Slasher Stop Off - Happy Birthday to Me (1981)

Thursday was sort of a layover slasher evening since I’m sort of weaving in and out films that I’ve watched before but not in a while with the Friday the 13^th films I’m reviewing one last time for the blog. “Happy Birthday to Me” (1981), directed by J. Lee Thompson, was right in my line of sight, on my DVD shelf, as “The Burning” and “The Prowler” were.

I think it is clear when you watch it that Melissa Sue Anderson’s departure from “Little House on the Prairie” was just that…a departure. Glenn Ford took a lot of heat (THE BIG HEAT) starring in this film as Anderson’s psychiatrist, her shrink and often surrogate father because her real pops is often “away on business”.

Back in June 2010 I wrote about it on this blog when it was still barely up and running, and I just recently added my IMDb user comments to the blog as part of the Archive. So I just watched the film moments ago.

The length never seemed to be that big a deal before, but tonight “Happy Birthday to Me” sure felt longer  to me than with any previous viewing. I do remember in 2010 really being in the right frame of mind for the film. It was a fun accompaniment to “Prom Night”, as I had myself a little slasher double feature.

The twist at the end—is it actually Melissa Sue shish-kabobbing Matt Craven and sticking a knife in the gut of Jack Blum?!—with Bregman emerging to get even with Anderson over their father’s sexual exploits and the police officer only finding Anderson alive, believing she was responsible for Bregman’s grisly handiwork sort of does seem produced from a plot re-written over and over until tired minds eked out what they probably thought was the best they could muster.

It is tragic, if anything else, and at least toys with viewers because you see Melissa’s face and seemingly her hands sticking victims with different things that makes them really dead. The “mask face” gag at the end is a plot device you probably either give over to or not. I must have forgotten about how the film sort of spares Eisner’s Rudi of the same fate as others Bregman bumps off.

 The most agonizing for dudes is the weight dropped on Rebiere’s crotch while he’s lifting…the weighted bar dropped on his throat is a close second. There is the very weird scene where Rudi takes Anderson’s “Ginny” up in a belltower, mimicking Quasimodo, pulling out a knife and approaching her, with the added drops of blood starting to pool on the cathedral floor below…was Rudi another victim? When drops to the floor from a library shelf in front of Ginny, Rudi startles her and lets us know that he’s a-okay.

A parting bridge that nearly results in a serious crash that would have been too similar to a wreck that killed Ginny’s mom at the beginning of the film seems to be a catalyst in all the deaths to come.

Can’t forget to mention creeper French exchange student, Etienne (Michel-René Labelle) intruding into Ginny’s home to snatch some panties and cop a peep on her as she plans to shower…a scarf into the gears of his speeding motorbike tire and a face full of metal gets rid of him! I think you can tell this film was really cut of the gore. It shows big time. Slices to the throat are very quick, before blood can gush. There’s blood spatter, especially when Ford is attacked with a fireplace poker, but the MPAA really pressured the filmmakers to slice and dice their movie.

Ford really does look out of place, but I did enjoy his scene when he must advise the local authorities that the skull found in a garden on campus belonged to the science lab. And the campus, with sun all shiny and bright, I always enjoyed. I liked how the college life isn’t just glossed over. The Crawford school gets some shine. When someone critiques these films and says, “They sure look dated”, I’m one of those who isn’t too bothered by that. It is indeed a teleport back. I think this film is very much that.

Blum with his "stuffing things" has a fake head of the first victim, found by Anderson and Bregman, on a bloody serving plate. This film is quite macabre at times. Speaking of the first victim, she gets away from a strangling in the back seat only to suffer the edge of the blade. Each victim recognizes the killer as friendly but SHE proves anything but.