Friday, August 31, 2012

Review - Happy Birthday To Me (1981)

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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