Happy Death Day

Credit: Matt Talbot (mattrobot.com)

Directed by: Christopher Landon 

Release Date: 2017

I saw this fun little picture last year, as a treat for myself after meeting with my thesis advisor. The rating of this film was PG-13, so I knew I wouldn't see a ton of gory deaths, just a fun little horror picture. The Groundhog Day approach to encouraging our protagonist to find out her killer was a simple pleasure to watch on the big screen.


It is Tree Gelbman's birthday and she wakes up in Carter's bedroom, makeup smeared and disoriented with a silly poor man's "In Da Club" ringtone (because while it was used generously throughout the trailer, guess they didn't have the rights to use it in the film). This film has all the cliched moments everyone who loves Groundhog Day remembers: she's mean to people, ignores folks who care about the world (the girl who wants her to sign the petition for trees or something), having an affair with a married man, and selfish. On her way to this party, she is followed and meets her demise by being stabbed in the throat from above.

Then she wakes up. Just like Phil Connors did. What makes this film work is Jessica Rothe's acting. It's easy to ruin horror films this cheesy by some pretty awful acting. Rothe's performance reminds me of Will Ferrell in his comedic roles. His conviction with each role is what solidifies his acting chops and the role we're seeing on the screen. Rothe carried this film by evolving and in a way that never felt saccharine, on the nose, or too obvious. I think credit also can be handed to Chris Landon and writer Scott Lobdell who made this silly film about trying to find out who hates you so much they want you dead, a thrilling ride from beginning to end.

The third act surprises you and if you've been paying attention and have been around the block with horror films in general, you might already predict who the killer is from miles away. I did, to an extent, but I still enjoyed the ride. There was some killer dialogue uttered by a great mean girl, Danielle played by Rachel Matthews. If you are not laughing at the end of the film, then I don't know. You need to relax.

This innocuous slasher friendly film was most definitely a B movie but in the best way. It's a film you can throw on in the background and tune in when she dies, because she dies many many times, as you can tell from the trailer. It's a fun film and upon doing research for this post, there's a sequel that is currently in post-production that will be released sometime in 2019.

There's no teaser trailer for the 2019 film yet but I've included the original trailer to re-visit the first film.