Happy Death Day (2017)
Directed by Christopher Landon
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.
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17 films that influenced Happy Death Day
What critics say influenced Happy Death Day
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.
A colorful, exuberantly energetic riff on everything from Scream to Happy Birthday to Me to Let’s Scare Jessica to Death to Halloween to Black Christmas, Landon’s latest is a crisply intoxicating lark that’s a bloody good time.
And I'll bet you anything you like that "it's Groundhog Day-meets-Scream" is about to become a whole new cliché of film-reviewing.
From a few sly winks, to reiterating that it’s Monday the 18th, to a general Scream-like tone, it’s a film made with a clear awareness of genre history.
The film will no doubt earn some comparisons to Scream, but while it shares some DNA with Wes Craven’s iconic horror franchise, especially the collegiate Scream 2, Happy Death Day isn’t so much meta-horror as it is self-aware.
It's been a long time since multiplex screens have seen a slasher-mystery with the '90s flair of " Scream ," " I Know What You Did Last Summer ," and " Urban Legend ," and this one's got it.
It’s basically a mash-up of Groundhog Day and Scream , wherein Tree (Jessica Rothe) relives the same day over and over, but the twist is that by day’s end she’s viciously murdered by a masked killer.
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.
Whether it’s the horror of “Triangle,” the comedy stylings of “Premature,” the crime caper elements of “Retroactive” and “Blood Punch,” or the sci-fi action of “ Edge of Tomorrow ,” this subgenre allows for an exploration of other cinematic staples in new and interesting ways.
Blumhouse’s spunky time-loop thriller Happy Death Day plays like a CW-ized Edge Of Tomorrow rehash with the heart of Scream Queens – except, like, totally without self-awareness.
After the excellent Edge of Tomorrow, any movie sporting a similar premise is bound to look anemic, and Happy Death Day certainly doesn’t hold up to much post-viewing scrutiny.
While no Groundhog Day or Edge of Tomorrow , this does not make Happy Death Day any less fun.
That's true of the best Groundhog Day successor Edge of Tomorrow, where Tom Cruise gradually sheds his glib cowardice and becomes a super-soldier as he re-lives a battle with marauding aliens.
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.
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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).
There’s been no greater example of that this year than Jordan Peele’s breakout hit Get Out, but the Blumhouse roster is also stacked with the likes of Paranormal Activity and its many sequels, three of which Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon also wrote.
Instead, writer Scott Lobdell and director Christopher Landon (a veteran of the Paranormal Activity series) just play around with the idea of a spoiled sorority girl (Jessica Rothe’s Tree) reliving the day of her own murder multiple times.
In the new horror comedy from director Christopher B. Landon, whose previous work in the genre centered on the Paranormal Activity franchise, college student Teresa "Tree" Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) doesn't get to wander around a bucolic small town for eternity, but instead must spend each day knowing it will end with her brutal death.
…from Christopher Landon, the writer of the second , third , and fourth Paranormal Activity films ? is essentially a horror-themed take on Groundhog Day.
Happy Death Day is the latest Blumhouse production , directed by Christopher B. Landon (best known for the later Paranormal Activity movies, but his debut was 2007’s incredible Disturbia), and written by Scott Lobdell (a Marvel Comics staff writer).
That’s not to say fun isn’t had, it’s just all a collegiate Mean Girls schtick that never matches up to university slaughterers like Sorority Row.
The year’s second Groundhog Day variation, the high school-set Mean Girls variation Before I Fall being the other, Happy Death Day is an exuberantly plotted, surprisingly funny piece of pop entertainment that takes the slasher film and playfully spins it around like a blood-soaked top.
The USP of the catchily-titled Happy Death Day is that it's Mean Girls meets Groundhog Day with maybe a spot of the underrated Tom Cruise sci-fi actioner Edge of Tomorrow thrown in.
The film will no doubt earn some comparisons to Scream, but while it shares some DNA with Wes Craven’s iconic horror franchise, especially the collegiate Scream 2, Happy Death Day isn’t so much meta-horror as it is self-aware.
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Since then, it's been done to death – first with 2006's Salvage, and now with Happy Death Day, which breathes life into the seen-it-all-before slasher genre by placing the time-loop premise on a college campus, where a jaded co-ed is forced to die a violent death over and over again on her birthday.
That’s not to say fun isn’t had, it’s just all a collegiate Mean Girls schtick that never matches up to university slaughterers like Sorority Row.