Christopher Landon
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Scream (1996)
Directed by Wes Craven
influenced Freaky (2020), Happy Death Day 2U (2019), Happy Death Day (2017)
Themes Plot
His victims, at least at the start, are the sort who violate the first two rules in Scream , the ones warning off sex and substances if you want to survive.
After the “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Scream” franchises, Wes Craven was aptly known as the “Master of Horror,” at least in late 20th Century movie lore.
Set to release on Friday November 13 on all formats, Freaky delivers a high school horror mash-up centred around Homecoming which wears every single one of its forebears on its sleeve – from Scream to Carrie to, of course, Child’s Play, Big and all the Freaky Fridays .
Stealing a page from Scream and other slasher classics, a group of frisky teens are sitting around talking about the Blissfield Butcher, a mythical killer who has apparently been around for decades, but none of them actually believe exists.
Funnier than Scream , and much gorier, too, it’s just as smart about what it’s sending up.
Freaky opens with a spot-on ‘80s slasher film prologue (borrowing, perhaps, from Wes Craven’s Scream).
She's doomed to re-live the same day, Groundhog Day-style.
As a big fan of 1993’s Groundhog Day and more recently 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow, I know how clever and fun these time loop films can be, and after seeing the trailer for Happy Death Day, the idea of mixing that particular storytelling convention with the horror/slasher genre had me all sorts of excited.
Now’s as good a time as any to admit that I never really liked 1993’s Groundhog Day all that much.
Applying the Groundhog Day premise to a horror movie is so obvious a conceit that I’m surprised it hasn’t been previously attempted.
Every time the sun goes down, she gets brutally murdered by a masked killer, only to return from the great beyond – Groundhog Day style – more desperate, anxious and exasperated.
Since 1993’s “Groundhog Day,” there have been a growing number of instances in TV and film of using the “one day on a loop” plot point.
The teen villains are so monstrous, from a toxic female cohort dispatched in a ridiculous cryotank (think the cold version of what Michael Myers does with a hot tub in Halloween II , 1981) to a group of gang rapey boys and even Alan Ruck as an extremely rude shop teacher, there’s never a moment to pause at the violent audacity of whatever or whomever the Blissfield Butcher is or what his motivations for incessant slaughter might be.
The killer’s mask is a gruesome mix of Jason’s and Leatherface’s from the “Friday the 13th” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” franchises, and one of the butcher’s early kills (and his reaction thereto) emulates Michael Myer’s impaling of Bob Simms in the original “Halloween.”
Nonetheless, Freaky is also his most skillfully directed project so far, not just in the way of gruesomely creative kills (there’s a sadistically fun woodshop murder) but also in terms of photography with moody lighting and thoughtful shots playing homage to the classics that paved the way (there’s a great Halloween nostalgia pull involving a knife going through a door that made me smile).
After we witness clueless teens get the bloody axe in the opening sequence (a nostalgic throwback that pays homage to “Friday the 13th” and “Halloween”) we meet 17 year old Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton) still coping with the loss of her father one year prior, and who hasn’t made plans to commemorate Homecoming with her pals Nyla (Celeste O’Connor) and Josh (Misha Osherovich).
Back to the Future (1985)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
influenced Happy Death Day 2U (2019)
Plot Themes
Back to the Future joins Groundhog Day as an influence.
In terms of tone, Happy Death Day 2U represents a lateral move away from the horror genre and toward sci-fi—specifically, a strain of ’80s-style revenge-of-the-nerds narratives à la Weird Science , Misfits of Science , and, at the top of the heap, Back to the Future.
Happy Death Day 2U is a corrupted wish; on one hand, the narrative is pushing the envelope further, turning it into Groundhog Day meets Back to the Future meets slasher movies, but bafflingly it takes all of those things and also meets Happy Death Day, an experience that has not even aged two full years yet.
The film that Happy Death Day 2U riffs on, rather brilliantly, is Back to the Future: Part 2 – a film which itself revisited the events of the events of the first film from a different perspective.
Though the “Groundhog Day” formula is still in play, Landon imbues “2U” with the kind of ramping tension and third act finale that actually feels a bit more like the “Back to the Future” trilogy, which gets referenced in this pop culture-savvy film.
The previous film called itself out as the spiritual successor to “Groundhog Day,” and its sequel acknowledges its debt to the “Back to the Future” trilogy at every turn.
By default, items like Blake Edwards’ extremely underrated Switch (1991), starring a phenomenal Ellen Barkin, and even 2002’s Rob Schneider comedy The Hot Chick (which features a winning Anna Faris and Rachel McAdams) both exude a formidable queerness which, despite the outspoken gay character, feels almost entirely absent from Freaky —as if, by merely presenting a gay character accepted as being on par with others the narrative breezily excuses itself from having to actually engage with him beyond the superficiality of acknowledgement.
