Happy Birthday to Me | 1981 | Canada | J. Lee Thompson

Oddly for an 80s slasher picture, this Canadian outing from Cape Fear-director J. Lee Thompson boasted a few well-known stars, a dramatically higher budget and releasing from a major company, in this case Columbia Pictures. Ginny is part of the so-called ‘Top Ten’, the richest kids in her private school who enjoy a modicum of privilege amongst the otherwise strict rules of the academy. As she struggles with memories of a childhood trauma and the surgery she underwent, a black-gloved killer begins targeting the entitled brats and murdering them in increasingly bizarre fashion. As Ginny’s birthday edges ever closer, it’s very apparent that not all is right with the young girl, but no one is prepared for the eventual truth of the heinous affair. Another victim of the despotic MPAA, the film had most of its explicit gore effects censored by the board, resulting in a muted R-print being the only version available. There was still enough brutality to warrant seizure by the UK authorities, including deaths involving a set of gym weights, a motorbike wheel and a shishkebab.