Have you ever experienced deja vu? You know, that feeling where you feel like you’ve been there before or already experienced something. There are times where we feel like we’re reliving the same events over and over again in an endless loop. Of course, there have been movies about reliving past events multiple times. Probably the most famous is 1993’s Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray. That film dealt with a stubborn and curmudgeonly news reporter who relives the same day over and over again. A similar concept was used over 20 years later for the 2014 sci-fi action film Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. While they were different genres, both movies told a similar tale of someone having to change their ways. Since we had a comedy and sci-fi action film, naturally we would soon get a horror film. In 2017, we got Happy Death Day.
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After getting drunk last night, college student Theresa “Tree” Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) awakens in a classmate’s dorm. She soon storms out, and we get a glimpse of her world. She ignores her dad’s calls, tosses a cupcake her roommate made, and has an affair with her teacher. That night, Tree ends up getting killed by a masked killer on her way to a party. However, instead of dying, she wakes up as if nothing happened, and soon finds she’s reliving the previous day. While she finds it odd, Tree goes about her day like before, all the while wondering what’s going on. That night, instead of going down the tunnel, she goes to the party, but the killer from before finds her. She wakes up once again reliving the same day, realizing that she’s in a time loop. Now, she has to solve her own murder and prevent further death.
Without giving too much away, the reveal of the killer’s identity will throw you for a loop. Despite its somewhat unoriginality, the strength of this movie lies in its main cast, especially the lead. Jessica Rothe does a great job playing a character who you still want to follow even before her transformation. The rest of the cast also play their parts well, particularly Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, and especially Rob Mello. Also, for the kind of movie this is, it’s very well shot with some nice camerawork and tilted angles. Especially in the third act, the camerawork makes this a very visually interesting watch. Admittedly, the biggest fault of the movie is the fact that it’s fairly tame at a PG-13 rating. Not saying that this should’ve been extremely graphic and violent, but the rating makes it feel like an edited-for-TV movie.
As I mentioned before, many have said that this is the horror version of Groundhog Day. Beyond just the concept of someone stuck in a time loop, both movies also feature characters who start out despicable. As the movie goes on, both characters do learn the error of their ways and work to improve themselves. However, in Groundhog Day, learning a lesson was at the forefront, whereas it’s almost secondary in Happy Death Day. The whole point of this movie is Tree figuring out who her killer is and how to stop them. This movie works as an interesting murder mystery, with Tree listing off possible suspects and trying to evade death. Also, when she starts changing herself, you’re rooting for her, especially how well Jessica Rothe delivers the more emotional scenes. Overall, while hampered by its tame rating and somewhat unoriginality, Happy Death Day is still an enjoyable watch.
