Movies
Happy Birthday To Me
“Under Thompson’s direction, the film manages to look a bit more polished and less amateurish looking than most other 80s slasher flicks. And then, of course, there’s the ingenious death scenes – which is really what makes the film memorable – but out of respect for everyone who hasn’t managed to see it yet, I won’t spoil any of them.”
On a chilly fall night in 2003, I was living in a dormitory during my freshman year of college in a sleepy, little town. Since the main attractions in Rome, GA consist of not one, but two Wally Worlds and a movie theatre/bar combo that none of us were old enough to get into yet, we spent our weekends either traveling to Atlanta for concerts, clubs and general mischief or we stayed indoors watching whatever weird oddities we could find at the local Mom and Pop Rental Shack. This Friday night in question started off innocently enough, with me roaming the horror section in search of something that would be as equally outrageous as Sleepaway Camp, which we had watched a few days earlier. After a few minutes of browsing, I stumbled upon a VHS box that had a guy getting a shish kabob shoved through his mouth on the front cover and a tagline that read, “Six of the most bizarre murders you will ever see!” The film in question: Happy Birthday To Me. The probability that I was going to take this home: 100%.
The film starts out with Bernadette (Lesleh Donaldson) making her nightly trip to The Silent Woman Tavern, a pub near Crawford Academy, where she meets with the Top Ten (a group of the most popular students attending the school). In true slasher fashion, she’s dispatched right off the bat by a killer whose face cannot be seen; not unlike a giallo, only their hands and feet are visible throughout most of the film, following in the footsteps of well known horror hits such as Halloween and Friday The 13th.
Moments later, we’re introduced to the Top Nine as it were, who seem to be moderately concerned that Bernadette hasn’t shown up but quickly get over it and play a prank on a local lodger involving a mouse (soon after, we find out that the group is notorious for playing pranks, which explains why they weren’t concerned with their friend’s disappearance). The rest of the film shifts the focus on Virginia “Ginny” Wainwright (Melissa Sue Anderson of Little House on the Prairie fame), a member of the clique who has an on-call psychiatrist (Glenn Ford) who helps her deal with her repressed memories of brain surgery and a car crash. While she’s attempting to piece her life together, the rest of the Top Nine are murdered in, as the cover states, “bizarre” ways. All of this leads to a climax that was hailed as “a confusing mess” by my dorm neighbors but really, it isn’t a very difficult movie to figure out. In fact, the most puzzling aspect of the film isn’t the ending but rather how someone got Oscar-nominated director J. Lee Thompson (Cape Fear, The Guns of Navarone) to direct a slasher flick!
Happy Birthday To Me is a fairly typical entry in the body-count horror sub-genre: the kids are mostly unlikable with one or two sympathetic characters thrown into the mix; the plot is simple but tries to overcomplicate its presentation to be “smart”; and body are shucked like ears of corn at a harvest festival. But, under Thompson’s direction, the film manages to look a bit more polished and less amateurish looking than most other 80s slasher flicks. And then, of course, there’s the ingenious death scenes – which is really what makes the film memorable – but out of respect for everyone who hasn’t managed to see it yet, I won’t spoil any of them.
Happy Birthday To Me originally arrived on DVD back in 2006 but its release was somewhat compromised. First off, the cover art was probably one of the worst Photoshop jobs I’ve ever seen in my life. Not only did it feature a girl with glowing eyes, but it also had the outline of a castle that could be seen through a window in the background, neither of which are in the actual film – the birthday cake and knife are safe from scrutiny, though. Luckily, after the cover art popped up online, Columbia included an insert with the film’s original poster after fans cried foul. But, perhaps the greatest sin was replacing the film’s original soundtrack with a disco-themed one. There are two plausible theories as to how this came about: one is that the studio didn’t want to pony up the money to buy the music rights so they replaced it with something cheaper. The other is that this new soundtrack was from a very early version of the film before it was rescored and Columbia just used the wrong one on accident. Although that might seem a bit far-fetched, the scenes do match up to the alternate soundtrack quite well, more so than other films which have been tampered with in the same way.
