Written by Scott Lobdell
Directed by Christopher Landon
Lori: "What I really want to know is, how did you figure it out?"
Tree: "Because you've killed me before."
Lori: "Then I guess I'm just gonna have to do it again."
Anyone want a female led horror version of Groundhog Day? Even if you didn't, that's exactly what you'll get when watching this movie and truthfully, it's a lot of fun to watch with an unusually named protagonist Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe).
The movie starts off with a surprise birthday party for Tree, which involves her ignoring her father, David (Jason Bayle), blowing off a date with closeted gay guy Tim (Caleb Spillyards) as well as a previous hook up with fellow college student, Carter Davis (Israel Broussard), who also becomes her love interest as the movie progresses.
Each time throughout the movie, Tree relieves the same events on her birthday with each time altering the outcome but the result also being the same - getting killed by a mystery stranger wearing a creepy looking baby mask. Each and every time.
Of course while we're going through the movie, it's fun watching events getting rewritten and it's also fun seeing the blossoming relationship between Tree and Carter develop as the latter finds himself becoming aware of the antics in a way or at the very least believing that Tree is telling the truth about her would be killer.
As for the killer in question - it turns out the supposedly nice roommate Lori Spengler (Ruby Modine) turned out to have it for Tree, due to the fact that both women were sleeping with their college professor, Dr Butler (Charles Aitken) and the would be method of murder came in the sweet variety that I definitely would've succumbed to had I been in this movie.
Jessica Rothe is quite a find and when it comes to horror, I can't think of the last time we've had a really interesting final girl. I'm not saying that Tree Gelbman would give the likes of Laurie Strode, Nancy Thompson or Sidney Prescott a run for their money, but she certainly has similar qualities to those particular final girls.
Also Ruby Modine is definitely no slouch as Lori, adding a quite menace to the character during the big reveal while at the same time remaining quietly in the background until the big reveal. Israel Broussard makes for a charming love interest in Carter and the most of the supporting characters are decent enough to watch as well. I haven't seen the sequel yet but I'm also hoping that Tim followed Tree's advice.
- The killer is called Babyface. Tree's proper name is Teresa but she's largely referred to as Tree throughout the movie.
- This film holds a record of being the third movie after both Prom Night (2008 version) and The Final Girls to have a PG-13 rating. That rating doesn't hurt the overall content of the movie.
- The original title for this movie was going to be Half to Death.
- Chronology:Tree's birthday is September 18th so you have the idea as to when this movie is set during.
Happy Death Day is definitely one of those horror films that blends a sci-fi element, riffs off a classic movie from a different genre and absolutely delivers on it's premise. I had so much fun watching this movie and from what I've read about the sequel, there's more fun to be had and with a final girl like Tree Gelbman, that's a good thing.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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