It’s time for a new episode of the Real Slashers video series, and with this one we’re heading back into the glorious ’80s to look at a film that was released during the slasher boom of 1981: Happy Birthday to Me (watch it Here)! This movie was directed by J. Lee Thompson, whose previous credits included the classics The Guns of Navarone and Cape Fear (not to mention Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes). To hear all about his contribution to the ’80s slasher era, check out the video embedded above.
From here, Thompson would go on to make several films with Charles Bronson, including 10 to Midnight and Death Wish 4: The Crackdown, as well as King Solomon’s Mines and the Chuck Norris adventure Firewalker.
Scripted by Timothy Bond, Peter Jobin, and John Saxton, Happy Birthday to Me...
From here, Thompson would go on to make several films with Charles Bronson, including 10 to Midnight and Death Wish 4: The Crackdown, as well as King Solomon’s Mines and the Chuck Norris adventure Firewalker.
Scripted by Timothy Bond, Peter Jobin, and John Saxton, Happy Birthday to Me...
- 3/18/2024
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Have you heard of the urban legend "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs?" Dating back to the 1960s, the urban legend talks about a female babysitter watching television -- having put the children to bed upstairs -- when she receives a call from a man asking her to check on the kids. While the babysitter ignores the man's instructions many times, the frequency of the calls unsettles her, prompting her to call the cops. Once the cops arrive, they inform her that the call was coming from inside the house all along — upstairs, to be precise, where the unidentified man had already killed the children.
This grisly myth was the basis for director Bob Clark's 1974 slasher "Black Christmas," where residents of a sorority house have to contend with repeated calls from an unknown man amid an unsettling disappearance among their group. The genre trope of a sinister killer calling...
This grisly myth was the basis for director Bob Clark's 1974 slasher "Black Christmas," where residents of a sorority house have to contend with repeated calls from an unknown man amid an unsettling disappearance among their group. The genre trope of a sinister killer calling...
- 12/22/2023
- by Debopriyaa Dutta
- Slash Film
It's 1974. Canada and the United States are challenging old ideas about women's bodily autonomy, a year removed from the Supreme Court's landmark Roe V. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Chaka Khan croons for her lover to "Tell Me Something Good" over the radio airwaves as Isabel Perón is sworn in as Argentina's first female president, weeks before Richard Nixon would resign from his presidential post amid the Watergate scandal. It's a time of shake-ups and seismic cultural shifts, reflected in the films people would flock to. Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" and Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Conversation" would tap into distrust of governments and institutions, and in horror, Tobe Hooper would disrupt the genre formula with his grim and influential screamfest "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." Bob Clark's "Black Christmas" would be one of the first horror movies to center around a holiday both in title and plot, but...
- 11/23/2022
- by Anya Stanley
- Slash Film
Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products released each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.
Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!
Stranger Things: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book from Insight Editions
Insight Editions has released Stranger Things: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book, which will cost you 67.50. It’s illustrated by Stranger Things artist Kyle Lambert, while The Babadook book designer Simon Arizpe handled the paper engineering and Matthew Reinhart (Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy) served as creative director.
Happy Birthday to Me Blu-ray from Kino Lorber
Happy Birthday to Me will slash onto Blu-ray on October 18 via Kino Lorber. The 1981 film is presented in high definition with 5.1 Surround & 2.0 Lossless audio.
J. Lee Thompson (Cape Fear) directs from as script by John C.W. Saxton (Class of 1984), Peter Jobin, and Timothy Bond (Friday the 13th: The Series). Melissa Sue Anderson,...
Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!
Stranger Things: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book from Insight Editions
Insight Editions has released Stranger Things: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book, which will cost you 67.50. It’s illustrated by Stranger Things artist Kyle Lambert, while The Babadook book designer Simon Arizpe handled the paper engineering and Matthew Reinhart (Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy) served as creative director.
Happy Birthday to Me Blu-ray from Kino Lorber
Happy Birthday to Me will slash onto Blu-ray on October 18 via Kino Lorber. The 1981 film is presented in high definition with 5.1 Surround & 2.0 Lossless audio.
J. Lee Thompson (Cape Fear) directs from as script by John C.W. Saxton (Class of 1984), Peter Jobin, and Timothy Bond (Friday the 13th: The Series). Melissa Sue Anderson,...
