Happy Birthday to Me (1981) - Archive

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Students from an elite group of rich young adults in this private school are picked off in various bloody ways by a deranged psycho wearing leather gloves. Virginia(Melissa Sue Anderson)is a troubled young woman, suffering from brain trauma after a car crash, is one of "the ten" the film focuses on. The link between the repressed memories Virginia is slowly seeing and the murders unravels in the climax..or so you think. This film is tricky, as directed by J.Lee Thompson(the original "Cape Fear" and "10 to Midnight"), and there lots of clues that lead us to at least four possible suspects. The film is slippery in how it cancels out one clue after another, but, I have to admit, the ending seems a bit tacked on as if the writers ran out of tricky gags. It is an interesting ride, however, as the bodies piles up. The film seems to want us believing it is Virginia, but the ending left me a little disappointed. Glenn Ford plays Virginia's genial doctor..and the only one that keeps her from shifting into a complete nutcase. Her brain trauma causes hallucinations and the flashbacks that occur seem to be all part of a trick for the viewer. That's essentially what this film is to be honest..a bag of tricks to keep you guessing. The music is perhaps the film's main weakness, particularly in the early going. That perhaps, along with the early 80's slasher mentalities, makes this film quite dated..which can hurt or not depending on the one watching it. There is a specific angle this film constantly pokes at..this birthday party. It's obvious really because of the film's title, but there is a repressed memory in the back of Virginia's memory hidden away under lock and key that will provide possible answers to why the kids are being killed..and also the reason for the car crash over one of those splitting bridges{you know those that open so barges and ships on the river can cross to the other side}that caused the death of Virginia's mother. That may've worked if the writers weren't trying so hard to come up with ample doses of twists. If they would've stayed with the linking angle of the birthday instead of the final revelation of the killer..this film could've actually been quite nifty. But, one too many twists makes this film merely an exercise.

_____________June 13|2006________