Happy Birthday to Me with Melissa Sue Anderson: DVD Cover

    Happy Birthday to Me Director: J. Lee Thompson Cast: Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, Tracey E. Bregman, Jack Blum

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    • DVD Release Date: 10/13/2009
    • Original Release: 1981
    • Rating: Rated R
    • Sales Rank: 17,901

    Viewer Rating: (4 ratings)

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    • Overview
    • Editorial Reviews
    • Scenes
    • Customer Reviews
    • Cast & Crew
    • Full Product Details

    Scene Index

    Disc #1 -- Happy Birthday to Me
    1. Main Titles / Death in Black Gloves [6:35]
    2. Playing the Game [6:07]
    3. Night Prowler [9:48]
    4. Guinea Pig [6:40]
    5. Choking Hazard [4:50]
    6. Alfred's Evil Deeds [7:42]
    7. Bench Press Peril [5:08]
    8. "Virginia, I've Got a Knife..." [8:08]
    9. Gruesome Garden [8:51]
    10. Blood Rose [5:23]
    11. Boogie Down [5:39]
    12. Skewered [2:20]
    13. Descent Into Madness [8:48]
    14. Family Secrets [7:30]
    15. Happy Birthday to Me [14:28]
    16. End Credits [2:34]

    Scene Index

    Editorial Reviews

    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

    Customer Reviews

    Happy Birthday to Meby Anonymous

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    November 13, 2006: Happy Birthday to Me gave me chills and it was suspenceful also.I love it alot and I recommend it to horror fans.

    This review was written about the DVD Wide Screen edition.

    Happy Birthday to Meby Anonymous

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    November 26, 2004: This film came out during one of the worst periods in my life (my mother had just died) when I was running wild. I was living with my father in Jersey, had pulled an all-nighter in New York and the next day I bussed into the city again where I saw this film in the afternoon and the play 'Amadeus' that night. So this film is deeply entrenched in my memory. Out of curiousity I gave it a look recently to see how it held up after 23 years. I found it held up quite well. Yes the acting is mediocre and the formulae standard, but keep in mind at the time some of these weren't. In fact the poster and some of the murders were quite inventive. Two points to make. For its genre, even now, the script is not bad. Anyone seeing this for the first time would I think have no idea as to whom the killer turns out to be. Second the motives which center around social exclusion and elitist popularity and stauts in close knit communities suggests to me in retropspect that the reason the 80s produced so many of these types of films were that many of its makers were probably baby boomers having just reached adulthood, who had known some of the same social traumas and were using these films to work out those issues. Consider that with the exception of Virginia, and maybe Dr. David, not one of the characters is sympathetic. Even Virginia's mother, whose plight is understandable and whose intentions are good, comes off as an abusive shrew. (The key moment that suppports my above theory is when Estelle pleads at the gate to be let in, only to be told 'You can send your daughter to Crawford Academy, but that does not change who you are.') There is also that wonderfully humorous moment where Bernadette mocks the headmistress with the classic line 'Come along, Winston, and give Mommy head.' It still made me laugh 23 years later, and suggests the writers were out for something more creative than an F13 ripoff. Lastly I insist one see the film on VHS, as it features the haunting original score and title song which I understand are not on the DVD, and without which would detract from the film greatly

    This review was written about the DVD Wide Screen edition.


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