- 9/2/2022
- by Alex DiVincenzo
- bloody-disgusting.com
Economy was the key to a solid TV movie back in the day; sure, now you can stretch out a story over ten episodes and watch ‘em all at once. *Pulls up pants even higher* But back in my time you had 75 to 90 minutes tops to get your point across, and we liked it! Even better, a small screen flick like She Cried Murder (1973) does it in a speedy 66, omitting unnecessary tropes such as love stories, secondary characters, and plot.
Okay, I’m just being cheeky; She Cried Murder is so lean that all it really has time for is a cat and mouse chase between a woman who witnessed a murder and the fella who did it; motive is covered quite tidily so it isn’t all chase, and what it does accomplish is effective enough. Not enough to deter folk from watching the ABC Tuesday Movie of the...
Okay, I’m just being cheeky; She Cried Murder is so lean that all it really has time for is a cat and mouse chase between a woman who witnessed a murder and the fella who did it; motive is covered quite tidily so it isn’t all chase, and what it does accomplish is effective enough. Not enough to deter folk from watching the ABC Tuesday Movie of the...
- 11/25/2018
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Aging much better than a freezer burnt, half eaten cake, Happy Birthday to Me (1981) stands out as one of the better ones from the golden era of slashers, when the major studios weren’t afraid to throw some blood soaked (Canadian) coin at a B level concept, and in the process giving it some A list icing.
The Canadian ties? Filmed in Montreal when tax credits were still flying fast and furious, Happy was one of Columbia Pictures early ‘80s ventures into the horror world. (Graduation Day, released the same year, was the breadwinner of the two.) Recruiting the Canadian producing juggernaut of Andre Link and John Dunning (David Cronenberg’s cohorts on his mid ‘70s output, Shivers and Rabid), Columbia was guaranteed a good return on their investment. Of course, the Canuck connection doesn’t stop there – the cast includes such faces of Canadiana as Lawrence Dane (Scanners), Jack Blum...
The Canadian ties? Filmed in Montreal when tax credits were still flying fast and furious, Happy was one of Columbia Pictures early ‘80s ventures into the horror world. (Graduation Day, released the same year, was the breadwinner of the two.) Recruiting the Canadian producing juggernaut of Andre Link and John Dunning (David Cronenberg’s cohorts on his mid ‘70s output, Shivers and Rabid), Columbia was guaranteed a good return on their investment. Of course, the Canuck connection doesn’t stop there – the cast includes such faces of Canadiana as Lawrence Dane (Scanners), Jack Blum...
- 8/6/2016
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Creating a tornado in a film has always been a test of the limits of special effects, but most people, luckily, haven't gotten up close and personal with enough of them to spot the differences.
Keith Cecere and Rich Ruggiero, both active storm chasers (and co-stars in IFC's storm-chasing mockumentary "Funnel of Darkness"), have.
That's why they've offered their judgments on five movies known for their wicked weather sequences, which they've rated (both for the effects and the acting -- hey, everyone's a critic) on the Fujita scale, a scale for rating tornado intensity, from f1 (weakest) to f5 (strongest).
"Twister" (1996)
Directed by Jan de Bont
Rich Ruggiero: This classic gets an F5. The effects are really good -- and it came out 13 years ago! In special effects time, that's like 200 years. There've been a lot of advancements since then, but the filmmakers did a sick job with what they had back then.
Keith Cecere and Rich Ruggiero, both active storm chasers (and co-stars in IFC's storm-chasing mockumentary "Funnel of Darkness"), have.
That's why they've offered their judgments on five movies known for their wicked weather sequences, which they've rated (both for the effects and the acting -- hey, everyone's a critic) on the Fujita scale, a scale for rating tornado intensity, from f1 (weakest) to f5 (strongest).
"Twister" (1996)
Directed by Jan de Bont
Rich Ruggiero: This classic gets an F5. The effects are really good -- and it came out 13 years ago! In special effects time, that's like 200 years. There've been a lot of advancements since then, but the filmmakers did a sick job with what they had back then.
- 8/13/2009
- by Keith Cecere
- ifc.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.