I’m happy to say that none of that matters anymore since Anchor Bay has rereleased the film with its theatrical soundtrack and used the original poster as the cover art for their DVD. And, on top of that, the DVD actually has the original theatrical trailer included, which was an omission that was but a minor sin on the original release. So, if you’ve never check out the film before, now is the time to grab this disc and check out Happy Birthday To Me in the way it was meant to be seen!
Movies
‘Corpus’ Review: A Seductive Slow-Burn Erotic Thriller With a Supernatural Twist [Fantasia 2026]
Director Corrin Evans‘ sweaty, immersive voyage back to the ’90s deftly bypasses nostalgic pastiche thanks to strong form and vision in his feature debut, Corpus. Evocative of 1998’s High Art in indie attitude, style, and themes, Corpus so effectively pulls you into its brooding vision of identity and intimacy that its supernatural elements become almost an afterthought in this slow-simmering psychological thriller.
Evans, who co-writes with Lily Cowles, opens Corpus with a discomforting attention grabber that sees a young woman, Wren (Yellowjackets‘ Nuha Jes Izman), put in an increasingly awkward, then disturbing position at a professional photo shoot. The scene abruptly cuts right at the cusp of sexual violence, setting in motion the overarching mystery that protagonist Sayo (Jeff Wahlberg) slowly discovers he’s been pulled into.
Corpus introduces Sayo as an aspiring photographer with an eye for composition, but one who scrapes by in New York City dealing drugs at nightclubs. His quiet routine gets upended with the return of Vince Marlowe (Brodie Townsend), a star on the rise and Sayo’s longtime crush. Vince convinces Sayo and their mutual pal Ross (Michael Vlamis) to accompany him to an exclusive party hosted by his affluent photographer friend Billie (Lily Cowles). Instead of a bustling gathering filled with prominent guests, though, Sayo is surprised to arrive at an isolated estate deep in the woods, with only Billie, Billie’s strange friend Cata (Ching Valdes-Aran), and Wren to greet them.
It’s the type of bait-and-switch that should set off warnings within Sayo, but his unresolved feelings for Vince override his sense of survival as the strange behaviors grow more sinister over the weekend.
Sayo’s loneliness becomes the epicenter for Evans’ sensual examination of modern relationships, intimacy, and gender norms. As such, Corpus favors slow simmering, sensual unease as Evans dials into the push and pull among its central relationships. More acutely, Sayo’s deep confusion takes center stage as he tries to navigate his perplexing dynamic with the object of his desire. Vince runs hot and cold. Flirtations and advances are sometimes encouraged, sometimes rejected. Not helping is the bizarre dynamic between Billie and her mysterious “friend” Cata. Or Wren’s new feral persona, a far cry from her timid opener.
Fixating so thoroughly on the intricacies of Sayo and Vince’s will-they-won’t-they adds meaty thematic depth, a haunting depiction of loneliness leaving someone vulnerable to different forms of manipulation. It’s here where Evans slowly, ever so slowly, layers in hints of horror. Sensuality and relationship drama take center stage, and while Evans’ strong grasp of form makes for a compelling watch that holds you firmly in its grip, its middle section is prone to pacing lulls.
So much so that by the time Corpus is ready to reveal its sinister horror surprise, it feels almost too little too late. The disorienting nature of desire and intimacy gives way to a full-throttle home invasion that lays all intentions bare and finally unmasks its horror, but it comes in a frenzied rush that can’t wait to conclude Sayo’s erstwhile romantic pursuits.
The restrained horror does frustrate in the wake of the film’s potent cold open, raising the expectation for a more energetic journey that never fully arrives, but what it lacks in supernatural scares it makes up for in style and atmosphere. Wahlberg makes for a complicated, sympathetic lead as the vulnerable romantic struggling to find his place in the world, let alone whether he’s destined for love or the friendship zone. The ’90s setting doesn’t just remove the pesky problem of smartphones when trouble arises; it lets Evans play with form and incorporate photography techniques that raise visual interest. Even the music adds rich texture. It all makes for a stylish debut with a strong voice at the helm, but it never pushes far enough into erotic thriller or horror territory to fully unsettle.
Corpus made its premiere at the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival. Release info TBD.
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