Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
- Starring:
- Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, (more)
- Director(s):
- J. Lee Thompson
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- R
- Category:
- Horror
Member Rating
My RatingSynopsis of Happy Birthday to Me
Certainly the low point in Glenn Ford's acting career, this Canadian production is, nevertheless, one of the slickest-looking slasher films from that subgenre's early-'80s heyday. The plot (what one can make of it) involves an unseen killer stalking a group of college students at the prestigious Crawford Academy. The well-staged murders are mysteriously linked to the slightly off-kilter Virginia (Melissa Sue Anderson, formerly of Little House on the Prairie), whose disturbing past holds the key to the killer's identity. Though this film brought nothing new to the psycho-horror field, it did feature one of the more interesting ad campaigns of the period. One-sheets loudly boasted, "Six of the most bizarre murders you've ever seen!" and barred all late-arriving patrons from entering the theater during the final ten minutes (a promotional stunt stolen from Psycho). This hype proved less than apropos since the murders in question are not particularly bizarre or original (aside from the shish-kabob impalement depicted in the ads), and the film's climax is so painfully contrived that latecomers may be more able to comprehend it than those bemused viewers who watched the film from the beginning. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 110 mins
Complete Cast of Happy Birthday to Me
- Melissa Sue Anderson - Virginia
- Tracey E. Bregman - Ann
- Matt Craven - Steve
- David Eisner - Rudi
- Lawrence Z. Dane - Hal
- Sharon Acker - Estelle
- Richard Rebiere - Greg
- Earl Pennington - Lt. Tracy
- Griffith Brewer - Verger
- Gina Dick - Waitress
- Walter Massey - Conventioneer
- Victor Knight
- Len Watt
- Terry Haig - Feinblum's Assistant
- Vlasta Vrana - Bartender
- Glenn Ford - Dr. Faraday
- Jack Blum - Alfred
- Lenore Zann - Maggie
- Lisa Langlois - Amelia
- Frances Hyland - Mrs. Patterson
- Michel Rene LaBelle - Etienne
- Lesley Donaldson - Bernadette
- Karen Stephen - Miss Calhoun
- Joe Wertheimer
- Louis del Grande - Surgeon
- Ron Lea - Amelia's Date
- Damir Andrei - Junior Surgeon
- Alan Katz - Ann's Date
- Jerome Tiberghien - Prof. Heregard
- Murray Westgate - Gatekeeper
- Director(s):
- J. Lee Thompson
- Writer(s):
- John Beaird, Peter Jobin, John Saxton
- Producer(s):
- Andre Link, Stewart Harding, John Dunning
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- R(Graphic Violence, Gore, Brief Nudity, Adult Humor, Adult Language, Adult Situations, Not For Children)
- Categories:
- Horror
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