Happy Birthday to Me
Encyclopedia
Happy Birthday to Me is a 1981
American slasher movie filmed in Canada
and directed by J. Lee Thompson
, written by John C.W. Saxton and starring Melissa Sue Anderson
and Glenn Ford
. It was released May 15, 1981. The film has since become something of a cult classic among fans of the slasher genre, who primarily hail it for its bizarre (and vicious) murder scenes and its twisted climactic revelation.
One night, en route to the Silent Woman, Top Ten member Bernadette O'Hara is attacked in her car by a killer whose face cannot be seen. Unable to flee, she struggles and then plays dead to catch the Killer off-guard. She fights the killer off, then runs off to get help. Instead, Bernadette finds a student whom she is familiar with. She pleads her ordeal, only to have her throat slit when this student (whom the audience still cannot see) turns out to be the killer.
The Top Ten is briefly concerned when Bernadette fails to show up at the Silent Woman. They promptly get over it, however; the Top Ten have a long history of playing elaborate pranks, both on each other and on the locals. Their grievance with another tavern patron inspires them to pull such a prank: they "borrow" the member's pet mouse, which they dunk into the lodger's beer, all the while pretending to apologize for their rudeness. The lodger discovers the mouse; mayhem ensues, and the Top Ten flee the scene.
En route back home, the Top Ten see a drawbridge going up and decide to play a game of chicken: all cars in the game must make it across before the bridge is completely raised (to allow the passing of ferrys). A protesting Ginny is shoved into a car by fellow Top Ten member Ann Thomerson. Every car jumps the drawbridge save one. As the car goes over the drawbridge Ginny yells "Mother!" and makes it safely across. After the car stops Ginny runs from the vehicle into the darkness home.
On the way home she stops by her mother's grave to tell her she's popular and hangs out with the Top Ten all the time. Ginny is confronted by her father about coming home after her curfew. Unbeknownst to either of them, somebody (whom the audience cannot see) has followed her home. They enters Ginny's room, steals a pair of her underwear and escapes without being seen.
Ginny shares a handful of lost, repressed memories with her on-call psychiatrist, Dr. David Faraday. She underwent an experimental medical procedure, involving surgery to restore brain tissue, after surviving a harrowing accident at a drawbridge.
As Ginny attempts to resume her normal life, her fellow Top Ten members are murdered in vicious and violent ways: Etienne is strangled when his scarf gets caught in the spokes of his motorcycle (à la Isadora Duncan); Greg has his neck crushed while lifting weights; Alfred is gutted with a pair of garden shears by Ginny.
Mr. Wainwright leaves on a business trip. Ginny invites Steve, another member of the Top Ten, to her place for a midnight snack. She prepares shish kebabs, and feeds him, while they drink and smoke marijuana. Then Steve unsuspectingly leaves his mouth agape, and Ginny shoves the shish kebab violently down his throat.
The following morning, Ginny is taking a shower while fighting to remember everything up to that point. In flashbacks, the following is revealed. Ginny's mother, a newly-inducted socialite, invited the Top Ten to Ginny's birthday celebration four years earlier. Instead, the Top Ten went to Ann's party. Drunk and unstable, Mrs. Wainwright confronted the grounds-keeper. Ginny's mother learned that she had a reputation as the town whore; ergo, neither she nor her daughter were welcome at the Thomersons'. This led to Mrs. Wainwright attempting to drive across a bridge that was in the process of opening. With Ginny screaming, her mother finally stopped in the middle of the bridge as each side was still raising. The car fell in between the bridge halves and Mrs. Wainwright drowned in her car, although Ginny swam to safety.
Ginny realizes that she may have killed her friends after all, including Ann. With Ginny's 18th birthday steadily approaching, she struggles to get answers from Dr. Faraday; when he fails to provide any, she kills him with a fire poker.
Mr. Wainwright returns from his business trip, ready to celebrate his daughter's 18th birthday. Entering their house, he sees blood and frantically attempts to locate Ginny. Instead, Mr. Wainwright finds Greg's girlfriend Amelia in shock in the courtyard clutching a gift, his late wife's grave (which recently has been robbed) and Dr. Faraday's corpse. Entering a cottage which serves as the Wainwrights' guest quarters, he makes a ghastly discovery.
The corpses of all the murdered Top Ten members are seated around the table, which has been set to look exactly as it did four years ago. The corpse of Mrs. Wainwright is seated there as well. Then Ginny enters, carrying a large cake and singing "Happy Birthday" to herself. Already distraught, Mr. Wainwright bursts into tears when his daughter casually admits to committing the murders. Ginny then slits her father's throat with the same large knife she used to cut the cake. He never sees the real Ginny, who is sedated, seated at this table as the killer's only living guest.
