Tree is daunted on multiple days by one person who continues to successfully kill her.
Credit: @BDisgusting
Just in time for Halloween, “Happy Death Day” is an ode to the 90’s teen suspense, horror genre. The recent film was written by Scott Lobdell (X-Men Comics books) and directed by Christopher B. Landon (“Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.”) The flick has recruited the talents of Jessica Rothe (“La La Land,”) who projects a myriad of emotions throughout the ninety-six minute run time of the film.
This film finds Tree (Rothe) waking up, after what appears to be the end of another night of drinking and debauchery. She awakens in the bed of a classmate, Carter Davis (“Fear the Walking Dead,”) who bashfully introduces himself, assuming that she has no recollection of who he is.
Carter begins disclosing information of the previous night’s activities when she glances over and rushes out of the apartment. Tree traverses across campus to her dorm room while subtle clues of who the character is are being presented to the audience. As the lead interacts with her dorm mates and other persons in her community, we get a sense of who she is. As the day ensues into the night, we get a real appreciation of Tree, her ethics, and values. It all culminates in her dubious murder by a masked individual at which point her day repeats itself.
The type of cinematography in “Happy Death Day” allows audiences to have an appreciation for it, respectfully. There were no subtitles for the characters and no narration to lead us to a conclusion about her or any other person. However, with every death and resurrection, we understand a bit more about everyone when we juxtapose the previous iterations of her life.
As Tree and Carter develop a closer bond, a dynamic evolves between the characters that are predictable but not as expected. We grow with them, share their thoughts, and understand why they are who they are. The growth experienced is unexpected as previews for this movie gives resemblances of teen movies, reminiscent of 1990’s slasher films. The supporting cast does an exceptional job at maintaining a one-dimensional character arc until it becomes necessary to advance the plot, which again is attributed to good directing.
As we begin trying to unravel the mystery of who the killer is with every repeated day, a holistic view is achieved revealing why someone would want to harm Tree. The growth we experience with the characters advances the plot with a vitality that creates several “feel good” moments. Given the scarcity of the central figures in recent screenplays, there are no expectations for them to live up to, nor do we see them as anyone but who they are on screen. The plot is advanced by a script that does not take itself too seriously by injecting hilarious quotes and socially awkward moments.
These moments allow viewers to be a part of the world of this college student, which will undoubtedly resonate with present college students as fiction imitates reality. There were minimal, if any, plot holes and we are left with an insatiable desire every minute to resolve the murder mystery. As the final act draws near, we begin to gain more and more
resolution to all character arcs. While creating closure may seem simplistic in film production, many films today fail to meet this basic need.
Overall, from start to finish “Happy Death Day” will provide a fun ride for audiences globally, and it is showing, as it has already exceeded its production cost by almost nine times. Box Office Mojo has the film at approximately 131 million dollars gross, against a modest four million dollar production budget.
Though critics have appeared to have given it harsh criticism for not revitalizing the slasher film genre, “Happy Death Day” doesn’t deserve it. The motion picture tries to create its “elephant in the room” by being the amalgamated brainchild of slasher flicks, romantic comedies, and college satire. The movie establishes a name for itself while mocking older films such as “Ground Hog Day,” and exploiting newer ones like “Edge of Tomorrow.” No doubt, one of the more hysterical parts of the movie is the injection of songs like Demi Lovato’s “Confidential” and 50 Cent’s “In da Club.”
The film is far from perfect as it never really answers one underlying science fiction based question, but is worthy of the praise of doing something new with the ingredients of the past. “Happy Death Day” will stir audiences with its inevitable jump scares, and should provide some tantalizing excitement for Halloween.
