Happy Birthday to Me

Infobox Film
name = Happy Birthday to Me


image_size =
caption = Theatrical Poster
director = J. Lee Thompson
producer = John Dunning Stewart Harding Andre Link
writer = John Beaird Timothy Bond Peter Jobin John Saxton
narrator =
starring = Melissa Sue Anderson Glenn Ford Tracy Bregman Jack Blum Matt Craven
music = Bo Harwood Lance Rubin
cinematography = Miklos Lente
editing = Debra Karen
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = 1981
runtime = 111 min.
country = Canada
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0082498

"Happy Birthday to Me" is a 1981 Canadian slasher film directed by J. Lee Thompson and written by John C.W. Saxton. It was released May 15th, 1981.

Plot Summary

After losing her memory in a freak car accident involving a drawbridge (the accident took her mother's life), Virginia "Ginny" Wainwright (Melissa Sue Anderson) returns to Crawford Academy - her private high school - and joins "Crawford's Big Ten," an exclusive clique of mostly-rich students. Days before Ginny's 18th birthday, the Big Ten start falling victim to a gruesome series of murders.

Ginny feels she is somehow responsible for her friends' deaths, although both her father and her psychiatrist (Glenn Ford) insist that she's not. Said situation is acerbated when Ginny experiences strange blackouts, and visions which she cannot explain. It is unclear whether she is losing her mind, has already lost it, or is finally realizing the truth.

The killer bludgeons Ginny's psychiatrist to death with a fireplace-poker, then sits the corpses of Crawford's Big Ten around the Wainwrights' posh dining table. Ginny's dad comes home and stumbles upon this ghastly display. Suddenly, Ginny enters the room, carrying a large ornate birthday cake. As Mr. Wainwright stares in astonishment at his daughter, she cuts the cake with a butcher knife - with which she then slits his throat. After that, she reveals herself to be not Ginny but... Ann, another of Ginny's friends, who turns out to be her elder half-sister (on their mother's side). It is Ann who, disguised as Ginny, has been murdering the Big Ten; she has also been "doping" the real Ginny to black her out. Ann hauls a forcibly-sedated and barely-conscious Ginny into the room, and sits her at the head of the table. As Ann prepares to knife her sister to death, the drugs wear off. Coming to in the nick of time, Ginny tricks and overpowers Ann, who is fatally stabbed with her own knife.

elected Cast

*Melissa Sue Anderson - Virginia “Ginny” Wainwright
*Glenn Ford - Dr. David Faraday
*Lawrence Dane - Harold “Hal” Wainwright
*Sharon Acker - Estelle Wainwright
*Frances Hyland - Mrs. Patterson
*Tracey E. Bregman - Ann Thomerson
*Jack Blum - Alfred Morris
*Matt Craven - Steve Maxwells,at tim
*Lenore Zann - Maggie
*David Eisner - Rudi
*Lisa Langlois - Amelia
*Stephanie Miller - Hospital Nurse

oundtrack

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, (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.

Production info

*UK cinema and 1986 RCA/Columbia video releases were culled from a longer print with slightly gorier footage of the weight-lift and shish kebab 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.

External links

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