Happy Birthday to Me (1981)

Directed by J. Lee Thompson [Other horror films: Eye of the Devil (1966), The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975)]

Often considered a classic slasher of the early 80’s, Happy Birthday to Me was a movie I very much looked forward to seeing again. I’ve seen it once before, though it’s been quite a while, so I was eager to revisit it. Overall, I do think it’s a solid movie, but I can’t say I exactly love the finale.

Oh, parts of the finale are great – a character walks into a macabre scene of bodies and insanity, and it’s an appropriately-somber sequence – but we’re also given a twist that feels somewhat silly. Of course, most plot twists that involve a latex mask tend to feel that way, but there you go. It’s still a decent finale, memorable in it’s somber feel (even having a solid song, “Happy Birthday to Me” by Syreeta, playing us out), but that twist probably could have been executed differently.

It’s also worth mentioning that the movie is around an hour and 50 minutes. That in itself isn’t a bad thing, but I don’t really know if this movie earns the right to be that long. Sure, we theoretically have something like 12 characters to play around with, but many of them (Steve, Greg, Amelia, Rudi, and Maggie) don’t really get that much in the way of focus.

Honestly, that might be my personal pet peeve with this movie, keeping in mind I still enjoyed it. Virginia (Melissa Sue Anderson) is part of a high school clique named the Top Ten – the others being Maggie (Lenore Zann), Bernadette (Lesleh Donaldson), Etienne (Michel-René Labelle), Greg (Richard Rebiere), Rudi (David Eisner), Ann (Tracey E. Bregman), Amelia (Lisa Langlois), Steve (Matt Craven), and oddball Alfred (Jack Blum). I get that Anderson’s the main character, but very few of these others seemed to get any depth, and I found that odd, especially when this movie could have given some of them something.

As it is, Melissa Sue Anderson (Little House on the Prairie; Midnight Offerings) made for a decent lead, although I’d say she’s not exactly memorable. Playing her father was Lawrence Dane (Scanners, Behind the Wall, Rituals, Of Unknown Origin, The Clown Murders) had some moments toward the finale that stood out. I sort of thought Glenn Ford’s character would have a bit more to do, but he was decent also.

Of the Top Ten, I did like David Eisner (Phobia), Lisa Langlois (The Nest, Fire Serpent, Deadly Eyes), Matt Craven (Till Death Do Us Part, The Intruder Within), and Jack Blum, but like I said, none of them really got a lot in the way of character. Others, such as Lesleh Donaldson (Deadly Eyes, Funeral Home, Curtains) and Lenore Zann (Prettykill, Visiting Hours, the voice of Rogue in the 1990’s X-Men animated series) had potential. Tracey E. Bregman (of soap operas Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless, and The Bold and the Beautiful) could have tightened up a few scenes, but her performance is decent.

The gore here isn’t too heavy. Certainly there are a few scenes that stand out, such as someone getting skewered with a kebab, or someone getting weights dropped on their throat, or even a few slit throats, but there’s not that much in the way of blood here, which I think is okay. The movie is on the longer side, but I never felt it was lacking from gore, and overall, the special effects are solid.

There’s a psychological element to Happy Birthday to Me that I can’t say I love. The main character, due to a terrible accident some years past, lost some of her memories, and throughout the film, we get some flashes of images as she begins to remember what happened to her and her mother. I can’t exactly say why these elements didn’t do much for me, but it almost felt unnecessary, and the ludicrous nature of the finale didn’t help with this perception.

Overall, I do think that Happy Birthday to Me is a strong movie. I don’t think it’s amazing, but it’s pretty solid. The finale definitely could have been better, though, and if ever a plot twist needed some work, this one did. Still, the film has a good atmosphere and okay gore, along with decent characters (when they deign to focus on them), so though it’s not what I’d call fantastic, I do think it’s a perfectly solid slasher.

7.5/10