Made near the height of the teen slasher craze, J Lee Thompson's Happy Birthday To Me is one of the most visually impressive films of its kind that goes all out in delivering a twisted and convoluted narrative that is both insane but strangely compelling. The plot itself is a little hard to follow, but it basically revolves around an unseen killer, who systematically stalks and murders a group of rich kids who attend the prestigious Crawford Academy, a private school in which only the most privileged could possibly attend. Virginia Wainwright, is the main protagonist, a girl who has just returned to the school after horrible accident, quickly taking her place again among the Top Ten - the school's inner circle of the most popular students. When her friends one-by-one begin to fall victim to this mysterious killer, Virginia soon discovers that the key to these murders lies in her mysterious past. J Lee Thompson's Happy Birthday To Me is a super campy, contrived psychological thriller that manages to be a lot of fun, thanks to its skilled direction and creative horror elements. The film itself is extremely well photographed, with Thompson using heavy use of POV photography and some of the most unique compositions seen in a slasher film to give Happy Birthday To Me a unique style and feel. I particularly liked the use of close-up throughout the film as well, with Thompson's camera getting uncomfortably close to the faces of the actors, as if attempting to visually capture their fear while raising the claustrophobia and tension of the situation. Virginia is an off-kilter character who has been through much tragedy and trauma, with Happy Birthday To Me creating one of the more intricate backstories I've seen, with Virginia losing her mother in a car accident that also left her needing highly-experimental surgery. This led to massive memory loss, with Virginia slowly regaining her memories as the various murders of her friends are happening, adding another layer of confusion and mystery. The ending itself is quite contrived, but I'd be lying to say I didn't enjoy its go for broke mentality, as it essentially subverts the viewers expectations three times in the last ten minutes. These twists aren't exactly earned, but they provide a truly twisted and fun set piece, with Virginia's 18th birthday party being a beautifully staged sequence of macabre. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects about this strange forgotten slasher flick is its rather seething commentary on the privileged and upper-class, with these characters being wealthy and entitled to an exaggerated degree. As the film progresses the backstory of Virginia reveals even more about these entitled characters, with Happy Birthday To Me even hinting that their entitled mentality was indirectly responsible for the death of Virginia's mother. Featuring some creative deaths involving a bike tire, a bench press, and a shish kabob, J Lee Thompson's Happy Birthday To Me is one of the more bizarre and interesting forgotten slasher flicks of the 1980s.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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