HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (1981) (Retro-VHS Blu-ray Review)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (1981)

Retro-VHS Blu-ray Edition 

Label: Mill Creek Entertainment
Rating: R
Duration: 111 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Cast: Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, Lawrence Dane, Sharon Acker, Frances Hyland, Lenore Zann, Lisa Langlois, Michel Rene Labelle, Lesleh Donaldson

In this early 80's slasher directed by J. Lee Thompson (Cape Fear) we have a setting at the elite Crawford Academy's high school, where a group of popular teens form a click known as the Top Ten, they seem to have it all, but someone is killing them off. This is a movie I caught on cable TV back in the 80's, it's always stuck with me, starring a pair of my  childhood crushes, and blending American slasher-isms with a Euro-thriller notes, namely an endless parade of red-herrings and a black-gloved killer.

Our focus here is top ten member Virginia (Melissa Sue Anderson, Little House on the Prairie) who had some weird experimental brain surgery some years back, which figures into the story. The identity of the killer is kept from us for a long while, it has a sort of giallo flavor you don't usually see in an 80s slasher. The first kill involves a black gloved killer with a sagtright-razor, but sadly the film is no 80s slasher blood fest, with the kills themselves a bit bloody but very tame. Director J.Lee Thompson was a solid director, but in his later years he found himself working for Canon Films, relegated to some sub-par action and adventure films, stuff like Death Wish 4 and King Solomon's Mines, but with this slasher he showed some great direction, and the movie is lensed quite nicely.

\

The kill are a lot of fun, featuring teens offed by the gassed-up rear tire of a motorbike, skewered by a shishkabob, and a guy having a hefty weight dropped on his balls while pumping some iron! It's all great stuff, nut the bloody payoff of each kill has been heavily edited, but the climax of this movie is so deliciously overwrought and WTF it erases anything that I had an issue with by that point. The reveal of the culprit's identity and reasoning in this one always leaves me reeling, and while I do think the movie is a bit too convoluted and over-plotted, I still count this is one of my favorite slashers of all time, it's just so dang fun. 

The film has a surprisingly great supporting cast, including the legendary Glen Ford (Pa Kdent from Donner's Superman!), and some lesser known, but no less solid actors, Lawrence Dane (Scanners), Lisa Langlois (Deadly Eyes) and Tracey E. Bregman who I had such a crush on as a kid, she having appeared on one of my mom's soap operas she use to watch in the 80's. 

Audio/Video: The film was previously available from Mill Creek Entertainment on a double-feature Blu-ray with with babysitter classic When a Stranger Calls (1979), now available in the U.S. as a proper stand alone Blu-ray, presented in 1080p HD and framed 1.85:1 widescreen. The slasher looks quite good, blacks are solid, the grain is well-managed. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Stereo, with the original score from composers Bo Harwood and Lance Rubin, no subtitles are offered, and there are no extras for the film.

The single disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with one sided sleeve of artwork, strangely they've gone with what looks to be a variation of the original DVD release, of a young woman (who's not in the film!) holding a birthday cake, it's ugly as sin. However, this release is part of the Retro-VHS Look collection from Mill Creek and features a slipcover with the original movie one-sheet, the one with the shiskabob skewering, that looks like a vintage VHS release with rental store stickers that label it horror, be kind rewind, and penalty stickers for not rewinding, not dissimilar to what MVD are doing with their MVD Rewind Collection. The disc also features an excerpt of the same key art as the slip, with one side of the spine looking like a VHS release, the other looks like the label from the VHS cassette, though I do wish they had used the skewering artwork for the wrap as well. 

Happy Birthday To Me (1981) is a pretty great slasher, it loses some points for being less bloody than others of the era but it's stylish, ludicrous and fun with a giallo bent and one hell of a shocker finale, just the way I like 'em. 

CLASS OF 1984 (1982)

CLASS OF 1984 (1982) 

Label: Scream Factory 

Release Date: April 14th 2015 
Region Code: A

Rating: R

Duration: 98 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0, DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.78:1) 

Director: Mark Lester

Cast: Merrie Lynn Ross, Roddy McDowall, Michael J. Fox, Lisa Langlois, Perry King, Timothy Van Patten, Stefan Arngrim, Erin Noble, Neil Clifford, Keith Knight 

The '80s cult-classic Classic of 1984 (1982) scared me beyond belief in the early 80's, the nihilistic vision of urban decay and violence in the classroom were the stuff of nightmares for me. I was only in middle school at the time this is exactly what I imagined would be waiting for in high school, though it turned out that this could not have been further removed from my own experience, but that little fact didn't prevent me from stressing out about it. This was a very affecting film for me and I probably caught it at just the right time for it to have the most most complete affect on me. 

In the film Andrew Norris (Perry King, Big Love) is the new music teacher at inner-city high school Lincoln High. The school overrun with unruly youth, drugs and violence. Peter Stegman (Timothy Van Patten, Catacombs) is the charismatic leader of a group of punkers comprised of Drugstore (Stefan Arngrim, Fear No Evil), Barnyard (Keith Knight, Meat Balls), Fallon (Neil Clifford) and the lone female of the group Patsy (Lisa Langlois, Deadly Eyes), the latter of whom is a true vision of punk girl naughtiness, a very bad girl with shocks of pink hair and an awesome '80s punk aesthetic. 