Ginny's doppelganger rants about having done all of this for Ginny, who then awakens to discover that the second Ginny is really Ann in disguise. Ann has been embittered by the revelation of her father's affair with Ginny's mother. It turns out that both girls are half-sisters. Ann slaughtered the six main members of the clique, that never showed up for her birthday party, expressly for the purpose of framing Ginny - who suddenly breaks free, takes Ann's knife and kills her with it.
As she stands over her half-sister's corpse, a detective walks in on Ginny and the horrifying carnage that surrounds her. He stares at Ginny and demands, "What have you done?" The audience is then left to wonder if Ginny will be cleared of the killings or arrested for them.
We hear Ginny singing "Happy Birthday to Me" as the film ends.
featured a new soundtrack for the film and a new completely different cover art (not original poster art), which fans did not appreciate. Which also caused many slasher fans to beg for a re-release of the film with the original soundtrack that was heard in theaters and on the Columbia VHS.
Anchor Bay Entertainment
released a new DVD with the original poster art as the DVD cover and using the film's original soundtrack. The DVD was released on October 13, 2009.
The film's ending theme, "Happy Birthday To Me" was sung by Syreeta Wright
, (credited as simply Syreeta in the ending credits) and written by Lance Rubin (music) and Molly-Ann Leikin (lyrics). Subsequent releases (primarily the recent DVD copies) feature a disco track in place of this theme.
There was no official soundtrack release, however fan-made copies exist over the internet.
1981 in film
-Events:*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate, a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica to sell it....
American slasher movie filmed in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and directed by J. Lee Thompson
J. Lee Thompson
John Lee Thompson , better known as J. Lee Thompson, was an English film director, active in England and Hollywood.- Early years :...
, written by John C.W. Saxton and starring Melissa Sue Anderson
Melissa Sue Anderson
Melissa Sue Anderson is an American-Canadian actress. She played the role of Mary Ingalls on the NBC television series Little House on the Prairie. She starred on the show from 1974 until 1981, leaving after Season 7, but later appeared in 2 episodes of Season 8 in late 1981. She won an Emmy...
and Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford was a Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades...
. It was released May 15, 1981. The film has since become something of a cult classic among fans of the slasher genre, who primarily hail it for its bizarre (and vicious) murder scenes and its twisted climactic revelation.
Plot
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 the richest, most popular and most snobbish teens at the Academy. The Top Ten meet every night at the Silent Woman Tavern, a pub near Crawford's campus.One night, en route to the Silent Woman, Top Ten member Bernadette O'Hara is attacked in her car by a killer whose face cannot be seen. Unable to flee, she struggles and then plays dead to catch the Killer off-guard. She fights the killer off, then runs off to get help. Instead, Bernadette finds a student whom she is familiar with. She pleads her ordeal, only to have her throat slit when this student (whom the audience still cannot see) turns out to be the killer.
The Top Ten is briefly concerned when Bernadette fails to show up at the Silent Woman. They promptly get over it, however; the Top Ten have a long history of playing elaborate pranks, both on each other and on the locals. Their grievance with another tavern patron inspires them to pull such a prank: they "borrow" the member's pet mouse, which they dunk into the lodger's beer, all the while pretending to apologize for their rudeness. The lodger discovers the mouse; mayhem ensues, and the Top Ten flee the scene.
En route back home, the Top Ten see a drawbridge going up and decide to play a game of chicken: all cars in the game must make it across before the bridge is completely raised (to allow the passing of ferrys). A protesting Ginny is shoved into a car by fellow Top Ten member Ann Thomerson. Every car jumps the drawbridge save one. As the car goes over the drawbridge Ginny yells "Mother!" and makes it safely across. After the car stops Ginny runs from the vehicle into the darkness home.
On the way home she stops by her mother's grave to tell her she's popular and hangs out with the Top Ten all the time. Ginny is confronted by her father about coming home after her curfew. Unbeknownst to either of them, somebody (whom the audience cannot see) has followed her home. They enters Ginny's room, steals a pair of her underwear and escapes without being seen.
Ginny shares a handful of lost, repressed memories with her on-call psychiatrist, Dr. David Faraday. She underwent an experimental medical procedure, involving surgery to restore brain tissue, after surviving a harrowing accident at a drawbridge.
As Ginny attempts to resume her normal life, her fellow Top Ten members are murdered in vicious and violent ways: Etienne is strangled when his scarf gets caught in the spokes of his motorcycle (à la Isadora Duncan); Greg has his neck crushed while lifting weights; Alfred is gutted with a pair of garden shears by Ginny.
