Review: Happy Death Day (2017)

Happy Death Day (2017)

Directed by Christopher B. Landon

Starring Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard

Blumhouse Production

Horror is having a pretty good few years lately. It seems like there's this renaissance of the genre who, from the 2000s-early 2010s, seems to have only been filled with endless remakes and reboots. Now, filmmakers are getting more creative, tackling more out-of-the-box issues like racism in Get Out or sexuality in It Follows. Gradually, they leave many particular sub genres that seemed to have been widely popular at a time or two, like slasher or mockumentary. I can't help but wish for them to get more 'crazy' as time goes on, much like they were in the '70s, which I consider to be the best decade of horror as there were a lot, and I mean, a lot of original masterpiece being put out year after year. However, I can't deny that I miss your average slash-and-dice story. Happy Death Day brought that back for me.

The premise is simple: a sorority sister wakes up to find herself relive the day she dies over and over again, so it's up to her to find the killer and stop this curse once and for all. Tree is not a likable lead. Well, not at first. She's entitled, shallow, and just downright mean. She happily belittles a girl for having a chocolate milk (not part of the Kappa girls menu), she throws the birthday cupcake her roommate made for her right in front of her face, and she has an affair with her married lecturer. It's almost like the writer went out of their way to make her unlikable, and it works, fortunately. With well development and strong performance by Jessica Rothe, the audience gradually grow to like Tree as she realizes what matters in life for having it taken from her day by day. For a horror heroine, she's also feisty and tough. Having a good heroine is one of the main ingredients, other than having a memorable villain, for a successful slasher movie. That's why Halloween, Alien, and Scream lasted the way it did. They just wouldn't be the same without Laurie, Ripley, and Sidney. Tree is not as iconic as them, though, by the way.

However, I have to say there are many things that this movie lacks. Almost all of the characters are stereotypes, and not in a satire way like in The Cabin in the Woods or Final Destination 3, Tree's problem with his dad is almost too Character Development 101, and for a movie with many deaths, they're not really inventive. That sounds morbid, I understand, but you have to admit that that's what you're looking for from a horror movie. Final Destination franchise wouldn't be what it is if every single character gets a heart attack, even though that's the most logical move for 'death' to do in that series. Moreover, the whodunit aspect didn't work they way it should have. Other than being predictable (I literally guessed it right away), they didn't even bother to plant clues of the killer's motive for the reveal, which made the impact very weak. Furthermore, with this kind of premise, they could do far more interesting things to build the mystery. I'm sorry, but it almost feels like they literally copy and pasted Groundhog Day into a new genre without giving us anything new.

This movie also did a not really great job in combining comedy and horror. For me, when you combine those two things, there's always that one genre that you lean more to, even slightly, in order for it to be successful. Scream definitely leaned more toward its slashing aspect, and it's great. The Final Girls definitely leaned more toward its comedic aspect, and it's great as well. The Cabin in the Woods pushed the boundaries for both of the genre, and it couldn't be more awesome. Happy Death Day played it really safe. It is not horror enough, and it is definitely not comedic enough. There are some intense moments, but they're nothing compared to Sidney's chase scene during the whole 3rd act of Scream (I have to give it points though for having a chase scene as it is one of my favorite things from the slasher genre), and there are definitely some funny quips, but they're just it: quip.

What it is is fun, though. There's this little pink bow of a moral message in the end as well, a cute romance from its main actors who had good chemistry with one another, and a little feminism in the form of a woman who fights her way to get her agency back. You definitely are going to have a great time watching it, but you're going to go home and almost forget it right after. 6/10.