And like gender-swapping flicks such as "Switch," "All of Me" and "The Hot Chick," that's exacerbated by suddenly being in the possession of different sorts of body parts.
While the movie’s title winkingly references 2003’s Freaky Friday, a closer comparison might be the 2002 Rob Schneider vehicle The Hot Chick .
Akin to films like the Jamie Lee Curtis/Lindsay Lohan family comedy Freaky Friday and Rob Shneider romp The Hot Chick , Freaky stars Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton as an outcast teen girl and an outcast backwoods killer who are be forced to walk a mile in each other’s shoes after an attack goes haywire.
Prelude to a Kiss , Dating the Enemy, The Hot Chick , The Change-Up , Vice-Versa .
But the committed performances and energetic pacing keep it afloat, especially when compared to the only previous Hollywood movie to use a remotely similar premise, “The Hot Chick” (2002), in which petty crook Rob Schneider switches bodies with cheerleader Rachel McAdams.
Carnahan pulls no punches in making these scenes as bloody, violent, and amusing as possible, echoing the black comedy of films like Deadpool and Happy Death Day .
Directed by Joe Carnahan, Boss Level proves once again that you can borrow the Groundhog Day idea and, like Edge of Tomorrow , Happy Death Day, and Palm Springs , still add something new to it.
And, even for viewers unacquainted with Source Code, Edge of Tomorrow, the Happy Death Day franchise and Palm Springs, the film always feels as if it's following in better footsteps, including via sci-fi decor that could've stepped right out of Stargate and fight scenes that've taken inspiration from the John Wick series.
Between time travel loophole films ala “Palm Springs,” “Happy Death Day,” “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things,” and now “Boss Level,” I’m feeling the side effects of watching the routine “stuck in the same day” plot albeit with a different genre (action, young-adult, horror, or comedy).
It feels as if we’re stuck in a time loop watching Time Loop Movies and Time Loop Series, with variations on “Groundhog Day” in the campy-fun horror film “Happy Death Day” and its sequel, the rom-com “Palm Springs” and the comedy/drama “Russian Doll,” and it feels as if we’re stuck in a time loop watching Time Loop Movies and Time Loop Series, with variations on “Groundhog Day” in ...
It’s not socially relevant like The Obituary of Tunde Johnson , emotionally poignant like Before I Fall , genre-bending like Happy Death Day , or irreverently subversive like Palm Springs , but it is entertaining.
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Directed by Oren Peli
influenced Happy Death Day 2U (2019), Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015), Happy Death Day (2017), Freaky (2020)
Plot
Landon, who was a writer on Paranormal Activity , remains gifted at using rhythm and repetition to get laughs, and establishes a sense of visual and stylistic continuity with the original.
Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions may have produced a trio of Oscar-nominated movies-- BlaKkKlansman, Whiplash and Get Out - but the meat in the company's grinder are such low-budget horror film franchises as Insidious , The Purge and Paranormal Activity , that, occasionally, are more clever than they need to be.
Blumhouse Productions is responsible for putting out big horror hits on micro budgets ranging from "Get Out" and "Split" to "Paranormal Activity."
Writer-director Christopher Landon, woh directed the first “Happy Death Day” and a few of the “Paranormal Activity” sequels, references early on the inspiration for this sequel: “Back to the Future Part II.” It’s a fair comparison, because Landon takes the structure of the first “Happy Death Day” and tweaks it in some creative ways to bring a fresh perspective — and a new mystery — to the familiar scenario of the first movie.
Landon, who’s no stranger to the genre or Blumhouse having written quite a few “Paranormal Activity” films and directed “The Marked Ones,” has also taken over writing duties here from Scott Lobdell.
But, boy, are they ever in the sequel “Happy Death Day 2U,” written and directed by Christopher Landon, who directed the original film and penned several films from the “Paranormal Activity” franchise.
It’s no Get Out-caliber masterpiece; it’s more akin to last year’s gleefully grotesque Happy Death Day (another Blumhouse picture), which provided a deadly spin on Groundhog Day but featured enough humor to mark itself as something new and exciting.
Blumhouse may be known for Jordan Peele’s freaky Oscar-winner Get Out, but it’s also responsible for standard frighters like Ouija and Happy Death Day, to which the fun-free but scary enough Truth or Dare compares much more closely.
Coming off a milestone 2017 which saw the releases of three box-office smashesJordan Peele's Oscar-winning " Get Out ," M. Night Shyamalan's exceedingly clever "Split," and Christopher Landon's insanely fun "Groundhog Day"-esque horror-comedy " Happy Death Day "Blumhouse unfortunately has chosen the wrong release to shoehorn its brand name into the title.
