Happy Birthday to Me (1981)

At the snobby Crawford Academy, Virginia's group of friends start to go missing years after horrible events that happened to her as a child around her birthday.

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

John C.W. Saxton (screenplay) (as John Saxton), Peter Jobin (screenplay)

Stars:

Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, Lawrence Dane

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Melissa Sue Anderson	...	Virginia Wainwright
Glenn Ford	...	Dr. David Faraday
Lawrence Dane	...	Hal Wainwright
Sharon Acker	...	Estelle Wainwright
Frances Hyland	...	Mrs. Patterson
Tracey E. Bregman	...	Ann Thomerson (as Tracey Bregman)
Jack Blum	...	Alfred Morris
Matt Craven	...	Steve Maxwell
Lenore Zann	...	Maggie
David Eisner	...	Rudi
Lisa Langlois	...	Amelia
Michel-René Labelle	...	Etienne Vercures (as Michel Rene Labelle)
Richard Rebiere	...	Greg Hellman
Lesleh Donaldson	...	Bernadette O'Hara
Earl Pennington	...	Lieutenant Tracy

Storyline

Virginia Wainwright is a spirited young woman who has returned to a private school having survived a deadly accident and regenerative brain surgery. She is proud that she belongs to the Top Ten - the school's inner circle with the best students - and attempts to resume a normal life. But her friends are falling prey to a grueling series of murders, and soon there will be no one left to attend her 18th birthday party. Could it be her? Striving to rekindle the memory of her nightmarish accident, Virginia suffers from memory loss and traumatic blackouts. We soon learn the horrible truth behind her accident and what is going on before her birthday party...

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Plot Keywords:

victim invited to dinner | video nasty | birthday party | car accident | memory loss | 

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Taglines:

From the Producers of "My Bloody Valentine"

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 May 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ab in die Ewigkeit

Filming Locations:

Concordia University, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montréal, Québec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 3,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC), Famous Players, The Birthday Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Some cast members, who were stuck in their gore make-up for hours, decided to walk around the neighborhood, scaring the wits out of people.

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Goofs

During the surgery flashback, Ginny moans while under anesthesia. With an endotracheal tube, as was seen in Ginny's mouth, the patient's breath bypasses the vocal cords completely, so the patient effectively has no voice.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mrs. Patterson: [to her attacking dog] Winston! Winston! Winston, just stop it, bad boy. Sit down. Sit!
Bernadette O'Hara: Oh, Mrs. Patterson.
Mrs. Patterson: Bernadette O'Hara, do you have any idea what time it is? Where are you going?
Bernadette O'Hara: Well, I, I was just going up to the village to meet some of the kids at the inn.
Mrs. Patterson: You mean the second home for the Crawford top 10, don't you?

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Alternate Versions

The 1986 RCA/Columbia VHS release features the original print. The 2004 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment DVD (with the "birthday girl" cover) uses a print with library music tracks and some differences in sound editing (possibly a temp soundtrack from the original production), though the closing Syreeta song is intact. The 2009 Anchor Bay/Starz Home Entertainment DVD (with the "shish kebab guy" cover) has the theatrical soundtrack, as does the Blu-ray from Mill Creek.

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Connections

Referenced in The Ultimate Nightmare: The Making of Curtains (2014)

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Soundtracks

Happy Birthday
(uncredited)
Written by Mildred J. Hill and Patty S. Hill

User Reviews

Good in parts but gets confusing

Happy Birthday To Me started off looking promising, with a girl getting her throat slit, and the pace moving along nicely. But then things started to get confusing, as the girl has flashbacks, and you're left trying to figure out how this fits into the storyline. At the end of the film it starts making a little more sense, but then suddenly things take an unexpected twist (a twist too far if you ask me) and the film gets too far fetched, resulting in a spoilt film. If they had of left the twist as it was rather than adding the ridiculous second twist, it would have been a much better film. However, there are many good scenes which get points from me such as the flashback of the car falling off the bridge - it's very well done and we get to see the car falling in at different angles. The acting from Virginia's mother is also superb for her brief appearance. There are some unusual death scenes too although I must have seen the cut version because I didn't get to see much of them.

Overall, this film could have been a lot better without the elements that make it confusing, but it's still worth seeking out and is better than a lot of slashers out there.