Review of Happy Birthday to Me (1981) by Vince F — 15 Nov 2009

***outof****.

I love 80ies slashers. This one is a step up from the average slasher, with a bit more ambition and a classy execution. I remember seeing the AWESOME case of "John" getting skewered with the shish-ka bob when I was a kid, video renting, but never actually saw this until 3 years ago, upon it's original release to DVD. The horrid new artwork (some girl who isn't even in the movie holding a birthday cake with a knife in it, OOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!), and horrible audio and transfer hurt the movie. Apparently they altered the original soundtrack as well. Luckily, then they re-released a second DVD with original artwork and soundtrack in tacked, far superior transfer as well. I bought it for 12 dollars at HMV last night.

The is at first your basic flimsy slasher, with a black gloved, white sneaker wearing, skinny little psycho dispatching members of "The Top Ten", the school's most richest and smartest group of teens( and no wonder as they all look well into their 30es). Then the movie starts focusing in on Ginny, the birthday girl, who starts having visions(or nightmares, or flashbacks) of some strange, sinister event, and it may turn out that Ginny is a little nutso. The film continually hints that she maybe the killer? Eventually it's all resolved, in a crazy, wtf, virtuoso closing sequence type of way. I was smirking after it was over.

The deaths were a little odd for a slasher. I prefer the power tool/ butcher knife/ farm implement type stuff. Here the killer used more mundane objects like a motor bike wheel, weights, shish-ka bob stick, etc. Though the execution of the deaths were fun times! I especially liked the weight lifting scene. I also didn't mind the actors too much. In Slashers you usually despise the victims, but here the characters had good chemistry and it was fun seeing them doing all their little antics together. The driving over the bridge scene was fun as well as all their drinking and pot smoking.

The movie is pretty thin overall with visual style, but it's done with a grounded, sophisticated approach by the veteran director (who was responsible for the original Cape Fear) who moved the film along nicely and had some good vintage vibes from it as well. The vision sequences were done effectively, and I loved the audio they used in those scenes. Loved the disgusting brain surgery part as well.

The movie has many plot surprises, and I loved everyone of them, It just kept getting crazier and crazier. Some complaints would have to be that I wanted more of the top ten to die, some were asking for it and then just forgotten about,and wtf was that girl doing standing in the rain with a present? Did she die? That part annoyed me. Also, the character, Alfred, was suppose to be this rich, intelligent guy, but he looked like a bus station wino and had zero personality. Why would all these rich brats hang out with this creep? Also, the original score isn't nothing to go crazy about, it was pretty basic and generic. The film is also a bit to long, it easily could have cut off 15 minutes or so. The movie is a bit brain damaged as well, like the victims who just don't run away from the killer, and people not putting together simple logic for the service of the plot, but the unintentional side to it makes it funny and endearing, then annoying.

A decent slasher that tries to have a more developed story then the normal stalk and slash of more popular slashers like Friday the 13th or Halloween. A fun watch for sure.