The bloody Blumhouse production is clearly designed to build on 2017’s surprise horror hit “Happy Death Day,” and while it doesn’t quite hit the same stride, “Truth or Dare” is still a crowdpleaser that has just enough tension, jump-scares, and twisted deaths to please horror lovers eager for some thrills.
Take for example Jessica Rothe in Happy Death Day, another of Blumhouse’s horror movies, who takes the horror comedy aspect and runs with it.
And like gender-swapping flicks such as "Switch," "All of Me" and "The Hot Chick," that's exacerbated by suddenly being in the possession of different sorts of body parts.
When you think about it, it’s a little bit strange there’s an entire genre of body-switching movies, from the “Freaky Friday” iterations to “18 Again!” to “All of Me” to “The Change-Up” to “Heaven Can Wait” to “Face/Off” to “Dream a Little Dream” and you could even include the likes of “Big” and “13 Going on 30” as a sub-genre in which there’s not technically a body switch per se, but a kid is living inside a grown-up’s body.
(He’s on a par with the quality of physical comedy that Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin showed in “All of Me.”)
In a world with “Freaky Friday” (1976, 2003), “Vice Versa” (1988), “All of Me” (1984) – and please don’t forget “Big” (1988) and “13 Going on 30” (2004) too – a deranged sicko switching bodies with a self-esteem-challenged teenage girl is a textbook case of out-of-the-box thinking.
When both Millie and the Butcher wake up the next day (on a Friday the 13th no less), it’s obvious that they have switched bodies, and the clock is ticking for Millie to find the notorious killer who’s hanging out in her skin so they can switch back before it’s too late and they’re forever stuck in this very Vice Versa-esque scenario.
The filmmaker continues that mash-up trend with "Freaky," yet another slasher offering but this time where the killer and his would-be victim end up switching bodies a la the likes of "Like Father, Like Son," "Vice Versa" and, yes, this film's namesake, "Freaky Friday," among others.
In a world with “Freaky Friday” (1976, 2003), “Vice Versa” (1988), “All of Me” (1984) – and please don’t forget “Big” (1988) and “13 Going on 30” (2004) too – a deranged sicko switching bodies with a self-esteem-challenged teenage girl is a textbook case of out-of-the-box thinking.
Landon has a lot of chance to completely repeat a lot of what “Happy Death Day” covered, but the sequel thankfully drops the “Groundhog’s Day” scenario in favor of something in line with “The Butterfly Effect.”
If 2017’s surprise time-loop slasher Happy Death Day was rightfully called a mash-up of Groundhog Day and Scream, then its follow-up, Happy Death Day 2U can be called a strange combination of Weird Science, The Butterfly Effect , and any episode of Scooby-Doo .
The movie’s concept is part “Groundhog Day” with a shaker of “The Butterfly Effect,” as Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), as she did in the original, relives the same day over and over, trying to keep from being murdered.
To put it another way: Palm Springs has designed itself so that it could fast-forward through the very good first hour of Happy Death Day in order to arrive at the slightly boring last half hour sooner.
About the Groundhog Day parallels: There are those who know how to pay high-style homage to that 1993 Bill Murray classic (see Natasha Lyonne’s Russian Doll ) and others who just crudely rip it off (that’s you, Happy Death Day).
A few recent efforts—Edge of Tomorrow, Happy Death Day, Netflix’s Russian Doll—have proven worthwhile stepchildren nonetheless.
Out of the Loop: We’re all familiar with the Groundhog Day formula and its accompanying tropes, which have been wrung through every conceivable genre ( Edge of Tomorrow for big-budget sci-fi action, the Happy Death Day movies for slashers).
The story may be familiar, at least for those who either grew up with Groundhog Day, or caught modern riffs like Edge of Tomorrow or Happy Death Day.
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Directed by Doug Liman
influenced Happy Death Day 2U (2019), Happy Death Day (2017)
Plot Themes
But it still has Rothe, of “La La Land,” over 30 and showing some miles, but giving her all to reprising her sorority girl Buffy the Mad Slasher Slayer trapped in “Edge of Tomorrow.”
It’s the plot of Groundhog Day , but it’s also the plot of several other notable titles: Edge of Tomorrow , the recent Netflix series Russian Doll , and of course, Happy Death Day , the clever slasher flick from 2017.
Whether it’s the Harold Ramis original, the sci-fi tinged “Edge of Tomorrow” or the 2011 thriller “Source Code,” all of these films have been self-contained experiences.
Was actually the tagline (and better title) to 2014 cyclical sci-fi Edge Of Tomorrow , but it pretty fairly sums up several similarly themed Groundhog Day -style films and TV shows of the last decade – including 2011’s Source Code , Netflix’s latest buzzy existential comedy that we’re not naming for reasons of spoilers, certain bits of The Good Place , Marlon Wayan’s comedy Naked and, of course, Happy Death Day .
