Happy Birthday to Me (film)
| Happy Birthday to Me | |
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Theatrical Poster
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| Directed by | J. Lee Thompson |
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| Cinematography | Miklos Lente |
| Edited by | Debra Karen |
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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110 minutes |
| Country | Canada United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $10.6 million |
Happy Birthday to Me is a 1981 Canadian-American slasher film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Melissa Sue Anderson and Glenn Ford. The story revolves around six brutal murders occurring around a popular high school senior's birthday. The film was released on May 15, 1981. While reception was generally negative, it has since achieved a cult following.
Virginia "Ginny" Wainwright is a pretty and popular high school senior at Crawford Academy. She is one of her school's "Top Ten," an elite clique which comprises as the richest, most popular and most snobbish teens at the Academy. The Top Ten meets every night at a nearby pub; the Silent Woman Tavern.
One night en route to the tavern, Top Ten member Bernadette O'Hara is attacked in her car by a faceless assailant. Unable to flee, she struggles then plays dead to catch the killer off-guard before running to get help. She then pleads her case to someone whom she is familiar with, only to have her throat slit by the person with a straight razor who is actually the killer.
The Top Ten becomes concerned when Bernadette fails to show up at the Silent Woman. They soon get over it when their argument with another patron (a conventioneer) results in one of them putting a mouse into his beer. Mayhem ensues and the Top Ten flee the scene.
On the way home, the Top Ten see a drawbridge going up and decides to play a game of chicken. All cars in the game attempt to make it across before the bridge is completely raised (to allow the passing of ferries). A protesting Ginny is shoved into a car by fellow Top Ten member Ann Thomason. Every car jumps the drawbridge save one. As the car goes over the drawbridge, Ginny yells "Mother!" and makes it across safe. After the car stops, Ginny runs from the vehicle into the darkness.
On the way home she stops by her mother's grave to tell her she's now popular and accepted by the Top Ten. Ginny is confronted by her father about coming home after her curfew. Unbeknownst to either of them, Top Ten member Etienne Vercoures, a French foreign exchange student has followed her home before she was encountered by him. He enters Ginny's room and steals her underwear and escapes without being detected. She then discovers her window was open. As she runs to slam it shut, she heard a noise and screams.
The next day when she and Ann arrived late at school to class, school principal Mrs. Patterson threatens the Top Ten with the banning of ever going to The Silent Woman after hours. She notices Bernadette is missing and promises to sort out the matter. As Ginny and the Top Ten dissect a frog, we see Ginny recall a memory regarding her birthday.
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