Horror Film Club (June 14th) - Happy Birthday to Me
06-06-10 | 01:43 PM
#1
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Horror Film Club (June 14th) - Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
IMDB | Trailer | Review
Selected by ivorylineslead8.
SYNOPSIS:
Spoiler:
FUN FACTS
Most ads and posters for the film carried a photo of a young man about to be orally impaled with a skewer of meat and vegetables, with the slogan "John Will Never Eat Shish Kebab Again."
However, there is no character in the movie with this name.
The press reported that in order to keep the "twist" ending a secret several endings were shot.
This is untrue but helped hide the fact that while shooting, the film had no ending.
The script was written with one ending that made sense to the story, but did not have a twist.
So producers proceeded to film while tinkering with a twist.
This explains why there is no build up to the ending.
Spoiler tags are unnecessary in these discussion threads, so if you have yet to see the film BEWARE OF SPOILERS.
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06-06-10 | 02:15 PM
#2
DVD Talk Limited Edition
re: Horror Film Club (June 14th) - Happy Birthday to Me
A very middle of the road slasher film IMO. It wasn't bad for a single viewing but I doubt I'll be watching it again (though I've wanted to check it out with the original music now that its been released as such). The ending was messy and seemed to have a twist for the sake of having a twist.
You can certainly find better and more entertaining bodycount films from the 80s
You can certainly find better and more entertaining bodycount films from the 80s
06-08-10 | 02:55 PM
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re: Horror Film Club (June 14th) - Happy Birthday to Me
I watched the ratty old VHS when I was in college, and I loved the movie, so I bought the DVD...who in the name of Maude picked out that horrible music for the DVD release? It made my ears bleed and it kept drowning out the dialogue. I'll stick with my ratty old VHS and its original score (unless they re-released it at some point without seizure-inducing music and I just don't know about it). I like this movie a lot. I like the creative death scenes and I enjoyed the twisted twist ending.
06-08-10 | 02:56 PM
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re: Horror Film Club (June 14th) - Happy Birthday to Me
A very middle of the road slasher film IMO. It wasn't bad for a single viewing but I doubt I'll be watching it again (though I've wanted to check it out with the original music now that its been released as such). The ending was messy and seemed to have a twist for the sake of having a twist.
You can certainly find better and more entertaining bodycount films from the 80s
You can certainly find better and more entertaining bodycount films from the 80s
I'm glad they nixed the horrible music and gave it a real release with the original score.
06-09-10 | 07:56 AM
#5
DVD Talk Limited Edition
re: Horror Film Club (June 14th) - Happy Birthday to Me
BTW- the new dvd with original score is available really cheap (its been $5 at wal mart)
06-15-10 | 01:36 PM
#6
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Re: Horror Film Club (June 14th) - Happy Birthday to Me
I watched this last night and was pretty disappointed except for a couple of decent kills. The story took it's sweet time and I was too bored to care once the ridiculous and nonsensical twist was revealed. Some decent effects for its time and I laughed pretty hard during the "workout" kill.
No nudity was disappointing and I was absolutely stunned to see Glenn Ford in the movie. What the hell? What favor did he owe?
Nothing really stood out about this movie and I can see why it has been forgotten over the years. With the exception of the really striking movie poster art, nothing really new to see here. One of those movies I meant to rent as a teen but never got around to it. Wish I could still say that.
My opinion: **1/2 out of *****
No nudity was disappointing and I was absolutely stunned to see Glenn Ford in the movie. What the hell? What favor did he owe?
Nothing really stood out about this movie and I can see why it has been forgotten over the years. With the exception of the really striking movie poster art, nothing really new to see here. One of those movies I meant to rent as a teen but never got around to it. Wish I could still say that.
My opinion: **1/2 out of *****
06-22-10 | 10:55 AM
#7
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Horror Film Club (June 14th) - Happy Birthday to Me
I saw this a few years back and rewatched it yesterday for the club. It isn't a horrible movie in every sense of the word, but it's ending kills any chance of it being a good movie. Some of the kills are ordinary 80's slasher kills and some do stand up. As odd as the "weight lifting" kill is, it is also pretty good. There could have been more gore with some of the kills ( shish ka bob). Anyway, unless this comes up again in some future of the horror film club or part of the challenge, I doubt I'll waytch it again.
4/10
4/10
06-28-10 | 09:47 AM
#8
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Re: Horror Film Club (June 14th) - Happy Birthday to Me
I agree with most of what brianluvdvd and Darkgod have said. I'm a big fan of '80s slasher movies and am usually pretty forgiving of them, but this one was just hard to get into. There were long stretches when it felt like nothing happened at all. As some have said, I did enjoy a couple of the kills, but this film sure could have used some more gore to increase the fun factor. I'm not sure if I would revisit this one in the future, but I'm happy to have finally crossed it off my list.
