1981 was a phenomenal year for horror. Literally tons of slashers were bombarding the local drive-in week after week, and one of the most memorable of those was without a doubt HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME. It's impossible to think of 80's horror and not think of HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME- and the cult shocker is finally getting the treatment it deserves on DVD, with its original score and cover art (the infamous shot of a murder by shish kebab) intact for the first time. There's much to love here, as nutty as this film is.
Melissa Sue Anderson plays Virginia, a senior at Crawford Academy. She belongs to the school's "Top Ten"- an elite clique made up of the richest, snobbiest kids in school. All is fun and games until someone starts killing them off one by one in rather clever and horrible ways, of course. The film starts off with a bang as Scream Queen Lesleh Donaldson becomes the first victim at Crawford Academy, just shy of Ginny's 18th birthday. Ginny suffers from hidden memories of a tragic accident years before, and she now starts to worry she might be the one responsible for her friends deaths. Turns out she has had brain surgery before, so her memory is not what it should be. On top of all this, she suffers from blackouts. Is Ginny crazy? Or is someone trying to turn her that way? Here's where the fun begins, kids.
As much a mystery as a slasher film, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME was part of a memorable string of horror movies hailing from Canada in the early 80's, alongside PROM NIGHT, TERROR TRAIN, and MY BLOODY VALENTINE, just to name a few. Great murders, great atmosphere, and great direction all make HBTM a crazy yet enjoyable hot mess of an 80's slasher. You've got 80's icons Lesleh Donaldson and Tracey Bregman, and veteran Glenn Ford brings some respectability to the shenanigans, and the film boasts a genuinely creepy score that should be released already!
What's interesting about HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME is that although gore and high body counts were essential to a slasher's success in 1981, this film dares to throw in some character development and interesting plot twists on top of its creative and gory kills. There's just something oddly riveting about this movie- it's extremely watchable... even though it's ripe with problems. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME has earned its rightful place in the pantheon of legendary 80's slasher films, and it's a campy delight.
How much do I love THE FOG, you ask? Well, let me tell you. A delicious old fashioned ghost story, THE FOG wonderfully begins with a quote by Edgar Allen Poe, then cuts to salty old sea dog John Houseman telling a ghost story to a bunch of kids huddled around a campfire on a lonely cliff overlooking the sleepy little town of Antonio Bay. It's a simple yet very effective scene, and immediately sets the tone of the film and gives us the chilling back story. The story is one hundred years ago, Antonio Bay was founded on a devilish conspiracy, which resulted in the death of many seamen. On the anniversary of the tragedy, the ghostly victims rise up from their watery grave for a little old-fashioned revenge on the unsuspecting little town. THE FOG is drenched in eerie, old school atmosphere, and was John Carpenter and Debra Hill's follow-up to their ground-breaking and hugely influential classic, HALLOWEEN. And a damn good one too, in my opinion.
Although Carpenter surprisingly didn't quite hit a home-run on the level of HALLOWEEN, THE FOG has slowly and surely built a loyal fan base over the years, and is now widely considered a classic of 80's horror. And that cast! Besides Jamie Lee Curtis, we get the original scream queen herself, Janet Leigh. Plus the divine Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Loomis, John Houseman, Hal Holbrook... I would watch this bunch of actors sit around reading names from a phone book.
THE FOG is a quiet, unassuming little thriller that doesn't rely on big-budget effects to scare you as it moves slowly but surely along, peppered with a series of well-executed scares, top-notch atmosphere, and solid tension. The film has some great production values, Carpenter's solid direction, and amazing cinematography by Dean Cundey. This is classic ghost story stuff here, kids.
Carpenter once again offers a sumptuously eerie soundtrack which rivals the score to HALLOWEEN- it's a sadly underrated work of art. Released in the wake of FRIDAY THE 13TH and other splatter flicks, THE FOG quietly joined such intelligent supernatural chillers as THE CHANGELING and THE SHINING for a much more subdued scare.Bottom line- if you want to see a great ghost story done the old-fashioned way, you just can't go wrong with this Carpenter classic!
Yet another early 80's slasher film to come from Canada, "Terror Train" hit theaters on October 3, 1980. Jamie Lee Curtis had already been established as the "Scream Queen" with earlier roles in "Halloween", "The Fog", and "Prom Night", and she would follow this up with "Halloween 2". I really dig "Terror Train". It's really grown on me and love it almost as much as I love "Prom Night"- which is a lot. This is 100% prime slasher here. Shy and awkward pledge Kenny Hampson becomes the victim of a cruel and twisted prank gone horribly wrong. His mind snapping in the process, he is of course instiutionalized. We flash forward 3 years later to same group of students who are now graduating and decide to throw a New Years' Eve costume party aboard a train. Little do they know that Kenny has boarded the train as well, murderously lurking in a creepy Groucho Marx costume and brandishing a knife. And it gets even better- David Friggin' Copperfield performs a magic show on the train. I'm not making this up! A train hurtling through a dark winter night with Jamie Lee Curtis, David Copperfield, and a murderous lunatic on board? Hell yes.
"Terror Train" is not a bad movie as it's sometimes made out to be. It's certainly no "Halloween", but I find it extremely watchable. The opening prank scene is genuinely creepy and the movie delivers quite the climax as our one and only Jamie Lee battles the killer to the death. It certainly picks up steam in the last 30 minutes or so. "Terror Train" boasts the novelty of the killer donning the costume of his last victim, which is fun, let's be real. The movie was filmed in Montreal on an actual reconverted train in about three weeks, for you trivia hounds out there. It's got some great atmosphere shots of the train barreling through a snowy landscape, and the claustrophobic setting on the train really helps the film. As of now the only Jamie Lee Curtis horror flick that hasn't been remade- although there are talks for one in the making. Bleh. Bottom line- if you're into early 80's slashers, book a ticket on the "Terror Train" today!
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