Happy Birthday to Me
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Movie Reviews of Happy Birthday to Me
Movie Review: this isn't Little House on the Prairie
Summary: 4 Stars
Melissa Sue Anderson gives a thought-provoking, if not over-the-top (and rather melodramatic) performance as the troubled and embattled Ginny Wainwright, in this '80s slasher film. The movie is almost like watching one really long home-video of a group of young college kids who get their comeuppance by a macabre killer. This is not the typical '80s slasher though because the film is notable for a bunch of reasons. First, we get to see Melissa Anderson in a new and exciting role; she's no longer playing the blind schoolmarm and for the first time really has a substantial role that people this century can relate to. She's a little theatrical, but that's just her way, and I love how she delivers her lines, as if she were reciting Shakespeare. The movie is also notable for its graphic murder scenes, which for its time was becoming more and more common. And finally, the movie is always going to make an impression because of its twist ending. You have to stay with it until the very end because I can assure you that nothing is how it appears.Movie Review: Creative Slasher that satisfies.
Summary: 4 Stars
"Happy Birthday To Me" isn't going to win an Oscar or any other Hollywood awards BUT~!! It is a good slasher flick.
Creative for the genre ,a genre that I love.I hear people complain that theres not enough blood or gore in it ,blah blah blah..but I am a die hard slasher fan and it satisfied me.
The kills are creative and the plot has some good twists and a satisfying ending ,you have your jock ,nerd, popular girl, new girl, and all the usual suspects .Glen Ford lends his talent and name to make this movie more credible , and you also have Mellisa Sue Anderson of Little House On The Prairie fame as the heroine .and a young Tracey E Bregman of The Young & The Restless who gives an impressive performance.
Instead of the woods you have a collage campus as the setting.If your into 80's slashers this movie satisfies, it's a must for the collector.
Movie Review: Happy Birthday to Me - An Exciting 80's Slasher Movie
Summary: 4 Stars
I was quite pleased with Happy Birthday to Me. Let me just say it is NOT a blockbuster movie. But for 1981, it wasn't half bad. The special effects were kind of cheesey, however, the acting for it's time was pretty good. I'm sure that nowaday's with the same plot, and maybe a different title(cuz the title is kinda corney) this movie would do excellently.
I was not impressed with the death count however. Almost half the over-sexed, booze induced kids lived. However, the plot, kind of over shadows that. The viewer is definatly wondering, "What the hell is going on?" And also "Where is this movie going?".
I will say one thing without spoiling the movie, I now know where Wes Craven found the idea for Scream 3!
Overall, Good movie, Excellent plot, Good Acting, However low death Count. 4 Stars!
Movie Review: Amazingly awful
Summary: 4 Stars
It's definitely not the most spectacular horror movie, but it's full of ridiculous twists and non-sensical plot lines.
A must watch for a lover of the corny classic horror movie.
Movie Review: Good movie, but the DVD...
Summary: 3 Stars
Hollywood is a tough town. All one need do is look at the career of J. Lee Thompson to prove this statement. This is the guy who directed "Cape Fear," not the remake with Nolte and De Niro but the frightening original with Peck and Mitchum. As the years went by things began to turn south for Thompson. Things got so bad that he ended up directing pictures for Cannon, the company that churned out all of those low budget, ultraconservative shoot 'em action films in the 1980s with the likes of Chuck Norris, Michael Dudikoff, and Charles Bronson in the lead roles. In fact, Thompson and Bronson worked together on several of these potboilers, including "10 to Midnight," "Death Wish 4: The Crackdown," and "Kinjite: Forbidden Secrets." By the time Thompson passed away in 2002, only critics remembered him for his earlier, more important efforts. But Thompson made another crucial contribution to American film, specifically American horror films, when he lensed the 1981 slasher flick "Happy Birthday to Me." Why is this motion picture worth mentioning? Because it is one of the few giallo films made outside of Italy--and made by an Englishman.
Virginia Wainwright (Melissa Sue Anderson) just wants to fit in at the Crawford Academy, one of those noxious private schools filled to the rafters with snotty rich kids. Ginny, as Virginia is known to her friends, does manage to worm her way into a group called "The Top 10," which apparently refers to the ten biggest jerks in school. It's a bit surprising Ginny pulled off this social coup since a car accident that claimed the life of her mother put her in the hospital with a brain injury. Only now is she slowly reintegrating herself back into society, with the occasional help of her psychiatrist Dr. David Faraday (Glenn Ford) to see her through the rough patches. Ginny needs the shrink more than she knows because she's starting to experience a few bizarre problems. She sees things others don't see on occasion, and she wonders why a game involving members of the Top 10 jumping their cars over a drawbridge should bother her so much. Faraday tells her the trauma to her brain, and the subsequent operation, is causing a repression of memories. Not to worry, claims Faraday, as the memories will slowly surface and allow Ginny to recall what happened during the fatal accident.
There's a problem, though. Someone is going around killing off the members of the Top 10 in particularly heinous ways. From what we gather during the murder scenes, the killer is someone these kids know. Whoever it is, he or she has a deranged mind. For example, loudmouth troublemaker Steve (Matt Craven) expires when the killer shoves a shish kebob through his mouth. Hotshot motorcyclist Etienne (Michael Rene LaBelle) perishes when the killer tosses his scarf into the spinning wheel of his motorbike--unfortunately while Etienne is still wearing the scarf. Another scene reinforces the importance of always having a spotter while lifting weights. Both guys and girls in the Top 10 fall prey to this killer, and their bodies disappear soon after the awful deed is done. Potential suspects range from a disturbed member of the group with a penchant for gooey special effects to an administrator at the school who hates the Top Ten to...just about anyone, really. Virginia fears she might be the one behind the killings due to possible problems with her surgery. The truth, which comes in a denouement that is as unbelievable as it is massively entertaining and deranged, contains more twists and turns than a mountain highway.
I mentioned that Thompson's film classifies as a giallo. If you aren't familiar with the term, I'm about to assign some homework for you. The word "giallo" translates as "yellow" in Italian and refers to the color used for the covers of cheap mystery paperbacks sold in that country years ago. A giallo mystery as translated onto celluloid by the likes of Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Dario Argento, and many others usually contained several crucial elements. First, the killer wears black gloves and black clothing. Second, we see the murder take place from the murderer's point of view. Third, the killings are imaginative and stylish, with lots of blood and lots of color thrown around. Fourth, nearly every character is a suspect. Fifth, red herrings pointing at said suspects abound. Every few minutes the viewer thinks he or she has the culprit nailed down only to discover seconds later another possible suspect. Sixth, a major character--either the murderer or the hero or heroine of the film--will experience flashbacks to an earlier event that provides clues to the murderers identity, or a reason why the killings are happening. "Happy Birthday to Me" contains nearly all of these elements. The conclusion to Thompson's film is so giallo that Dario Argento would weep with joy if he ever saw it. Go watch some gialli and compare.
As a cursory examination of the reviews pertaining to the DVD version of this film will show, the studio releasing the disc decided to cut corners by replacing the original score with a cheesy dance soundtrack. Worse, the DVD cover resembles in no way, shape, or form the original shish kebob in the mouth movie poster. Even worse, the only extras on the disc consist of trailers for other films, namely "Identity," "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and "Resident Evil: Apocalypse." While I never saw the film before watching the DVD, I do remember the creepy television spots for the movie and would have liked to see them on the disc. I enjoyed the movie a lot, but I'm going to fall in line with my fellow horror fans and give the DVD three stars due to these problems. No studio should EVER mess around with a film's original content. Watch with caution.