Happy Death Day
Directed by: Christopher Landon
Written by: Scott Lobdell
Starring: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews, Charles Aitken, Caleb Spillyards, Jason Bayle, Rob Mello, Phi Yu, Cariella Smith, Laura Clifton
Horror/Mystery/Thriller - 96 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 11 Oct 2017
Written by: Scott Lobdell
Starring: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews, Charles Aitken, Caleb Spillyards, Jason Bayle, Rob Mello, Phi Yu, Cariella Smith, Laura Clifton
Horror/Mystery/Thriller - 96 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 11 Oct 2017
Thinking about the title Happy Death Day minus any context, one should correctly surmise it is a horror film but if the marketing team wanted to capitalize on counter-programming, we would see it accompany sappy tearjerkers on Valentine’s Day weekend rather than an random run-up to Halloween slot. Yet, horror is not the most correct category. There are stabbings aplenty (mostly unseen) but Happy Death Day is more murder mystery / whodunnit rather than things that go bump in the night. Stuck in the banal realm of the PG-13 rating, a label which a movie called Happy Death Day featuring a glinting butcher knife on the poster should come nowhere near, this film is tedious, disposable, and makes it look like getting run through the gut, chest, and neck repeatedly with any available found object doesn’t look that bad.
Knowing nothing about the plot, characters, or filmmakers going into the film, I knew within the first couple of minutes this was going to be a die and repeat story. Too many details were specifically focused on like sprinklers and car alarms. It was going to be the horror version of Groundhog Day. Teenage melodrama Groundhog Day already bored us earlier this year so prepare yourselves for Thanksgiving family squabbles Groundhog Day next month. Skipping over the pointless typing it would take to prattle on about cliché stories and “Oh, not again” sighs, let’s poke at the idea of live, die, repeat for a beat.
Knowing nothing about the plot, characters, or filmmakers going into the film, I knew within the first couple of minutes this was going to be a die and repeat story. Too many details were specifically focused on like sprinklers and car alarms. It was going to be the horror version of Groundhog Day. Teenage melodrama Groundhog Day already bored us earlier this year so prepare yourselves for Thanksgiving family squabbles Groundhog Day next month. Skipping over the pointless typing it would take to prattle on about cliché stories and “Oh, not again” sighs, let’s poke at the idea of live, die, repeat for a beat.
Four repeating day films spring to mind: Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow, Before I Fall, and Happy Death Day. Only one of these films offers a possible explanation why the hero must endure the repetition and that is because Tom Cruise and the invading aliens establish some psychic connection. I remember Edge of Tomorrow’s explanation being more complicated than Ikea furniture so I’ll leave it at that. In the other three, an unseen outside force decides to meddle in human affairs. Bill Murray must become an empathetic and intriguing man in Groundhog Day. Zoey Deutch must alter her High School attitude in Before I Fall and simultaneously save someone else’s life, and Jessica Rothe (La La Land) in Happy Death Day must uncover her killer’s identity. She accomplishes this feat by, wait for it, being nice to people.
I was more than content to see the first iteration of Rothe’s Tree Gelbman get stabbed in the throat the first time around. She was quite far along in inflicting a baker’s dozen of horrible days onto those around her. Waking up in a stranger’s dorm room thinking she had blackout sex with a boy she considers tiers of social strata beneath her, Tree insults the earnest boy, Carter (Israel Broussard, The Bling Ring), ignores her father’s phone calls, carries on an affair with a married professor, throws the cupcake her sorority roommate made for her in the trash, and works her way through any number of more than casual slights, intentional rudeness, and social barbarity. Stab the girl already.
Scott Lobdell’s script is too explicit in the exact situations and fixes Tree needs to make. The most clueless teenager duped into seeing this film could itemize them. Bill Murray’s Phil had to feel his way around. He learned the piano, read poetry, and took up ice sculpting. Tree only has to act like a human being. What if one of these repetitive day films centered on a character who already did everything right and had to become a dickhead to finally reach tomorrow? Now that would be a new take on the material instead of just placing it in another genre.
Directed by Christopher Landon, who wrote and/or produced Paranormal Activity 2, 3, and 4 and helmed the most awful version yet, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, ensures his reputation remains entwined with B-grade horror rubbish. The best thing Landon does for the film is set it in a realistic university setting. Tree wakes up every morning in an actual dorm and there are date rape vibes to ponder over until a too convenient line halfway through clears it up. Filmed at Loyola University in New Orleans, the collegial authenticity massages our incredulity at Tree's inept gumshoe tactics. Landon and Director of Photography Toby Oliver get a little cute with the camera as Tree plods along her chorus line of carnage by darkening the lighting and making the boundaries fuzzier to let us know Tree isn’t coping very well with murder on the university express.
The villain wears a mask purposefully designed to infiltrate pop culture and become a hot Halloween item for the next year or two. Remember how long the Scream mask lasted back in the ‘90s? The mask is supposed to be the school mascot, but are they the Loyola babies? It’s a fat kid’s face with one tooth protruding from the upper gum line. By far not the last face you want to see before you die, how on Earth would this thing be any school’s mascot? Produced by the mighty Blumhouse Productions who scored big time this year with Split and Get Out, Happy Death Day is a reminder Jason Blum likes to pepper his impressive resume with one-offs like Jem and the Holograms. I believe there is still room in film for the repetitive day gimmick; it’s fun. There is space for comedy and tragedy to play together. However, combine it with a ridiculous ‘who murdered me’ story and cater it to 13 year-olds, and you just might have a turkey on your hands rather than a Halloween spectacular.
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