Happy Death Day (2017)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Title: Happy Death Day

Tagline: Get up. Live your day. Get killed. Again.

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Director: Christopher Landon

Cast: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Charles Aitken, Jason Bayle, Rob Mello, Rachel Matthews, Phi Vu, Caleb Spillyards, Laura Clifton, Cariella Smith, Tran Tran, Blaine Kern III, Dane Rhodes, Tenea Intriago, Missy Yager, Rachel Black, Donna DuPlantier, GiGi Erneta

Release: 2017-10-12

Runtime: 97

Plot: Caught in a bizarre and terrifying time warp, college student Tree finds herself repeatedly reliving the day of her murder, ultimately realizing that she must identify the killer and the reason for her death before her chances of survival run out.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I picked this up a while back in one of those Vudu $4.99 sales. Tonight I had an hour and a half to kill between two commitments, so I gave it a watch.

A lot of fun! Much like Groundhog Day, it's more interested in revealing its protagonist's internal life than it is delivering on the expectations of its genre. Yes, it's a horror movie. But the slasher stuff feels obligatory. What's more interesting is how Tree reacts to each new loop, what she cares about and the choices she makes.

I'd only ever seen Jessica Rothe in Forever My Girl, and a brief supporting role in La La Land. She was good in both of those, but playing very different characters. I appreciated how unlikable Rothe was willing to be for the first half of this movie. She got to be cruel, insensitive, self-centered, but also smart and introspective and capable of real growth. A much more three-dimensional character than you usually see in slasher movies.

I'll definitely be seeking out the sequel, Happy Death Day 2U.

 

[Hanson]

Happy Death Day was the biggest surprise favorite of mine in 2017. I would have it in my top ten for sure. It doesn't rework the Groundhogs Day formula so much as it slavishly replicates all of the emotional beats and plot points, but it adapts so seamlessly to this slasher framework that it totally works. But what really makes this movie so great are the performances. They really caught lightning in a bottle here -- for a low budget Blumhouse flick, they nailed every casting choice. There's not a single bad performance in the movie, and Jessica Rothe is fantastic and magnetic. I've seen this movie 6 or 7 times, mostly on rewatches after recommending it to someone.

I enjoyed the sequel as well, but that's a straight up sci-fi comedy if you're more into the horror/slasher genre.