Review – Happy Birthday To Me
Year – 1981
Director – J. Lee Thomson
Tag-line - “Someone's having a party
for the top ten, the senior class snobs. Before they get to
celebrate, six of them will die in the most bizarre ways you'll ever
see.”
Since today is my 24th
birthday I found it fitting to review a great slasher that takes
place during somebody's birthday. Get ready to blow out those
candles...it's going to be a blood bath!
PLOT - Virginia is proud that she
belongs to a clique. The best students at a private school. But
before her 18th birthday, a grueling set of murders take place and
her friends are the ones who are falling prey.
LOWDOWN – For years I had heard about
the ever so popular and very underrated slasher Happy Birthday To Me.
Being a huge fan of holiday themed slashers, I remember clearly
reading about this one and always being very curious about it. One of
my favorite slashers of all time is My Bloody Valentine, and after
hearing that this came from the same producers I was beyond excited
when I began to dig deeper and found articles and photos showing off
the ever so popular and iconic poster showing the Shish Kebab death
in all it's glory. It wasn't until 2009 or so that finally it was
re-released on DVD with it's original and famous poster artwork that
I decided to take the plunge and blind buy it. I was not
disappointed. I love slasher movies...even better I love holiday
slashers, so this was right up my alley. I'm a huge fan of Bloody
Birthday, so I found this movie very amusing. First off it has some
great classic elements. I love the whole Top Ten thing, and the fact
this movie played off the fact to show some of the weirdest deaths
ever to grace the screen, even if some weren't even showed. It had a
pretty impressive cast, some creepy flashbacks, a weird overall vibe,
and an even cooler ending that leaves you haunted. It was back in the
golden age of slasher movies and I have to say, it's one of the best
birthday parties I've ever been to.
MY THOUGHTS – Like I said I'm a huge
fan of slashers, mostly ones with great classic elements that were
very strong in the early 80's right before the slasher boom fully
hit. This was a cool creepy off beat slasher that took such a simple
holiday as somebody's birthday and made it awesome. Yeah there's a
few flaws with the plot, and believe it or not the whole huge twist
reveal at the end really didn't get me. A little too hokey for my
taste. Still it left me guessing and I honestly think they could have
made the plot a little more straight forward simple to work best.
Still, there was some really great scenes (love the score) and most
of all loved the final ending. Nothing says birthday fun more than a
table full of corpses. Also who doesn't love a French guy asking
“What the Hell are you looking at?” Classic slasher for fans all
around. Also a great movie to watch on one's birthday.
Four Stars!
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