Virginia has issues but she is also a member of the “Top Ten”, the coolest kids in school. Too bad someone seems to be picking the members off one by one. Virginia starts having weird flashbacks about her mothers’ death and the subsequent brain surgery she had after, and I must say, it’s a pretty good trick to have flashbacks of a brain surgery you were laid out on the table for but your flashback covers the entire process. A gory little process it is too.

This movies tagline was something about the six best kills ever. If you take into account it was done in 1980 I guess a couple of them are unique, especially the shish kebob that was employed on the original box art. I believe there are two versions of this flick and the new DVD release is rated R but the old VHS is uncut. Try to watch the uncut if possible.

I have to pause for a moment and plead with you to not judge this movie by the atrocious new DVD box art. The girl on the box isn’t one of the actors and there is no reason for her eyes to be glowing, there are no glowing eyes in this movie.

The actors are a mixed bag of so-so and fabulous and with most of the characters they avoid the cardboard stereotypes employed by the majority of slashers, although as with most socially elitist groups you wish death on them anyway.

This movie clocks in at 120 minutes which is about 20-30 minutes too long for a slasher but there is a lot of plot twisting and turning all over the place, enough that I didn’t notice the length as much as I thought I would. I guarantee you won’t figure out who the killer is and why they’re doing the killing but the sheer DRAMA of the ending reveal will have you cackling with glee. All in all Happy Birthday to Me is a fun ride with some slow parts but enough backstory to keep you involved.

5 out of 10 for this rated R version, I’d probably give it a 7 if they had all the gore intact that I vaguely remember from my childhood.