Essentially a camp-tastic footnote to the late-‘70s, early-’80s slasher flick craze, Happy Birthday to Me at least distinguishes itself from the pack by refusing to conclude with its first climactic twist, instead choosing to pile on a second, even more batshit-insane ending in an apparent effort to make sure viewers finish the film with incredulous smiles on their faces. Ginny (Melissa Sue Anderson, aka Little House on the Prairie’s blind Mary Ingalls) is part of an elitist boarding school clique made up of premiere students (all seemingly played by 25-year-olds), though she and her supposedly intelligent pals spend most of their time drinking, smoking and raucously celebrating at sporting events (including a dirt bike race won by a French ambassador’s son?!?). One by one, the nondescript kids die, with director J. Lee Thompson (Cape Fear, believe it or not) using blunt edits and severe close-ups to cast suspicion on characters who are obviously guilty of nothing more than being slightly-to-very unattractive. Yet despite a general lack of tension, the film – even before its preposterous finale – nonetheless boasts a couple of elements that keep it from becoming totally worthless: a dose of second-rate (but still unsettling) giallo bizarreness that shrouds the story in mystery, and a series of moderately inventive slayings, the best of which involves a romantic, late-night, fireside snack of shish kebob.
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