Happy Birthday To Me - Retro VHS Style

One of the signature horror films produced by legendary Canadian studio and distributor Cinepix, J. Lee Thompson’s 1981 shocker HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME often gets lumped into the post-FRIDAY THE 13th slasher cesspool but it’s much more than that. Cinepix creative braintrust John Dunning had first found fame in the genre via his “discovery” of David Cronenberg, with he and his partner Andre Link producing both of DC’s first features, SHIVERS and RABID. But Cinepix also co-financed and distributed a wealth of horror and dark fantasy films, including Harry Kumel’s 1971 vampire masterpiece DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS and the notorious ILSA: SHE WOLF OF THE SS. These guys knew the market and when HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13th yielded big box office takes, Dunning and Link put together both this film and George Mihalka’s beloved killer thriller MY BLOODY VALENTINE. Now, VALENTINE is more of a straight-ahead masked-killer/body-count film, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME plays more like a giallo, with its convoluted mystery and its black-gloved murderer. Both films were distributed by major studios, but BIRTHDAY – the sleazier and more disturbing of the pair – escaped virtually uncut while VALENTINE was famously gutted by the MPAA and Paramount Pictures to secure its R rating. If we’re comparing the two, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME is the superior picture and that’s because of its director (Thompson was a veteran Hollywood filmmaker whose credits included CAPE FEAR) and for the fact that the story and script are totally loopy. Dunning hired ILSA scribe John Saxton to come up with this tawdry tale, in which LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE starlet Melissa Sue Anderson appears as high school student Virginia, one of the elite rich-kids who hangout together, wear grey and black striped scarves and call themselves “The Top 10”. Amongst his bunch are Canadian cult film icons Lesleh Donaldson and Lisa Langlois. Anyway, Virginia is having troubles, as she escaped a care-wreck that killed her mom years earlier and now is prone to blackouts and select amnesia. As her pals begin getting systematically slaughtered at the hands of a glove-wearing killer, their corpses mysteriously vanishing, Virginia begins to suspect that she might be to blame. And Thompson makes us believe this too. But IS she? The psychodrama climaxes in one of the truly great and wacky finales in 80’s horror history, at Virginia’s bloody 18th birthday party. Meanwhile THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE icon Glenn Ford looks on, presumably three-sheets to the wind, replete with open shirt and disco medallion. Said ending is even weirder because the screenwriters and producers sort of winged-it, making it up as they went along and settling on the face-pulling mania that currently serves as the final act. The movie was quickly picked up by Columbia Pictures for distribution, the studio pushing it in its marketing materials as having “six of the most bizarre murders you’ll ever see”, a sensationalistic tagline that irked Dunning, who didn’t think the deaths were that weird. He was kind of right, as a few of the killings are simple throat-openings (though they are edited in such a way as to make them truly alarming and grim), but the rest ARE indeed wild, including death by barbell (a rough scene to watch) and murder-by-shish-kebob, the later re-staged for the film’s famous poster. But the killings aren’t the main thrust of the movie. It’s eminently watchable and engrossing and has a twisted whodunit mystery at its core, with red herrings galore, plus a deranged “mad science” subplot and a pack of really good performances (for this sort of film) from its leads. Good HD picture and and sound. No subtitles, however. I'm loving this series!(Mill Creek retro) Great value, great packaging. Gonna collect 'em all! Not sure why there's some gripes about packaging. Yes it's only the outer cover, and it's pretty sturdy and wonderfully designed. As far as the size? Do you really Sheena, Who's Harry Crumb, etc. in oversized box? And again, all under $8.

One of the true slasher classics of the 80s presented here with solid picture and sound quality throughout. Beside that there are absolutely no extras but that is to be expected at this bargain price. This is a slasher with good production value and Melissa Sue and the other actors are doing a good job. There is plenty of gory deaths as you would expect in this kind of movie, and also some twists and turns. As for the cover it is a slipcase with a retro VHS motive and not one of those big VHS-boxes. I prefer this sort of slipcase cover and recommend this bargain to all who love 80s slashers.

At a small town private school, things are not going well for a clique of self-described elite students called the Ten. Somebody has it out for this group with a vengeance as they start disappearing one by one. The central point-of-view character is a girl named Virginia (Melissa Sue Anderson), who is experiencing partial memory loss related to an accident in her not-too-distant past. Less obnoxious than most of her clique, the dark gaps in her memory may play into the killings now taking place. At this point the movie probably sounds predictable (which isn't to say it can't still be good) but things don't turn out quite the way it might seem. There were three major swerves which I definately didn't see coming, and they're not all at the end either. There are a couple of incidents which admittedly stretch credibility a bit, but overall this relatively little known horror mystery from 1981 is a great find. The unique retro packaging fits the release great too, and will look good displayed with your movie collection.

