Happy Death Day

Happy Death Day

Starring Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews

Directed by Christopher Landon

The Story:
College sorority girl Tree (Jessica Rothe) wakes up in the dorm room of slightly-nerdy Carter (Israel Broussard).  As she leaves, she runs into a guy who glares at her, a woman asking to sign her petition, a couple who come into contact with sprinklers, a car alarm going off, and a fraternity brother passing out from hazing.  She runs into a one-night dater, heads back to her sorority where head sister Danielle (Rachel Matthews) taunts her, then goes to her room where her quiet roommate Lori (Ruby Modine) made her a birthday cupcake.  She then goes to a party that night and is murdered by a killer in a baby mask.

Then Tree wakes up in the dorm room of slightly-nerdy Carter, and it all begins again.  Again she dies, and wakes up in his bed the same day.  She realizes something is going on, and tries to find a way to not just survive her birthday, but find out who wants her dead.

The Synopsis:
Twenty-one years ago, Wes Craven re-vitalized the slasher genre with "Scream," a film that took the slasher concept and turned it on its head.  Before then, the slasher genre was all the rage, especially thanks to the likes of Craven's Freddy Krueger, John Carpenter's Michael Myers, the killer doll Chucky, and of course everyone's favorite momma's boy, Jason Voorhees.  As the 80s drew to a close, the slasher concept became old and tired, and pretty much evaporated from existence, until Craven brought it back with "Scream," but even that was short lived.  Other horror subgenres such as zombies, found footage, foreign horror, psychological thrillers, hauntings, and torture found their way into the mainstream thanks to films such as "Paranormal Activity," "Dawn of the Dead," "The Ring" and "Saw."  People forgot about the slasher - the (sometimes) non-supernatural being who stalks his victims and kills with traditional weapons you find in your kitchen or garage.  Society seemed to be the slasher to the slasher genre.

Then came "Happy Death Day." A mixture of "Groundhog Day," "Mean Girls" and "Edge of Tomorrow," this film re-vitalized the slasher subgenre by offering a whodunit mystery wrapped in a supernatural event (I doubt many people get to re-live their final day on earth until they get it right), with an up-and-coming talent cast list and even loads of humor to boot.  It's the best of everything the slasher genre has to offer, and then some.

The "Groundhog Day" comparison is obvious (and even humorously mentioned in the film itself), as Tree (whose full name is Theresa) re-lives the same day over and over.  It's "Mean Girls" because, as the film begins, Tree is one of those mean girls.  She belittles Carter as a nerd not worthy of her time, insults her roommate's cooking, has an unashamed affair with her married professor, ignores her father's calls on her birthday, and generally is not nice to anyone.  It's "Edge of Tomorrow" because the reason she re-lives the day is because she ends up dying every time.  While the film is an obvious rip from those three films, it's still wholly its own, and wholly original in its concept and character development.

When the film begins, we meet Tree as a nasty, no-nonsense preppy girl who we often wish to see die.  As the film develops and Tree begins realizing who she really is, she becomes the hero we all root for.  She learns humility, love, acceptance and forgiveness as she keeps getting killed.  It's learning life lessons in the most painful way, but she begins developing a true character, and its for the better.  However, due to her original nature, we have a suspect list as long as Shaquille O'Neal's body, and Carter has the ultimate gamer solution - she has unlimited lives, so she has unlimited opportunities to find her killer.  So we're then treated with a hilarious montage to Demi Lovato's "Confident" as she watches the potential suspects (even going so far as to using night vision goggles and masking herself in camouflage), and keeps getting dispatched regardless.

The problem arises when she begins showing signs of fatigue and anguish, and she learns that these multiple deaths are taking a toll on her body.  This is where the story falls flat, because it doesn't fully mature into a major theme, but more like a throwaway topic.  If it was explored more, it would've been more fascinating, but as it was, it shouldn't have been included in the first place.

That's really it for the negative.  Everything else about the film I absolutely loved, especially the aspect that none of the actors are household names.  Jessica Rothe (who, I personally feel, is a dead ringer for a younger Blake Lively) truly relished in her role, as she offers hilarious quips and sarcastic remarks as the day repeats itself (telling a police officer she's drunk, high, and on every drug imaginable in hopes of being held in prison is particularly humorous).  Often I remark that characters are typical, and that's also the case here (Carter is the obvious nice-guy love interest, Danielle is the spoiled, mean girl and Lori is the shy, quiet girl, etc.), but they're so exquisite in their characters that I can bypass it.

The film offers a true mystery in finding Tree's killer, and as I said before, she makes a case for a long list of suspects.  It adds to the intensity of the film, because as we're being treated to Tree's sarcastic nature, we still have a crime to solve, as does Tree.  There's several twists and turns the film takes here, and it's a smartly crafted tale wrapped in a traditional college setting. There's some truly terrifying moments thrown in as well, and helps to encompass all the human emotions while watching - humor, heart, horror and hubris.  In short, it's the small film that could, producing a bonafide star.

The Summary:
Blending mystery, terror and humor - with a hint of self-actualization - "Happy Death Day" is an exciting, fun and funny slasher film with a remarkable young cast and a memorable hook.

The Score: A