She has to explain her situation again but happily for us, the recaps — as in the time-looping Edge of Tomorrow — are elided.
As a big fan of 1993’s Groundhog Day and more recently 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow, I know how clever and fun these time loop films can be, and after seeing the trailer for Happy Death Day, the idea of mixing that particular storytelling convention with the horror/slasher genre had me all sorts of excited.
Looking back through history, from the original 1973 version of “Freaky Friday” starring Jodie Foster and based on Mary Rogers’ book to Tom Hanks in “Big,” Jennifer Garner in “Going on 30,” and even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s “Jumanji” series, all of these films are comedies at the heart.
When you think about it, it’s a little bit strange there’s an entire genre of body-switching movies, from the “Freaky Friday” iterations to “18 Again!” to “All of Me” to “The Change-Up” to “Heaven Can Wait” to “Face/Off” to “Dream a Little Dream” and you could even include the likes of “Big” and “13 Going on 30” as a sub-genre in which there’s not technically a body switch per se, but a kid is living inside a grown-up’s body.
In a world with “Freaky Friday” (1976, 2003), “Vice Versa” (1988), “All of Me” (1984) – and please don’t forget “Big” (1988) and “13 Going on 30” (2004) too – a deranged sicko switching bodies with a self-esteem-challenged teenage girl is a textbook case of out-of-the-box thinking.
The structural conceit of Happy Death Day is obviously borrowed from Groundhog Day — which gets a hat tip in the movie’s final scene — but it actually has a lot more in common with the 2004 Jennifer Garner gem 13 Going on 30.
When you think about it, it’s a little bit strange there’s an entire genre of body-switching movies, from the “Freaky Friday” iterations to “18 Again!” to “All of Me” to “The Change-Up” to “Heaven Can Wait” to “Face/Off” to “Dream a Little Dream” and you could even include the likes of “Big” and “13 Going on 30” as a sub-genre in which there’s not technically a body switch per se, but a kid is living inside a grown-up’s body.
In a world with “Freaky Friday” (1976, 2003), “Vice Versa” (1988), “All of Me” (1984) – and please don’t forget “Big” (1988) and “13 Going on 30” (2004) too – a deranged sicko switching bodies with a self-esteem-challenged teenage girl is a textbook case of out-of-the-box thinking.
( 13 Going on 30 ?
Ultimately, Happy Death Day earns its homages to Vertigo, Psycho, and Sixteen Candles.
In truth, the movie is more like "Groundhog Day" crossed with "Scream" with a "Sixteen Candles" chaser (one scene quotes visually from the latter film directly).
That same affinity is on display in “Freaky,” although the mask is quickly ditched and the clever carnage is increased, matching the most gruesome deaths of “The Burning,” “The Prowler” and other hits from that bygone era.
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)
Directed by Ian Samuels
influenced by Happy Death Day (2017)
Plot Themes
The movie plays like a hybrid of several recent variations: Like 2017’s drama “Before I Fall,” it’s a slick YA adaptation (sci-fi writer Lev Grossman wrote the screenplay off his short), it has some tonal similarities to the horror-comedy “Happy Death Day,” released that same year.
From “Groundhog Day” to “Happy Death Day,” “Edge of Tomorrow” to “Palm Springs,” our loop of time-loop movies keeps repeating, with each commenting on the nature of time and existence.
Sure, “Groundhog Day,” “Edge of Tomorrow,” “Happy Death Day,” “Palm Springs” and other films that express similar existential quandaries are available to this savvy audience.
Happy Death Day , Happy Death Day 2U , Palm Springs , See You Yesterday , Before I Fall , and now The Map of Tiny Perfect Things .
In the meantime, we’ve gotten a number of movies in which a character repeats a single day, like “Groundhog Day,” “Edge Of Tomorrow,” “Before I Fall,” and “Happy Death Day.”
Add horror and mystery to it and you get The Final Girls , Happy Death Day , and Russian Doll .
If you were concerned that Landon’s latest might fall a bit lighter on the side of horror like Happy Death Day did, have no fear, because the Blissfield Butcher amasses an impressive body count here, with a few of the kills feeling like they were homages to other slasher slayings (I didn’t have my notebook with me to take notes, but two of Freaky’s deaths that have stuck with me since the screening seemed to be tipping their hats to Jason X and 2008's Prom Night).
By default, items like Blake Edwards’ extremely underrated Switch (1991), starring a phenomenal Ellen Barkin, and even 2002’s Rob Schneider comedy The Hot Chick (which features a winning Anna Faris and Rachel McAdams) both exude a formidable queerness which, despite the outspoken gay character, feels almost entirely absent from Freaky —as if, by merely presenting a gay character accepted as being on par with others the narrative breezily excuses itself from having to actually engage with him beyond the superficiality of acknowledgement.