Welcome to upscale Crawford Academy, where everyone—especially new student Ginny (Melissa Sue Anderson, TV’s Little House on the Prairie)—wants to be part of the school’s most popular clique. But now somebody has begun butchering the group’s members. Could a deadly accident from Ginny’s past be connected to the brutal killings? And as her 18th birthday approaches, will Ginny be the guest of honor at the most horrific party of all? Tracey E. Bregman (The Concrete Jungle), Matt Craven (Jacob’s Ladder), Lawrence Dane (The Park Is Mine), Sharon Acker (Point Blank), Jack Blum (Meatballs), Lisa Langlois (Transformations) and Hollywood great Glenn Ford (Human Desire) co-star in this twisted slasher shocker from legendary director J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear, Return from the Ashes, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, The White Buffalo) that features—as its infamous poster promised—“six of the most bizarre murders you will ever see!”

For thoughts on Happy Birthday To Me, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

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Video Quality

Happy Birthday To Me comes to Blu-Ray with a 1080p transfer in its original 1.85:1 that is quite pleasing from Kino Classics. This film previously made appearances on the format over the years from Mill Creek. While I have never seen any of these particular discs, reports from that indicate it is one of the better efforts from that inconsistent company, so we are going to assume this is derived from the same master only presented with a better encode with less compression artifacts. This transfer holds up as a solid representation of the film which shows minimal signs of damage or digital tinkering. You will still see very slight nicks and scratches, but this held up better than we expected.

Colors delight when it comes to saturations with a nice array of natural hues in clothing and certain environments. Black levels are decent in their depth, even if a few moments struggle with delineation. The transfer looks clear and detailed for much of the runtime with only a handful of moments exhibiting density fluctuations in the grain field. Image quality is overall stable with some fun detail in the production design and texture of clothing. Instances of compression artifacts or other digital anomalies are not a common occurrence in the transfer. Even without a brand new scan, this transfer does the trick.

Audio Quality

Kino Classics brings us this new Blu-Ray with a lossless DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix that gets the job done capably. The environmental effects are a very important part of the film, all of which are delineated favorably within the speakers. The sounds of certain thrilling moments and other exaggerated sounds such as the roaring of a car engine bring some heft to the mix. This music in the film establishes a pretty effective atmosphere that shows no signs of weakness in the upper registers or anywhere else when it comes to fidelity. Dialogue holds up without issue, coming through clear and crisp without being stepped on by the music or sound effects. Kino Classics has presented this film with a fine audio track. There are optional English subtitles provided.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Co-Screenwriter Timothy Bond provides a really informative commentary track moderated by Historian/Filmmaker Daniel Kremer in which he discusses the background the film, how he got involved with developing this from a real-life idea, working with J. Lee Thompson, how certain scenes evolved during shooting, basic facts about numerous individuals who appear on screen, the shooting conditions, the legacy of the film and more.

Sister Slasher – Interview with Actress Tracey E. Bregman: A new ten-minute interview with the actress in which she discusses this film as her feature film debut, getting cast by Thompson, memories of working with her co-stars, how the ending got changed, filming the gnarly finale and more.

Radio Spots: Two minutes of radio spots are provided here.

TV Spots: Two-and-a-half minutes of TV Spots are provided here.

Trailers: The minute-long trailer for Happy Birthday To Me is provided here. There are also trailers provided for New Year’s Evil, The Pit, House of the Long Shadows, Rawhead Rex, Return From The Ashes, and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud.

Final Thoughts

Happy Birthday To Me is not always the most logical slasher film, but it is one hell of a lot of fun. While some films in this genre would be satisfied with simply doing your typical knife kills, this lot gets really creative when it comes to dispatching victims. The film does not need to be as long as it is, but it still holds up as an effective entry into the genre. Kino Classics has brought this film to Blu-Ray with a really good A/V presentation and a nice array of special features. If you have yet to see this one and you enjoy a fun slasher film, put this on your list. Recommended

Happy Birthday To Me is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.