Happy Birthday to Me (1981)

Nothing really to gripe about, nothing too exciting either. Typical eighties. Forgettable and unoriginal. Doesn't add anything to the genre. Mildly entertaining eighties horror. Certainly not the worst, just too middle-of-the-road to care. If you have some time and literally nothing on your wanna-watch-list then go for it.

Perhaps no movie genre has been wrung out so badly as the slasher movie. Happy Birthday to Me came out at a time when the concept was still fresh, and everyone was looking for a good follow up to Halloween.It's got a good cast with Melissa Sue Anderson in the lead as a teenager recovering from a horrible accident. Just as she's trying to get re-acquainted with life, someone starts murdering her upper crust, preppy classmates in bizarre and grisly fashion. It's really a murder mystery. Did her accident turn her into a blood thirsty psychopath, or is it someone else entirely? There's no supernatural Jason or Michael Meyers at work here.I remember this movie got a big build up prior to release. The trailers ran for a long time in the theaters, and they even spent money on some major market TV spots for it. The one I saw had this ominous close in shot of a birthday cake that finally gets an axe right through the middle of it. These were all heavy duty horror movies back then, but this one almost looks quaint by today's standards.

Well i din't see this one coming. This particular film is incredibly clever. The cinematography is great. There is a strong psychological element in this film with an incredible twist ending you will not see coming. The killing scenes are highly original and though the movie gets confusing at times it eventually makes perfect sense. Cleverly plotted, this film was designed for any lover of puzzles, psychology and suspense. In the end, the movie plays more like a mystery thriller than a horror ... and yes there are some scares. Out of all the slasher flicks of the 80s, this one has a particular originality to it that puts it in a league of its own. Final grade, A-

"Happy Birthday to Me" has caught my interest since I saw it being mentioned in 1996's "Scream", and albeit it happened in almost a year ago, I gave it a chance only yesterday. In my opinion, this movie starts off with a promising story, even for those who are used with this kind of horror. There are many scenes that reminded me of 1981's "My Bloody Valentine", and that made me believe that horror movies weren't that creative back that decade-- as if they were creative nowadays. Directing and acting aren't anything better than average, so it feels hard to be scared in the tense moments that filmmakers tried to create. If anything, it happens only due to the exaggeratedly loud soundtrack screaming at our ears in several scenes. One big complaint of mine is the excess of characters introduced from the get go; I found it hard to follow who-is-who, since there are too many names and faces. The plot is good, I'm not denying that, but the outcome, although being surprising and somehow original, feels over-the-top to me; I mean, nobody would do such things only to get "revenge". Thumbs up to the working out death, which felt really sadistic and painful-- isn't that what we usually expect from scary movies? All in all, the movie's achievement would be bigger if a better story was written, or if a fast-paced plot helped it flow.