Director Christopher Landon
Genre Horror | Mystery | Thriller
Cast Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews
Rating PG-13
Release Date October 13th, 2017
“A college student relives the day of her murder with both its unexceptional details and terrifying end until she discovers her killer’s identity.”
Happy Death Day is a horror thriller from director Christopher Landon, who previously directed Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. He also wrote the screenplays for Disturbia starring Shia LaBeouf, and Paranormal Activity 2, 3, and 4. Happy Death Day follows a college student who wakes up one day and finds herself murdered that evening, only to replay the same day over and over, which provides her the opportunity to discover who the killer is. The cast includes Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, and Charles Aitken.
Drawing comparisons to Groundhog Day and Scream, Happy Death Day is a fun and fresh twist on the horror genre. After watching the initial trailer I was admittedly intrigued by the premise, regardless of whether or not it had been done before. I am a Groundhog Day fan (who isn't?!), and I enjoyed the Scream movies. I walked in to the theater with relatively tempered expectations expecting something a little goofy, but I am happy to report that I was impressed. More than anything else, Happy Death Day is entertaining from start to finish, and in this day and age that is saying something. The "Groundhog Day" aspect of the film is actually handled much better than I expected it to be, avoiding a feeling of repetitiveness and staying fresh throughout each "new day". Viewers will find themselves intrigued by the search to figure out who the killer is, and for the most part the main character makes realistic decisions in terms of how she decides to alter each new day. Happy Death Day does include a few solid jump scares but to say it is scary would be a stretch for me personally, although other more easily scared viewers may disagree. I also liked how well-rounded the film felt, adding in some general emotion with a backstory that holds much more weight than the traditional dumb slasher flick. I felt that the conclusion had its flaws but nothing too major to detract from the effectiveness of the film. Overall, Happy Death Day focuses on its strengths and successfully avoids its weaknesses, making for an entertaining movie experience that should appeal to a broad audience.
The cast for Happy Death Day is actually much better than I initially expected it to be. Granted, it is absent of any A-list talent but that shouldn’t really surprise anyone. What did surprise me was the performance of lead actress Jessica Rothe who is building herself a pretty decent resume having recently played a small role in the Oscar-winning musical La La Land. Rothe is very convincing in the lead role transitioning seamlessly from a character the audience is disgusted by to someone they genuinely care about and can maybe even relate to. This may not turn out to be a career jump starter for Jessica Rothe but at the very least it should give her a notch on her resume to be proud of. Israel Broussard is in the primary supporting role and gets a good chunk of screen time. I felt like he delivered a very solid performance and more importantly he developed some believable chemistry with Rothe. The Mississippi native is building himself a decent acting career and we may very well be seeing more of him. The rest of the supporting cast isn't necessarily noteworthy but is able to deliver solid performances all around.
Happy Death Day may not appeal to the traditional horror fan base like a slasher film would mainly because it does lack the majority of the key elements that make a slasher film great, which is gore and clothing optional college girls meeting their end after making several bad decisions. Now this film does include the PG-13 version of everything I just mentioned and they make it work, they really do, I just need to make sure that expectations are realistic. Happy Death Day is a slightly watered down slasher that includes better than average acting and a fun and fresh premise making it well worth a trip to the theater. Recommended.
