Its a bit of a difficult game when watching a movie for the first time as to how ‘blind’ you choose to go in to it. Some people dont like surprises and pretty much want to know everything up front so they can focus on the movie, rather than the false flags. Others prefer to be TOTALLY blind…to the extent of not even knowing the genre of the thing they’re going to see.

Its a difficult debate really because in my own personal preference, I like to know at least a *bit* about what im seeing, but im the sort who, if I find out too much, I quickly go off a film because I just figure ‘what’s the point?’

In the case of ‘Happy Birthday to me’ I went in with two presumptions, that it was a 90 minute 80s slasher flick and that, because it’d been released by Indicator, i’d probably fall almost immediately in love with it. I was wrong on both counts, and had I known what this film actually WAS, I probably wouldnt have watched it tonight as I definitely wasnt in the headspace for it.

So contrary to almost ALL the marketing for this thing, its not your bog standard 80s slasher fodder. Its actually quite a bit more than that, it’s a psychodrama with a decent slug of slasher DNA in it, but truthfully, it borrows almost as much from the ‘Giallo’ genre as it does from the ‘Slasher’ style.

Its a twisting turning murder mystery as a group of friends slowly get picked off in ever more gruesome ways, with one of the friends having terrible memories of an accident from her past thats leading her to think she may in fact be involved in her friends dissapearences.

I dont want to go into too much detail because honestly, the script lives and dies by its twists and turns and this things actually really quite solid. I mean that in every sense of the word, both that its very well made, but also that its VERY dense on plot detail, character development, character nuance, careful wordings, double meanings.

Theres a rock solid foundation that this films working from, the tone is consistent and dances a line between humerous without getting silly, and gruesome without becoming purely morbid. the acts are consistent, giving the audience juuuust enough to keep them invested, and seamlessly transitioning as things progress.

The characters are fully fleshed out and decently written, and its nice to see a horror movie that actually bothers to do that with ALL the characters, even the ones who wont make it to the 15 minute mark.

In fact really, the only thing I can flaw this on is a recurring bugbear of mine, which was made all the worse by the fact that I went into this expecting a fairly run of the mill ‘Slasher’. Thats where my mind was at.

So when I checked in on the runtime about a third of the way in and saw that this film is just shy of 2 HOURS LONG…well, my investment in it went through the floor. Not because the film wasnt good you understand, but rather. I wondered to myself how on EARTH a cheesy 80s slasher movie was going to sustain itself to nearly 2 hours, when some of the all time greats bearly break 85.

It was only when I got to about the hour mark that I realised that this film had more going onto it than just the tropes of the era. But by this point i’d bedded in mentally that the film was something else. Which did kind of sour the experience to me. The next time I catch this thing (and I WILL be catching it again) I’ll know exactly what kind of mood i’ll need to be in to really properly appreciate this thing. Because, while I could see that it was clearly very well made, I just wasnt in the mood for something quite so deep and involved as this.

So the script is actually pretty solid (in my opinion) what about the cine and direction? Well. That too really doesnt dissapoint. its a highly styalised piece that has clearly had a lot of planning and forethought as to its execution. It’s clear the director worked very closely with the crew in being able to pull all the individual areas together, and apart from one or two moments of slightly wobbly audio quality here and there. This is actually quite the marvel for 1981. I really struggled to find much fault in it other than ‘I wish they continued to push the envelope further than they already did!’ which is just about the best critical feedback I can give ‘Your film was out there and excellent, I just wish it was MORE out there and excellent!’

Same goes for the cine, some of the gore shots are starting to show their age a little bit in places and some of the night time shots are a little ‘over dark’ for me. But composition is wonderful, theres a clear attempt at styalisation on hand, PLENTY of B-roll and cutaway footage to make scenes really pop. and scenes must have had very careful consideration during the shot listing stage, because the edit on a scene by scene basis is tight, consistent and frankly delightful, it oozes professionalism. and I love it for that.

In fact the only criticism I can level at this film is a regular critique I have, which is its a bit overlong. It could easily lose 15 minutes and would have been infinitely better for it. There are a LOT of sequences where they’re aiming for suspence, but to modern audiences, its basically an excuse to look up the cast online, scenes of the friends palling around are welcome, but they do go a little overboard on trying to sell the friendships to us, and again, after a few sequences of them just hanging out and not really doing much. I did find my attention start to wane.

Thats not to faul the performances themselves and our cast are absolutely sublime from start to finish, but for my money our leading lady Melissa Sue Anderson easily steals the show, bringing a wide ranging energy and animation to the role that I feel no other actress of that time could have quite matched. She alone is worth the price of admission. and I really need to see what else shes been in.

The soundtrack as well is near perfect in terms of setting the atmosphere. Honestly; had this thing been a smidge shorter and had I known that this was a bit more involved that a brainless 80s stabby movie. I’d have probably had an infinitely better time with it than I did. This is a rock solid, incredibly well made little film. I think some of the twists are a *little* bit farfetched. But if you can suspend your disbelief. Even for a moment, I think you’ll have a great time.

Definitely one for Giallo fans, or lovers of films like ‘Psycho’ or ‘The hand’ if you havent caught this, I highly recommend it, its a bit extra, and Im totally here for that.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/happy-birthday-to-me/