Rating: 2/5
Julia (Trish Everly) grew up with a sadistic twin Mary (Allison Biggers), who tormented her and threatened her with her big scary dog
Years later, Julia is a teacher for deaf children, and Mary is in an institution, severely disfigured from some disease — clearly, an excuse to have two different-looking actors on screen. Mary manages to escape, reconnect with her dog somehow, and sics the dog on a killing spree — guests for the birthday party
This movie kills indiscriminately — one of the victims is one of Julia’s deaf pupils. Notably, it takes time for the kids in her class to mourn his death and talk about what they liked about him, and it’s such a genuinely affecting scene
The movie clumsily introduces a friend an hour in to go and stay with Julia so that the friend can be murdered instead of Julia. And, of course, this friend is blonde and beautiful and walks around the house in just a shirt
The third act is so similar to Happy Birthday to Me that it deflated a bit for me. Add to that the terrible blocking and structure, and it falls apart. For the gore hounds — ha, hounds — you get a power drill in a dog’s head and a meaty axing to someone’s back, but you sickos can determine if that’s enough for you to watch this movie
I love horror movies — they bring out the worst parts of us. This one had a lot of potential, but it couldn’t figure out a way to stick the landing