Walking into this urban jungle of a school nice guy teacher Norris is taken aback by the unruly and violent students who show not one ounce of respect for the teaching staff. On his first day he befriends science teacher Terry Corrigan played my genre veteran Roddy McDowall (Fright Night), after years of abuse Terry has given up any hope of  getting through to the students but the idealistic Norris refuses to give up, does his level best to develop meaningful teacher-student relationships. Peter and his crew prove to be quite a menace for both the teacher and for his star pupils, particularly band students Arthur (a very early Michael J. Fox) and Deneen (Erin Noble). Arthur's best friend scores drugs from the gang which leads to him falling to his death from atop a flagpole, an event which sets in motion an escalating series of altercations ending with a murderous finale during an orchestra performance at school. 

Perry King turns is a solid performance as the good natured teacher who is pushed to the edge by the violent punkers who brutally rape his wife before kidnapping her. After which Norris flips the switch and becomes a serious revenge seeking badass, setting punks on fire and sawing  off limbs in the woodshop, brutal stuff and way darker than I had remembered it to be. There is one scene that always make me laugh a little, when punker Patsy taunts Norris in the hallway and squeezes her titty in a mocking gesture, a quirky scene that has just stuck with me through the years. 

Norris is not the only teacher pushed to the breaking point by the gang, Roddy McDowell goes off the deep end when the punks break into his lab and kill his rabbits, after which he cracks and holds his classroom at gunpoint before attempting to run the thugs down with his car, which doesn't end so well for him, the vile punkers gather round the ensuing inferno and celebrate his death. 

Directed and co-written by Mark L. Lester (Commando), Class of 1984 has original story and screenplay co-written by Fright Night (1985) writer/director Tom Holland and benefits from a strong cast of characters inhabited by some very good young actors. Notably Timothy Van Patten is fantastic as the charismatic head of the gang, he's definitely one of the great assholes of '80s high school cinema. 

The movie features a decent rock tinged score from composer Lalo Schifrin (THX-1138) and the song "I Am the Future", a fairly awful synth tune performed by classic rocker Alice Cooper from his nuwave Zipper Catches Skin album. There is some redemption as we do get a live performance clip from he Canadian punk rock group Teenage Head during which we are treated to scenes of teenage punks slam dancing and a snarling punk chic baring her titties for the band.

Audio/Video: The nihilistic Class of 1984 debut on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer framed in widescreen (1.78:1) with a pleasing amount of natural film grain allowing for some damn decent fine detail and some clarity, quite a nice upgrade from the Anchor Bay DVD, it definitely benefits from the new HD transfer afforded it. Color saturation is strong an natural looking, the school looks plenty run down and gritty as it should. The black levels are deep and inky and skin tones look authentic without any ruddiness. 

The disc comes with the option to watch with English DTS-HD MA 2.0 and DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles. Not surprisingly the surround mix is pretty front-centric with discreet effects and the Lalo Schifrin score providing some additional ambiance through the surround. 

Onto the extras we begin with the Blood And Blackboards Featurette ported over from the Anchor Bay DVD as is the audio commentary with director Mark Lester and Anchor Bay DVD Producer Perry Martin. Scream have stuffed this one with over an hour of new interviews with Director Mark Lester, Composer Lalo Schifrin, Actors Lisa Langlois And Erin Noble and an expansive forty-seven minute career retrospective with star Perry King who speaks about lessons learned from his father and the various directors and actors he's had the privilege to work with through the years, plus condemning a TV Guide reporter who once wrote an article that portrayed him as being ashamed of playing a gay character in a film before going on to discuss his turn in the TV series Riptide. 

The still very cute Lisa Langois speaks of wanting to be cast against type as the fatalistic punk rock chic and of being nearly beat down by the extras at the punk show. Unfortunately the Erin Noble interview is marred by some inferior audio making it sound boxy and clippy. Leading man Perry King covers most if not all of his films including is turn on the '80s TV series Riptide of which I was a huge fan as a kid.  

The disc extras are capped off the original trailer, a few TV spots and a still gallery featuring promotional still, poster art and VHS covers. As with all the Scream Factory Collector Edition Blu-rays this one comes with a slipcase with new artwork by graphic designer Justin Osbourne, which is also features on the sleeve of reversible artwork.

Special Features
- NEW High-Definition Transfer Of The Film From The Interpositive
- NEW The Girl Next Door - Interviews with Actors Lisa Langlois And Erin Noble (16 Mins) 
- NEW History Repeats Itself - Interviews with Director Mark Lester and Composer Lalo Schifrin (21 Mins)
- NEW Do What You Love Career Retrospective Interview With Perry King (47 Mins)
- Audio Commentary With Mark Lester and Perry Martin
- Blood And Blackboards Featurette – Featuring Interviews With Director Mark Lester, - Actors Perry King And Merrie Lynn Ross (36 Mins)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins)
- TV Spots(1 Mins)
- Still Gallery (56 Images) 

Class of 1984 (1982) manages to hold-up surprisingly well after thirty plus years, and it  actually turned out to be a somewhat prophetic vision of classroom violence and urban decay that is not too far removed from the sad reality nowadays. A classic slice of '80s violent classroom cinema and the Scream Factory Blu-ray gets a gold star for offering up brand-new hi-def transfer with a wealth of satisfying new extras, a high recommend for both fans and newcomers.