Happy Death Day is a 2017 American horror film directed by Christopher Landon (Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse; Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones) based on a script co-written with Scott Lobdell.
The Blumhouse production stars Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews, Charles Aitken
Rob Mello, Phi Vu, Caleb Spillyards, Jason Bayle, Laura Clifton, Cariella Smith, Tran Tran, Blaine Kern III, Dane Rhodes, Tenea Intriago and Missy Yager.
Released October 13, 2017, the film was a big box office hit, taking a whopping $122,637,878 worldwide against a reported budget of $4.5 million.
College student Tree (Jessica Rothe) must relive the same day over and over again in a time loop until she figures out who murdered her and why…
A British Blu-ray + Digital or DVD + Digital from Universal was released on 26 February 2018.
Buy Blu-ray + Digital | DVD + Digital – Amazon.co.uk
Our review [may contain spoilers]:
Happy Death Day, a Blumhouse production that’s more a thin homage to ’80s slasher films than a direct rip-off, mashed together with Groundhog Day (1993), is exactly what an experienced movie watcher would expect — not good, but not bad, either.
First, the good. The acting from lead Jessica Rothe, who plays the faddishly-named Tree, is solid, especially considering the predictable 180° personality turn-around the script requires her to deliver. Israel Broussard, who plays Carter Davis, Tree’s forlorn comrade in her deadly struggle against the brutal time loop she’s caught in, expertly provides the lead milquetoast, an ineffectual male character which too many modern horror films cultivate.
Ruby Modine as Lori Spengler, is believable as Tree’s snippy roommate; Rachel Matthews as Danielle Bouseman, bitchy sorority queen, hits all the required anticipated notes; and Charles Aitken as Gregory Butler, Tree’s dallying college professor, comes off self-centred and superior, exactly as the character should.
Editor Gregory Plotkin and director Christopher Landon keep things moving and the transitions between the inevitable scene repeats are relatively interesting; Scott Lobdell’s script, although not even remotely innovative, is far tighter and more compelling than most of the original slashers its drawing from.
Now for the bad. Jason Bayle as David Gelbman, Tree’s father, looks nothing like Tree and is essentially unbelievable in his performance, which is astonishing considering his part is microscopic at best; Rob Mello as Joseph Tombs, crazed killer on the loose, and who isn’t even mentioned until well past the halfway point, seems more clumsy, unwashed oaf than an unstoppable killing machine.
Like all slasher movies, this one abounds in bad choices and absurd situations: Tree wandering off into dark corners by herself; Carter easily believing Tree’s story of reliving her birthday and being killed each time; the inclusion of a come-out-and-be-proud gay element, which would have been somewhat daring back in the ’80s but only seems contrived and anachronous here; Tree taking on Tombs, Lara Croft-style, and beating him after Tombs’ effortless dispatch of the policeman guarding his hospital room.
A final difficulty is that it’s never explained how this loop happened to begin with or why; it’s simply left dangling, any clarification pushed behind a closing scene of characters actually discussing Groundhog Day and the quirky similarities between their experiences and the movie.
Despite the shortcomings, Happy Death Day is a surprisingly likable effort, worth watching if you’re in the mood for slightly elevated horror junk food and nothing too demanding.
Ben Spurling, MOVIES & MANIA
Other reviews:
“Happy Death Day is a deliciously wicked treat with fun twists and a strong lead performance by Jessica Rothe. It won’t scare you, but it will entertain you with a cynical sense of humor and a few clever new twists on a familiar formula.” IGN
“Most viewers will be playing the guessing game immediately, and here’s where Happy Death Day starts to fall apart. Pretty quickly, you’ll realize there are no hard and fast rules to this silliness, and trying to get ahead of it won’t do you any good. Without spoiling anything, it doesn’t come together in a satisfying way like Scream or the other great meta movies that played with audience expectations.” RogerEbert.com
“A lot of credit for Happy Death Day being worth seeing again and again is the performance by Rothe (“Mary + Jane”). She is believable as the snotty sorority sister, the scared and confused murder victim, and the strong woman who not only finds clues about her killer with each death but learns a lot about herself. It’s a demanding task because Rothe is in every scene but she steps up no matter if it means dying or trying.” Chicago Tribune
“The reprises of tiny incidents and encounters with variations are nicely intricate and amusing – the payoff for the equivalent of the Ned Ryerson character, a perhaps stalkery rejected football player type, is sweet and outrageous … and the multiple appearances of the single-candle cupcake and a brief power failure are ingeniously worked into the overall story. Recommended.” The Kim Newman Web Site
” …while the first 40 minutes or so feel fresh and relatively carefree in their execution – thanks in large part to Rothe’s affable sorority sister whose arc of redemption is obvious from the start – the film can’t quite decide on a tone, moving from drama to comedy and between bloodless horror. The end result, complete with its unmasking of the killer, feels like an episode of Scooby-Doo…” Darren’s World of Entertainment
“What’s lurking beneath the surface of this ruthlessly violent horror movie is a glimmer of gold. Happy Death Day is fun enough to be worth watching. It has a wildly dumb twist made forgivable by a punchline about Crocs. It deploys some wonky narrative tricks that expose a debt to A Nightmare on Elm Street, and it barely mentions Bill Murray.” The Verge
“The third act wastes a lot of time on a lame red herring that is never once convincing, and when the true villain is ultimately revealed your eyes may very well roll to the back of your head. The reasoning behind the villain’s hatred for our heroine is really desperate, and the final showdown is laugh-out-loud funny in a way I’m not sure is intentional.” Arrow in the Head
“The narrative may not be consistently airtight when considering how things would work in the real world, but by the point where these instances arise one is having such a great time it’s not even worth the nitpicking. Horror movies can be many things—terrifying, disturbing, unsettling, elegantly suggestive, and metaphorically deep. Happy Death Day is fun, plain and simple…” The Fright File
” …it wasn’t a great film by any stretch of the imagination but it did have a fun storyline with pretty good acting. Especially from Jessica Rothe who played Tree (I know it’s a dumb name). She played a character who was completely unlikable during the first half of the film who then becomes someone you can feel sympathetic towards near the later half of the film.” Pop Horror
“Despite a few annoying flaws, Happy Death Day is still a fun watch based on the concept and performances. It’s a very entertaining film even when it falls flat. For every misfire, there’s another moment that pulls you back into the film right around the corner.” Horror-Movies.ca
“It’s disappointing that Happy Death Day is unable to come up with a successful blueprint for a spin on Groundhog Day, as placing that concept inside of a horror film isn’t necessarily a bad idea. Clearly, what the filmmakers failed to realize is that you can’t coast off one good idea while rounding out the experience with every stupid cliché the horror genre has to offer…” Flickering Myth
Meanwhile, both the first film and the sequel have been novelized by Aaron Hartzler into one 288-page publication from Anchor Books.
Choice dialogue:
Tree: “Will you please stop staring at me like I took a dump on your mom’s head?”
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