Mr. Wainwright leaves on a business trip. Ginny invites Steve, another member of the Top Ten, to her place for a midnight snack. She prepares shish kebabs, and feeds him, while they drink and smoke marijuana. Then Steve unsuspectingly leaves his mouth agape, and Ginny shoves the shish kebab violently down his throat.
The following morning, Ginny is taking a shower while fighting to remember everything up to that point. In flashbacks, the following is revealed. Ginny's mother, a newly-inducted socialite, invited the Top Ten to Ginny's birthday celebration four years earlier. Instead, the Top Ten went to Ann's party. Drunk and unstable, Mrs. Wainwright confronted the grounds-keeper. Ginny's mother learned that she had a reputation as the town whore; ergo, neither she nor her daughter were welcome at the Thomersons'. This led to Mrs. Wainwright attempting to drive across a bridge that was in the process of opening. With Ginny screaming, her mother finally stopped in the middle of the bridge as each side was still raising. The car fell in between the bridge halves and Mrs. Wainwright drowned in her car, although Ginny swam to safety.
Ginny realizes that she may have killed her friends after all, including Ann. With Ginny's 18th birthday steadily approaching, she struggles to get answers from Dr. Faraday; when he fails to provide any, she kills him with a fire poker.
Mr. Wainwright returns from his business trip, ready to celebrate his daughter's 18th birthday. Entering their house, he sees blood and frantically attempts to locate Ginny. Instead, Mr. Wainwright finds Greg's girlfriend Amelia in shock in the courtyard clutching a gift, his late wife's grave (which recently has been robbed) and Dr. Faraday's corpse. Entering a cottage which serves as the Wainwrights' guest quarters, he makes a ghastly discovery.
The corpses of all the murdered Top Ten members are seated around the table, which has been set to look exactly as it did four years ago. The corpse of Mrs. Wainwright is seated there as well. Then Ginny enters, carrying a large cake and singing "Happy Birthday" to herself. Already distraught, Mr. Wainwright bursts into tears when his daughter casually admits to committing the murders. Ginny then slits her father's throat with the same large knife she used to cut the cake. He never sees the real Ginny, who is sedated, seated at this table as the killer's only living guest.
Ginny's doppelganger rants about having done all of this for Ginny, who then awakens to discover that the second Ginny is really Ann in disguise. Ann has been embittered by the revelation of her father's affair with Ginny's mother. It turns out that both girls are half-sisters. Ann slaughtered the six main members of the clique, that never showed up for her birthday party, expressly for the purpose of framing Ginny - who suddenly breaks free, takes Ann's knife and kills her with it.
As she stands over her half-sister's corpse, a detective walks in on Ginny and the horrifying carnage that surrounds her. He stares at Ginny and demands, "What have you done?" The audience is then left to wonder if Ginny will be cleared of the killings or arrested for them.
We hear Ginny singing "Happy Birthday to Me" as the film ends.
Cast
- Melissa Sue AndersonMelissa Sue AndersonMelissa Sue Anderson is an American-Canadian actress. She played the role of Mary Ingalls on the NBC television series Little House on the Prairie. She starred on the show from 1974 until 1981, leaving after Season 7, but later appeared in 2 episodes of Season 8 in late 1981. She won an Emmy...
as Virginia “Ginny” Wainwright - Glenn FordGlenn FordGlenn Ford was a Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades...
as Dr. David Faraday - Lawrence Dane as Harold “Hal” Wainwright
- Sharon AckerSharon AckerSharon Acker is a film, stage and television actress.Acker began her acting career in theater, and made her film debut when she recreated her stage role in Lucky Jim . Her first American film appearance was in the Lee Marvin action film, Point Blank .-Movies:*Lucky Jim .....
as Estelle Wainwright - Frances HylandFrances HylandFrances Hyland, OC was a well-known Canadian theatre actress.Hyland studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, making her professional debut in London as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite John Gielgud. In 1954, she returned to Canada, becoming a regular at the Stratford Festival in...
as Mrs. Patterson - Tracey E. BregmanTracey E. BregmanTracey E. Bregman is an German-American soap opera actress. She is best known for the role of Lauren Fenmore on The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful and for her role as Sarah Smythe on The Young and the Restless .-Personal life:She was born...
as Ann Thomerson - Jack BlumJack BlumJack Blum is a Canadian writer, producer, director, story editor, actor, educator and communications consultant based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With his longtime partner Sharon Corder, he has written and produced more than fifty hours of television drama for both Canadian and American broadcasters...
as Alfred Morris - Matt CravenMatt Craven-Life and career:Craven was born Matthew John Crnkovich in Port Colborne, Ontario, the son of Joanne Leslie, a hairdresser, and Nick Crnkovich. He has an older sister, Deborah...
