July 28, 2009 Anchor Bay Entertainment is re-releasing "Happy Birthday to Me" to DVD. So what? you say. That film has already been released by Sony. Anyway, it's not that good. Well, hold on to your horses. Maybe "Happy Birthday" isn't the best horror film ever. But the Sony release did not contain the original score.



You heard that right. Bo Harwood and Lance Rubin's original score, not on the original DVD release (presumably over rights reasons) is back on the Anchor Bay release hitting stores Sept. 10. Same sort of thing happened with two Vincent Price films -- "Scream and Scream Again" and "Witchfinder General" -- which both were released to VHS with butchered, rerecorded scores.

Watch for the proper DVD release Sept. 10. And "Happy Birthday to Me" may be pretty bad, but it's a pretty entertaining time capsule.

Here's DVD art and the offical press release:

It’s time to blow out the candles and sharpen the shish-kebab spears, because the classic 1980s’ slasher favorite Happy Birthday to Me is coming to DVD, courtesy Anchor Bay Entertainment. Street date is October 13, 2009, with a pre-book date of September 10, 2009 and a festive SRP of $14.98.

This edition of the film, however, has something missing from the previous DVD release does not – the film’s haunting orchestral score, as composed by Bo Harwood and Lance Rubin, which was NOT included on the first DVD release and which fans have been clamoring for.

It is yet another example of why Anchor Bay Entertainment is the undisputed leader in cult and classic horror home entertainment – they give the fans what they want.

Happy Birthday to Me was directed by Academy Award® nominee J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone, 10 to Midnight, Murphy’s Law) and stars Emmy Award® nominee Melissa Sue Anderson (“Little House on the Prairie,” “Midnight Offerings”) and Golden Globe Award® winner and Hollywood legend Glenn Ford (3:10 to Yuma, Blackboard Jungle, The Big Heat, Superman), along with such familiar co-stars as Lawrence Dane (Scanners, Of Unknown Origin, Bride of Chucky), Daytime Emmy Award® winner Tracy Bregman (“The Bold and the Beautiful,” “The Young and the Restless”) and Matt Craven (Public Enemies, Crimson Tide, Jacob’s Ladder).

Welcome to upscale Crawford Academy, where everybody – particularly new student Ginny Wainwright (Anderson) – wants to be a part of the school’s most popular clique. But now, it seems that they’re dying to get out, as a killer has been butchering the group’s members, one by one. 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?

Part whodunit, part psychological thriller, part twisted black comedy and full-tilt, full-blooded shocker, the original theatrical ads for Happy Birthday to Me boasted “six of the most bizarre murders you will ever see!” -- and it delivered.

"Pure slasher fun from beginning to end," raved DVD Drive-In, while Arrow in the Head called the film "downright nasty … a slit throat above the usual slasher flick!" Even the esteemed critic Vincent Canby of The New York Times had to admit: "The murders, which are the point of such a movie, are vividly demonstrated." In a special retrospective devoted to the film in Fangoria (Issue #238), author Caelum Vatnsdal wrote: "Never in the shadowy slasher-film world has the potent cocktail of gore, directorial competence, old-time Hollywood star power and pure ‘80s outlandishness offered by Happy Birthday to Me quite been equaled.” So popular is the legacy of Happy Birthday to Me that is a remake is on the drawing (carving?) board -- and in 3-D, no less!

But for purists, there’s only one Happy Birthday to Me -- and Anchor Bay Entertainment’s ready to cut the cake and serve it up!

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