Happy Birthday to Me
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Movie Reviews of Happy Birthday to Me
Movie Review: like a bad car wreck i can't turn away from this cheese "slasher" movie
Summary: 3 Stars
the movie is bad,i mean real bad. murders happen in ways that would never happen in real life and i counted at least 3 if not 4 "twists" in the last 10 min. alone. the acting is bad,but like i said i watch this one many times and kind of like it. well there you have it i guess i have to say i like it some.Movie Review: OK
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie was just ok, I like it more when I was a teen.Movie Review: Pray you're not invited to the party...
Summary: 2 Stars
If you've seen this film before, and recently purchased the DVD release, popped it into your player, and got the creeping feeling of something being not quite right, you're not alone... the movie on this disc is not the same as when originally released as the studio releasing this film to DVD has changed some of the musical scoring (substituting an inappropriate disco-like score in some parts)...I'm having the strangest sense of déjà vu...oh wait, a similar thing was done on the recent DVD release of Return of the Living Dead II (different studio). Seems kind of sad that for what has to be one of the biggest markets for DVDs (the United States), you'd think companies could see fit to try and preserve the original elements of a film, rather than changing it (for whatever reason), releasing it (without any warnings or notice of change on the packaging), and slapping a hefty price tag on the box (this DVD is one of the more expensive one's I've seen in awhile).
Happy Birthday to Me (1981), directed by J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Death Wish 4: The Crackdown), stars Little House on the Prairie's own Melissa Sue Anderson in one of her few film appearances (she mostly works in the medium of television). Also appearing is Glenn Ford (Blackboard Jungle), Lawrence Dane (Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman) along with small group of young actors, some I've seen before (Jack Blum and Matt Craven both appeared in Meatballs, as the characters Spaz and Hardware, respectively, and Lenore Zann appeared in a handful of films, including another 80's slasher film Visiting Hours, before transitioning to television, now earning a living doing mostly voiceover work), and some I haven't (I see some actors credits include having appeared in various soap operas since the film, but since I have a job I don't have the opportunity to experience the wonderment that is daytime TV).
Anderson plays Virginia `Ginny' Wainwright, a young woman, returning to the small town of Crawford, along with her father, after a somewhat mysterious absence. She attends the prestigious Crawford Academy, a local private school, and being academically gifted, soon finds herself included among the Top Ten, a cliquish group that seem to do just about everything together...INCLUDING DYING! Ooops, sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself...anyway, it seems Ginny's absence has something to do with a recent psychologically and/or physically damaging incident, one she's now repressing, but has been getting help from her shrink, Dr. David Faraday (Ford). As the memories begin to free themselves from Ginny's subconscious mental morass, her classmates begin suffering strange and horrible deaths (death by motorcycle, crushing weights, and shis-kabob) at the hands of someone they know (we often get the view of the killer's perspective, with the intended, unassuming victim making some kind of statement like, `oh, it's you'). The deaths are very real, but the bodies always seem to disappear, leading police to believe the victims are just missing, and not necessarily dead. Who is killing off Crawford's top students and why?
First off, I think the students portrayed here were supposed to be in college, but they suffered from the `Beverly Hills 90212' syndrome, a common affliction in the world of Hollywood, in that the actors looked a bit older than the characters they were supposed to be playing. That said, I think most everyone in the film did a pretty good job. The characters, while mostly there as fodder, didn't appear stupid and transparent, as is common in many of the slasher films I've seen, so credit does go to the writers and the director. And while the movie does fall squarely within the slasher film genre of the time, it seems to try and elevate itself above many films in the genre by providing a stronger story, rather than just killing (pardon the pun) time between the murders. In fact, the film reminded me a lot of those Bette Davis or even Joan Crawford horror films of the early to mid 60's (director Thompson's extensive experience in film shows through in this aspect), except that Melissa Sue Anderson is no Davis or Crawford. The various `red herrings' thrown around seemed a little clunky, especially since the clues (there were a few, looking back now) pointing towards the identity of the murderer were really vague and not very helpful. The various murders were pretty spectacular (a few of these scenes were originally cut before theatrical release to satisfy the ratings board...too bad they couldn't have gathered the parts cut out, extending these scenes, releasing an unrated version). The film does move along well, creating some suspenseful moments, but I felt the ending, while definitely over the top and worth sticking around for, ultimately hurt the movie, as it heaps a multitude of scenarios before spilling its' guts (another pun), ultimately asking the viewer to accept quite a bit when the killer's true identity is revealed.