as Steve Maxwell - Lenore ZannLenore ZannLenore Zann is a politician as well as a screen, television, stage, and voice actress who has appeared in numerous television shows and films...
as Maggie - David Eisner as Rudi
- Michel-René Labelle as Etienne Vercures
- Richard Rebiere as Greg Hellman
- Lesleh DonaldsonLesleh DonaldsonLesleh Donaldson is a Canadian actress who has worked in stage and film.She has appeared in a number of films but is generally best remembered for her roles in several horror movies including Funeral Home , Happy Birthday to Me , Curtains , and Deadly Eyes...
as Bernadette O'Hara - Lisa LangloisLisa LangloisLisa Langlois is a Canadian actress, who has appeared in movies, television and theater.-Biography:Langlois spent her childhood years in Hamilton, Ontario where she attended a French language school becoming fluent in French. In 1974 she represented Hamilton in the Miss Teen Canada beauty pageant,...
as Amelia
DVD releases
The initial DVD release from Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
featured a new soundtrack for the film and a new completely different cover art (not original poster art), which fans did not appreciate. Which also caused many slasher fans to beg for a re-release of the film with the original soundtrack that was heard in theaters and on the Columbia VHS.
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
released a new DVD with the original poster art as the DVD cover and using the film's original soundtrack. The DVD was released on October 13, 2009.
Soundtrack
The film's score varies from copy to copy. Some video releases contain the original theatrical score, whereas others contain a newer, completely different score and ending theme. The original score was written and composed by Bo Harwood and Lance Rubin, respectively.The film's ending theme, "Happy Birthday To Me" was sung by Syreeta Wright
Syreeta Wright
Syreeta Wright , who recorded professionally under the single name Syreeta, was a Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter most notably known for her work with Stevie Wonder and Billy Preston.-Early life and career:...
, (credited as simply Syreeta in the ending credits) and written by Lance Rubin (music) and Molly-Ann Leikin (lyrics). Subsequent releases (primarily the recent DVD copies) feature a disco track in place of this theme.
There was no official soundtrack release, however fan-made copies exist over the internet.
Goofs
- After the 'game' of flying over the drawbridge in cars, Ginny runs away into the forest with just her scarf. In the forest she has her scarf and handbag.
- When the investigator pulls up to the house to inform the Doc and Ginny about the discovery of Ann's empty car, as he gets out the car and the camera shot is from the back of the car, you can see a crew-members face reflected in the small rear-view mirror.
- When the last car flies over the drawbridge, its flies right into the ground and the front gets smashed, one headlight breaks and the front left tire flies off. When Ginny runs out of the car after they stop, the tire is back, the headlight is fixed and the front of the car seems totally intact.
- When Ginny arrives at the inn, as she sits down, she holds her brown handbag in her hand, but in the next shot as she sits, the handbag is on her shoulder.
- The film's eye-catching poster, which promised "Six of the most bizarre murders you will ever see", has its subject named "John" as the one who receives the fatal shish kebab death; when it is actually a character named Steve Maxwell (played by Matt Craven).
- In the scene when Rudi went inside Virginia “Ginny” Wainwright's house, he closed the window. At another scene the window was left open.
- In the scene recounting the death of Virginia's mom, the car is seen falling from various angles but always on its roof. The last time it is shown and the scene were it submerges, it is obviously right side up.
Production information
- Director J. Lee Thompson was renowned for tossing buckets of blood about on the set of Happy Birthday to Me in order to up the gore factor. According to producer John Dunning, with the assistance of special effects man Tom Burman, Thompson "would be splashing blood ALL over the place."
- UK cinema and 1986 RCARCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
/ColumbiaColumbia PicturesColumbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
video releases were culled from a longer print with slightly gorier footage of the weight-lift and shish kebabKebabKebab is a wide variety of meat dishes originating in Middle East and later on adopted by the Middle East, and Asia Minor, and now found worldwide. In English, kebab with no qualification generally refers more specifically to shish kebab served on the skewer...
death scenes, plus the original music score. The 2004 DVD release is the edited R-rated version with the alternate music. - 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.
- The movie was not popular with most critics; film historian Leonard MaltinLeonard MaltinLeonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
considered it a bomb, stating that "Glenn FordGlenn FordGlenn Ford was a Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades...
must have been desperate for the work" and said that Ford had "hit rock bottom with this appearance." - Lisa Langlois auditioned for the role of Ann but the role went to Tracy Bregman instead.
- According to an interview with Lisa Langlois, her character Amelia was originally killed off. In the first cut of the film, her character got an axe to her head. Langlois was told by David Douglas (a cameraman on the set) that the film would have been rated X if they kept that scene intact. So instead, the producers decided to make her look like the sole survivor in the final release.