One-Sheet Wonders! – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (1981)

Today is my 50th birthday. It’s true.

I’m certainly happy I’ve made it this far. Despite getting older and enduring some newfound aches and pains, I’m in better physical and mental shape than I was in my 40s, so that’s definitely something to celebrate.

Another thing to celebrate is this fitting release from 1981. I remember standing and looking at this poster and trying to figure out what the hell this was all supposed to mean. I wasn’t yet into horror (that would come in 1982), but I remember feeling something fundamentally wrong when I looked at this poster. Even at that young age, I knew you weren’t supposed to murder people with shish kebab skewers, but I also knew that putting this much text on a movie poster wasn’t exactly the norm, either. Just take a gander at that shit–it’s like a novella! This is a movie poster that dares to be different. I didn’t know whether to scream, laugh, or study for an upcoming exam on which ways John, Greg, and Steven were respectively getting dispatched.

I saw the film a few years later and it wasn’t bad, but man, it’s tough to live up to this original one-sheet. Over 40 years later, this image is still legendary in slasher circles, and it’s easy to see why. As I celebrate a half century today, it’s a lot like looking at this poster. Should I scream? Laugh? Nope. Just relax with the knowledge that I finally have the wisdom to pass life’s little exam.

#onesheetwonders #happybirthdaytome #birthday #shishkebab