10 Most Underappreciated '80s Horror Movies

7. Happy Birthday To Me

Pumpkinhead 1988
Columbia Pictures

Not only is the '80s synonymous with slasher movies, but it's also synonymous with slasher movies that feature some absolutely insane plot twists.

Step forward, Happy Birthday to Me.

Released in 1981, the main focus here is on Ginny Wainwright, a member of her prestigious school's elite Top Ten group who's on the cusp of her 18th birthday. But wouldn't you know it, her social circle start to be killed off in brutal ways, just as Ginny suffers conveniently timed blackouts.

Is Ginny the person behind these murders? What repressed memories lurk within her mind? And just how far will she go to ring in her birthday in style? The answer to these questions is yes, Ginny is behind this chaos. Kind of.

Happy Birthday to Me wraps up with the scene of Ginny celebrating her birthday surrounded by her dead friends and the dug-up corpse of her mother. For good measure, she also slits the throat of her father when he makes it to the party.

As for that trippy ending, even though Happy Birthday to Me is now 43 years old, it's one to be experienced first-hand rather than run the risk of spoiling it for anyone not familiar with the film.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.