I watched this movie when I was growing up and loved it. As a fan of horror movies some of the best came out in the 80's when they weren't worried on the best effects or stars but concentrated on the scares and the stories. It was nice to see again and remember how good it was and still spooky with a twist at the end that still works. Just a cool old time horror film, and who would know that Mary from Little house on the prairie could pull of the 80's scream queen so good.

I saw Happy Birthday to Me when I was 9 years old on VHS and it totally freaked me out. I thought set ups were so creepy and gory at the time because most movies were cut to hell like this one, yet I still found it shockingly bloody and kindda scary although compared to nowadays it would probably fall under PG-13. Even though the quality of this print is excellent, none of that gore that was taken out at the time has been added back in. Maybe one day some studio will give this the release it derseves. The real disappointment, however, is the running commentary track by the third screenwriter Timothy Bond. Timothy Bond was around for a little bit of the pre-production but pretty much had nothing to do with any of the production or shooting of the film at all . Therefore this kind of makes his opinion on what went on during the shoot moot. However what you can hear of him is informative at times. The track is hosted by a film historian and he is pretty knowledgeable about the film, yet the problem is that every three or four seconds when Timothy Bond speaks or answers a pertinent question, his audio cuts out. It's frustrating and insulting and it's nothing that should have ever been released professionally on a Blu-ray and was sold only as a cash grab with zero care. What I have read over the years is that not a lot of the gore was taken out of the film but there were extended shots taken out before being submitted to the ratings board to guarantee an R rating. With sickie films like terrifier 2 out there, I think putting these shots back into the movie would be excellent for those that would have loved to have seen what the movie would originally have been like. One can only hope. Skip this release and wait for something better with more quality control and more care to come along. It will soon enough I'm hoping.

Last night I started watching 'happy birthday to me' and heard the music at the beginning of the credits... and i thought to myself "oh hell no!!" I've read some reviews after I had ordered the film bout how the music changed... and those fans i will tell you "I AGREE!!" ... Even in the first scene when the girl is walking from the college, got tripped by the dog leash, talking to the lady thats walking her dog, the music is irritatingly in the background!! grrr .... And when it shows her being killed there's music ... Now when I 1st saw this movie which was a long time ago ... on vhs ... If I remember correctly it was silent and that made the scene even more scary ... I've only watched it to the part when the main character goes back to her home past her mothers grave ... I do look forward to watching the rest of the movie... but i hate that there will be music that was apparently changed from the original ... I gave this movie 5 stars, cause i really love this movie and recommend this movie ... but if you'd like to watch this movie where it has the original soundtrack... watch the vhs then the dvd and you will see the difference many fans are talking about ...

I bought this movie and have zero regrets. Stop watching it through apps with commercials. Take control of your horror movie viewing. You are allowed to wait until your birthday, but get it done.

A regularly shown film on HBO in the very early days of Cable TV...it's awesome B-movie camp, and is typical of the great era of early 80's "slasher" films in terms of the acting and writing style. It has some well-done, but hilarious gross-out moments, plot/character related twists, and a creepy, fall "Halloween" setting in an older white suburb, in the early 80's. You haven't lived if you haven't seen this.

Reedición de Resen de este slasher clásico, buena calidad de imagen y sonido y subtitulado correcto. Recomendable su compra.

Llegó muy rápido y en está ocasión trataron muy bien el paquete por qué llegó en perfecto estado

Projection privée. Un bon petit film d'horreur.

The movie is great, very entertaining and original, ideal for living again the 80’s nostalgia with a classic and original slasher film that comes with a packaging simulating the 80’s vhs tapes. The only complain will be that the disc is very basic, it doesn’t have subtitltes, extras or any their menu, it is just the film. Even so, it is good to have for your movie collection. Amazon delivery very good

This movie is just as creepy as I remember. I wish they still made movies like this. The newer horror films just can't match the eerie (although sometimes cheesy and even humorous) atmosphere of the early 1980's films, at least in my opinion. This is one of the more memorable and original slasher movies with very creative murders. Great cast as well. The retro slip cover is very cool a d I appreciate the effort put in to please fans by adding that. I think many fans of this film were not too impressed with the "new" picture which is still to be found underneath the slip cover. Very pleased with this purchase, this is a horror movie I have always loved and wanted to own.