Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday to Me, in the US on fuboTV and Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel, takes its characters as seriously as it takes its plot. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. A 6/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Melissa Sue Anderson leads a cast that never overplays its hand. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on fuboTV.

Happy Birthday to Me arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. Character-driven storytelling at its most effective — Happy Birthday to Me earns every emotional beat it goes for. Virginia is proud that she belongs to a clique. The best students at a private school. But before her 18th birthday, a gruesome set of murders take place and her friends are the ones who are falling prey. Melissa Sue Anderson and Glenn Ford lead a cast doing genuinely serious work here. It was released in 1981. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping everything up in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

For anyone looking for storytelling that takes its characters seriously, Happy Birthday to Me delivers. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single evening. Melissa Sue Anderson is the centre of it, and it is one of their strongest performances on record. The patience it asks of you early on is paid back with interest.

Happy Birthday to Me was released in 1981, directed by J. Lee Thompson. The full 110-minute film is available to watch now. Find exactly where it's streaming below, and TV Butler Pro makes it effortless to track your progress as you go. Just search the name, and Butler finds it instantly, tells you which service has it, and remembers exactly where you left off.