of a sinister ritual planned to take place on her 19th birthday.


Plot

Sixteen-year-old Alison Findlay, along with two of her female classmates, Chrissie and Maureen, play with a
ouija board The Ouija ( , ), also known as a Ouija board, spirit board, talking board, or witch board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", and occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along ...
. During the session, Chrissie apparently becomes
possessed Possessed may refer to: Possession * Possession (disambiguation), having some degree of control over something else ** Spirit possession, whereby gods, demons, animas, or other disincarnate entities may temporarily take control of a human body *** ...
by an entity claiming to be Alison's father, warning her that something bad will occur on her 19th birthday. Moments later, a bookcase collapses on Chrissie, killing her. Nearly three years later, Alison has her boyfriend Pete accompany her to their hometown for her 19th birthday. Alison returns to the home of her Aunt Jenny and Uncle Dean, both of whom raised Alison from infancy after her parents died in a car accident. Near their home, Alison discovers a large stone construct in the woods resembling
Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...
. Uncle Dean tells Alison the construct was built by the home's previous owner, who was an enthusiast of ancient history. Later that night, Alison is awoken in bed by a strange elderly woman whom she does not know. Her Aunt Jenny informs Alison that the woman is Alison's 103-year-old Grandmother Thorne, whom she has never met. Dean and Jenny take an immediate dislike to Pete, and make numerous attempts to keep him away from Alison. However, Pete remains persistent in visiting her. To prevent him from returning, Dean and Jenny drug Alison, causing her to fall ill, and summon a false doctor to diagnose her. The imposter physician prescribes that she stay home and avoid visitors. That night, Pete breaks into the home to rescue Alison, but is stopped by the doctor and Dean who subdue and drug them both. Jenny and Dean manage to coach the inebriated Alison into telling the police that Pete has been
stalking Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance or contact by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitorin ...
her, causing him to be arrested. After Pete is freed on bail the following day, he begins researching the details of Alison's birthparents at the library. Along with the help of his friend Sally, a freelancing
astrologer Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...
with some education on the
occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...
, he determines that Alison's aunt and uncle are in fact not her aunt and uncle at all, but members of a
Celt The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...
ic
cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...
who kidnapped her from the hospital as a child based on her birth time, which was exactly 19:00 (7:00 p.m.). Pete surmises that Dean and Jenny plan to
sacrifice Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Gree ...
Alison to a Celtic
demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...
named Mirna, who is commonly associated with the number 19. Pete and Sally suspect that Mirna inhabits the body of Grandmother Thorne. Pete is accosted by members of the cult who attempt to kill him in an abandoned cemetery, but he manages to escape. Armed with a pistol and a
crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...
, Pete returns to Dean and Jenny's home that night to stop the ritual, and finds Alison at the stone monolith in the woods along with Jenny, Dean, and other supposed family members—including Grandmother Thorne—all donning
druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. The druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no wr ...
shawls. Alison pleads for Pete to throw the crucifix at the cultists to deter them. He agrees, and the two flee through the forest. In a clearing, Pete trips and falls, dropping his gun. Alison retrieves it, only to tell him that he was too late—the cultists have already completed their soul transference, resulting in Mirna inhabiting the young Alison's body, while Alison's soul is now inhabiting the infirm body of Grandmother Thorne. She proceeds to shoot Pete to death. When police arrive, Dean, Jenny, and Alison (now Mirna) assure them that Pete had arrived to crash Alison's birthday party with nefarious intentions, planning to kidnap her, and accidentally died in a scuffle when his gun discharged. Based on Pete's arrest the night before, detectives believe the story to be true. After police leave, Jenny and Dean visit Grandmother Thorne (now Alison) as she awakens in her bed. Alison is initially oblivious to what has occurred, but screams in horror when she sees her aged hands, realizing that her soul has been transferred to the 104-year-old body of Grandmother Thorne.


Cast


Production

The film was shot in Sydney and other New South Wales locations, over three weeks in January and February 1979.


Release

''Alison's Birthday'' was released in Australia on 26 December 1981.


Critical response

Meaghan Morris of the ''
Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...
'' deemed the film a "letdown" overall, but conceded that it was "well made, mildly entertaining, and occasionally funny." The film was nominated for various Australian film awards, including one for "Best Performance For a Male" for Vincent Ball.


Home media

The film was released on
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
in the United States by
Severin Films Severin Films is an American independent film production and distribution company known for restoring and releasing cult films on DVD and Blu-ray. It is considered a boutique Blu-ray and DVD label. History The label was created in 2006 in Los A ...
in December 2021 as part of their box set "All the Haunts Be Ours", a compendium of various international
folk horror Folk horror is a subgenre of horror film and horror fiction that uses elements of folklore to invoke fear and foreboding. Typical elements include a rural setting, isolation, and themes of superstition, folk religion, paganism, Human sacrifice, sa ...
films.


References


Sources

* *


External links

*{{IMDb title, 0078751
''Alison's Birthday''
at Oz Movies 1981 films 1981 horror films 1981 independent films 1980s supernatural horror films Australian independent films Australian supernatural horror films Films about body swapping Demons in film Films about birthdays Films about consciousness transfer Films about cults Films about orphans Films about spirit possession Films based on Celtic mythology Folk horror films 1980s English-language films English-language horror films Ouija