The wide screen anamorphic print (1:85:1) provided on this DVD does look pretty good, and the audio (Dolby Digital 1.0) is clear for the most part. Special features are few, but included in the case is a reproduction of the original poster art (the thrown together DVD cover art really stinks...why is the girl's eye glowing? Is she possessed by a demon? There's nothing like that in the film). Also included are trailers for some other Columbia releases like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Identity, and Resident Evil: Apocalypse, but not one for this film. All in all, I would have been willing to give 3 ½ or four stars for this release, had the studio not neglected its' audience by plugging in a shoddy musical score and found a way to keep it intact as it was originally released. Subsequently, I can only go as high as 2 stars...and that's too bad...
Cookieman108
Movie Review: Ah, the good ole 80's slasher...with twist after twist!
Summary: 2 Stars
"Happy Birthday to Me" is not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, one could even say that it is not that good, but is there any denying that this movie is a product of the 1980's slasher movement in horror movies? Either you like 80's slasher movies or you do not...either way this movie is part and parcel of 1980's horror cinema.
When I first saw this movie when I was a kid, I did not find it to be scary then, nor do I find it scary now some 25 years later. With that being said, "Happy Birthday to Me" is a dark little tale full of surprises. First, you have the "who dunnit" theme working quite well throughout the movie, and by the end of the movie you have another couple of twists that kind of surprise you in a funny kind of way. Basically, "Happy Birthday to Me" is about a girl who has trouble remembering a dark moment in her past when her friends did not come to her birthday party...he mother was quite angry about it. Now, she's still got her friends, but they are dropping like flies in this movie one by one. There are quite a few gruesome (although not necessarily realistic) "death" scenes which will keep the gore hound fairly satisfied. The suspense is decent, but drags a little bit with flashbacks and the movie seems to have a "tongue in cheek" quality to it rather than a purely horror characterization.
The ending in my opinion was kind of lame, but some people will love it for sure. The movie does keep you guessing at least to a certain degree, but not enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. Overall, "Happy Birthday to Me" is not a great suspense flick or horror movie by any stretch of the imagination. Sure, there are plenty of surprises, but surprises only go so far in a movie like this...it takes more than some kills, a "who dunnit" plot and a bunch of twists to make a good horror movie. Clearly, the acting is kind of bland and that includes Ms. Little House on the Prairie too. "Happy Birthday to Me" is definitely missing something. There is some character development, but the weakness of the cast is very evident and certainly hinders this movie in this regard and overall as well. However, "Happy Birthday to Me" does just enough to keep you watching and has decent enough kills to keep the horror movie honest. All and all, this is really a very average horror movie which is best appreciated by someone who lived through the 80's, and appreciates the horror genre during this time period. You probably won't get scared by this one, but you might enjoy this flick for its nostalgia, 80s cheese and classic slasher pattern if nothing else. So, will this group of early 20 somethings find out who the killer is before they are all killed off? And, why are they being killed? Who is the killer? And what does the lead character's loss of memory have to do with any of this? The answers to all of these questions and more will be revealed in this 80s slasherfest, "Happy Birthday to Me".
Movie Review: Cry blasphemy!!
Summary: 2 Stars
I, like every horror movie enthusiast, eagerly awaited the arrival of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME" on DVD. After repeated viewings, I've grown to appreciate this early predecessor to Wes Craven's "SCREAM". That film gave absolutely no credit to this as being one of the rare horror films that redefined the many plot twists, in-jokes and even a few red herrings so popular now in this genre. Now, Columbia/TriStar did the unthinkable: they completely ditched the chilling Lance Rubin/Bo Harwood score in favor of a pointless, even cliched new score. How bad is it? They even play a mock-Olivia Newton-John song to run in the opening credits!!!
How dare they?! This film had one of the finest scores for any horror film and then some! Did Columbia/TriStar completely assume that we, the smart buying public, wouldn't notice? Or did they have so little faith in the buying power of this film, that they decided to take us for idiots!!
I accepted the cheesy "girl posing with a knife in the birthday cake" art on the cover because, by today's standards, the original 1980 cover design is a little too disturbing. (They at least had the good sense to include it in the DVD's case) But why in the sweet name of Peter, did they foul up a perfectly good score?! It almost makes the film unwatchable.
P.S. Anyone reading this, should start a letter campaign to Sony Pictures, demanding they release "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME" with the original score! Whose with me?