Stars: Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford
Director: J. Lee Thompson
My birthday falls in September, the 19th to be exact, and I use that as an excuse to start Halloween horror movie watching early. This film is almost always the start of Halloween season to me.
Brief synopsis:
Ginny is part of the “Top 10” at Crawford Academy. A former outcast due to her mother being a social climber, she was accepted into the group following her mother’s death. This group of spoiled rich kids run the prep school and there are many in town who hate them. Being teenagers, the members of the group play dating roulette, switching partners with ease and only a little jealousy. While the romantic games play out, a killer begins whittling down the group one by one.
Spoilers below (you have been warned):
Ginny has brain damage and memory issues from the car wreck that killed her mother. This leads to black outs and she begins to think that she is killing her friends. Her fears are seemingly verified when we see her kill a couple of her fellow classmates. Eventually, we end up at Ginny’s birthday party at a table surrounded by all her dead friends. Her father finds her and she kills him. However, it is all a trick. Turns out that Ginny’s best friend, Ann, was wearing a mask of Ginny to frame her for the murders. Ann’s father had an affair with Ginny’s mom and it destroyed her parents’ marriage. In addition, Ginny is actually Ann’s half-sister. The two girls fight over a knife and Ginny ends up fatally stabbing Ann. Unfortunately, the police show up at that moment to see Ginny surrounded by her dead friends with a bloody knife in her hands.
My thoughts (with spoilers):
Is this the best film to start out Halloween season with? Probably not but I don’t care. It is fun, silly, and brainless way to start the season. The poster promises six of the most bizarre deaths ever put on screen and, while it doesn’t quite succeed, they are fun kills and you understand why someone would want to take these particular kids out of the gene pool. They are obnoxious, entitled, and lack empathy. When people they know and care about go missing, they blow it off and are not concerned at all. You wonder why someone kind like Ginny would even want to hang out with them.
The answer is Ann. Ann seems to worry about Ginny and wants to help her. The film starts off with the group at a bar. After terrorizing a group of older Shriner’s who are, admittedly, annoying with their 100 bottles of beer on the wall refrain, they decide to jump a drawbridge as it rises. This is how Ginny’s mother died, jumping the same bridge after confronting Ginny’s dad on her birthday. This is where Ginny almost died. Without telling Ginny what is going on, they shove her in a car to play the game of jumping the bridge. After barely surviving the second jump, Ginny runs off to deal with her trauma while Ann angrily goes after the gang for putting Ginny through that horror. Throughout the film, Ann is constantly by Ginny’s side, helping her and reassuring her. This is, of course, her way of keeping tabs on her nemesis and making sure Ginny does not have an alibi for the murders.
The cast is good for a film of this stature. Melissa Sue Anderson, Mary from Little House on the Prairie, is convincing as Ginny. All she wants is a normal life following the accident that nearly ended her life but forces beyond her control are stopping that from happening. Tracy Bregman is probably best known for playing Lauren Fenmore on The Young and The Restless for over 40 years and you can understand why she is still acting. Ann is really two roles, best friend and worst enemy, and Bregman sinks her teeth firmly into both. You trust Ann and can understand why she stands by Ginny, even when things look bad. But when the tables turn and her true colors come out, she is vicious and mean.
Another thing this film has going for it is the ending. You will soon learn that I am a fan of an earned nihilistic ending. It can’t come from nowhere, it has to be built up to and make sense for the story. This ending fits that requirement. Ann has framed Ginny so well that there is no way for her to convince the police that she is an innocent victim, she is literally standing there with a bloody knife in her hand and dead bodies all around her. Ginny may not have died but her life is over. Ann won.
If you are looking for a fun way to celebrate your birthday, give Happy Birthday to Me a shot. You will never look at a shish kabob skewer the same way again.
More films from 1981 to check out:
The Devil and Max Devlin – Lost Disney film when Bill Cosby plays the devil tempting Elliot Gould’s Max Devlin. I always enjoyed this one however it is really hard to find.
History of the World Part I – A lesser Mel Brooks film but still fun. I still catch myself singing the Inquisition song at random times.
Dragonslayer – This Disney/Paramount fantasy film stars Peter MacNicol as Galen, a sorcerer’s apprentice who wants to help defeat a dragon. Dark and disturbing and still managed to get a PG rating despite a scene involving dragon babies eating a virgin sacrifice.