Review of Happy Birthday to Me (1981) by Ian B — 15 Oct 2009

Another slightly above average slasher flick from the heyday of the genre. Thanks to a surprisingly good cast and Oscar nominated director, Happy Birthday to Me is better than most of its kind. Of course it's full of cliches and the usual "stalk and slash" stuff, but it's all enjoyable, and you can tell they really tried to put the emphasis on story and character rather than blood.

The poster promised "six of the most bizarre deaths you'll ever see", and sadly that couldn't be further from the truth. One or two are pretty out-there, but otherwise it's nothing we haven't seen before. Happy Birthday to Me is probably best remembered for one of the craziest "what the fuck?" endings of any horror film. The studio wasn't happy with the scripted ending and demanded a "twist" ending to be filmed at the 11th hour. And because of this it really doesn't make a lick of sense, but is still kinda cool. My vote would've gone to the simple ending that actually made sense within the story. Oh well, some love it, some hate it. I fall somewhere in between.

Happy Birthday to Me remains one of the more stylish and enjoyable slasher films to come out of the 80's thanks to the cast and director, but the ending will definitely put some people off. If your a fan of the genre and haven't seen this little gem, I recommend picking it up (it recently got re-released on DVD with its original score now fully intact).