Happy Death Day-2017
Director-Christopher B. Landon
Starring-Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard
Scott’s Review #726
Reviewed February 20, 2018
Grade: C+
Happy Death Day is a 2017 horror/slasher film offering that incorporates the “groundhog day” theme into its story in a clever fashion.
Oddly, the film was released in October instead of February- missed marketing opportunity?
Despite a unique premise, the film is overly complicated, especially for this genre of film, and rather than succeeding as a late Friday night treat, Happy Death Day becomes tough to follow leaving too many questions and puzzling thoughts in the after-effects.
We first meet snobbish and sarcastic sorority sister, Theresa “Tree” Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), as she awakens with a pounding headache and a bad attitude one morning in the dorm room of a handsome classmate, Carter Davis (Israel Broussard).
She barely remembers the drunken tryst as she haggardly goes about her morning- today is her birthday! Irritated with the day, she proceeds to dismiss her kindly roommate, and her father, and is rude to a former one-night stand, finally going to a party, where she is followed and brutally murdered by a figure wearing a campus mascot mask.
She suddenly awakens to the same morning she has just experienced!
Perplexed, Tree spends the remainder of the film on the hunt to figure out who killed her and to unravel the mystery of putting the events to a halt by going on a continuous “loop” of the same night, each time uncovering more clues. Mixed in with the events, Tree realizes she has feelings for Carter and should really become a nicer person.
Star Jessica Rothe is perfectly fine in a breakout film role- though she had a small part in the musical La La Land in 2016.
Her chemistry with Broussard is adequate, though when we talk horror, romance is not at the top of the list- blood is.
Unfortunately, Happy Death Day offers little in true kills or scares- the film is rated PG-13 for heaven’s sake.
A nice aside and testament to the character of Tree, though, is her possession of both “good girl” and “bad girl” qualities. Trendy in slasher films is that the girl who parties and has sex is offed before very long, but in Happy Death Day, we are served both in the same character.
Tree is, in fact, butchered, but then when brought back to life, the character eventually blossomed into the clear heroine. This is a nice twist on a traditionally written character.
I enjoyed the perpetual whodunit factor that screenwriter Scott Lobdell carves into the fabric. A bevy of suspects is introduced and the tale changes direction with each loop.
With each loop, the story becomes a bit more complex, and characters’ stories or motivations shift each time. Furthermore, a few more characters are introduced giving the story more layers.
This is both a strength and problematic- Trees professor, Dr. Gregory Butler, her secret lover, is a suspect.
Is Tree’s sweet roommate, Lori, who wants nothing more than to treat her friend to a lovely birthday cupcake, too good to be true?
At a certain point, things spiral out of control from a story perspective.
What is the point of the local serial killer, John Tombs, injured and conveniently staying at the campus hospital, other than to serve as a red herring? Who is the masked killer and why do they suddenly disappear from the story? How is Tree able to seemingly change the details of her murder so much so that it ends up never happening?
The reveal of the true killer is very good, but how did we get to this point? By the big reveal at the end, I had stopped trying to figure out the film.
Slightly above par, Happy Death Day, while spirited and reaching for something different, become muddled and senseless, leaving the viewer wondering how all the various “groundhog day” stories add up to a satisfying conclusion.
Sadly, by the time the conclusion of the film is reached, one will likely not wish to waste the time bothering to care. Still, some props for creativity must be awarded.