THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
You want to know when is the worst time to die? On your god damn birthday.
PLOT
Happy Death Day follows college student Theresa ‘Tree’ Geldman recover from a frat party on the day of her birthday. After waking up in the dorm of classmate Carter Davis, she resumes her life by ignoring those who show kindness to her, such as her sorority housemate Lori and her own father David (Jason Bayle) who remembered her birthday. The only person she shows affection to is her married professor she’s having an affair with, Gregory Butler (Charles Aitken). When heading towards another party at night, she gets killed by someone wearing the mask of the college’s mascot that is the face of a baby. Right after being stabbed however, she wakes up back in Carter’s dorm. The day she had just went through runs it course and avoids where she was killed. This time, the killer finds her at the party she was going to which ended up being her birthday party planned by her sorority leader Danielle. Despite avoiding fate in one direction, the killer is able to stab her again. Waking up in Carter’s dorm again, she accepts she is in a time loop and tries again in avoiding death by staying in her sorority house until the killer sneaks to get to her again. After that failed attempt to stay alive, Tree tells Carter of her predicament and he ends up advising her to take advantage of the loop to figure out who wants to kill her. Surpassing a dozen loops, she doesn’t seem to get any close to an answer. She crosses off suspects like Butler’s wife Stephanie (Laura Clifton) was unaware of her following her before the killer gets to her via drowning. It couldn’t have been the guy from the party Nick (Blaine Kern III) because he was killed too in the second loop and it can’t be her previous date Tim (Caleb Spillyards) because she caught him watching gay porn at home before getting killed again. After getting bludgeoned in one loop, she ends up fainting and briefly recuperates. At the hospital, Gregory shows her X rays revealing it recover from multiple traumatic injuries which means she retains physical damage from past loops. The killer finds her at the hospital and is able to kill her after a long chase outside. Within the next loop, Tree takes the time to show Carter how she knows the day by heart based on demonstrating each event on cue. She would also open up to him of how she’s pushed people away like her father due to the grief she has losing her mother (who she shared the same birthday with) who died three years prior. After this confession, she sees the news and suspects serial killer John Tombs to be the one killer after due to being held in the same campus hospital. Tree tries to stop him to be free of the loop, only for him to break free and kill Carter who chose to protect her from him. She briefly has the upper hand but chooses to hang herself to live in a timeline where Carter is still alive. Waking up in what she hopes to be her last loop, she spreads her newfound improved attitude towards everyone: She thanks Carter for all the help he’s given, encourages Tim to come out, gives a charity signature she ignored originally, gives a pillow to a fraternity brother passing out during a pledge who she also ignored, warns a couple of a sprinkler about to turn on in a grass area they were standing at, breaks up with Gregory, stands up to Danielle for her diva-like behavior and reconciles with her father. After this trail of redemption, she is able to kill Tombs before he could get to her. She then celebrates her birthday with Carter by eating Lori’s cupcake. However, she finds herself in another loop and is unsure why. She considers running away to avoid the murder until remembering she ate the cupcake before she died, deducing Lori poisoned her with it. And whenever she didn’t eat it in past loops, she would use her job as a nurse to frame Tombs. Threatening to go to the police, Lori admits she was after her all along out of jealousy for her relationship with Gregory. Not wanting to die again, Tree gets the upper hand and overcomes her threat for good by shoving the cupcake in Lori’s mouth before kicking her out a two story window. When she later muses over the day’s events with Carter, the latter shares how her predicament resembled the 90s comedy Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray, which she ironically never watched. The film ends with the two starting a relationship after Carter pranks her into thinking she’s still in the loop.
THOUGHTS
Time loops are such a wild sub genre to explore because it always depends on the environment the protagonist goes through. Edge of Tomorrow was creative for the setting while here, we get a horror whodunnit. Was it ambitious? For sure. Was it worth it? I believe so. Director Christopher Landon lets loose in this environment that is just as good as it sounds on paper. You can’t expect a straight face in this particular adventure which is the whole point and I applaud that acknowledgment. It can be scary in one perspective since getting stuck in a loop where someone is guaranteed to kill you will not be for the faint of heart. That Babyface mascot mask would definitely not be a realistic one, but it’s successful in the creep factor because I twitched every time I saw it. The comedic aspect pays off thanks to a natural performance by Jessica Rothe. She makes Tree the most unique scream queen/final girl out there because she does get killed but is trying to avoid dying for good. That is where the concept becomes fun to witness because we know is not gonna be easy and she’s a protagonist who gets killed in more ways than one to figure out who’s after her. She takes too much of an advantage of it to the point where she hits the ‘fuck it’ button and chooses to streak at least once. What a savage moment since she wasn’t sure how long she’d be stuck. All the visible irritation she shows is hilarious because I don't see why her situation wouldn't be such. I mean I related to her shouting 'Silence' when waking up because I am not a morning person at all. Seeing her go from cold hearted to regaining her confidence was a very fluent transformation that is able to express a strong theme where we must face our inner selves in order to go on with our lives, especially in terms of grief where you just gotta go through it rather than avoid it. Tree is someone who had a big social disconnection due to her own heartbreak and wasn't sure how to cope with it. Her mom made her happy more than she could imagine and felt lost without her. So when this exhausting nightmare became reality, she had to regain motivation in wanting to be happy again which she did by fighting for her life. Through this journey, she didn't just come to peace with herself but also appreciate those around her. The first of which was a guy she barely knew yet her predicament made him a bigger part than she anticipated. Israel Broussard made Carter a cool guy because he was one who chose to help first and ask questions later. They're ain't a lot of people like him these days and thanks to the loop, Tree learned through her time with him to not take any relationships for granted. Even besides his helpfulness, he's a guy with class for choosing to take advantage of her when she crashed at his dorm. From that alone, Tree would fall for him for such respect he has compared to Gregory. Considering that he doesn't know her well than she does know him, he seems to fall for her in the final timeline because admires how confident and easygoing she became. Since their journey didn't end yet, it's neat to see how it started. Everyone has an enemy or two under the nose, which made it all the more sad that Tree was living with one she didn't think she made. I completely ignored all the hints that Lori was the killer all along, which only more surprised by the time the twist is out especially since Rob Mello made a believable scapegoat out of the sinister John Tombs. Ruby Modine really had me going in thinking Lori was a sweet girl, or at least she was until her jealousy triggered her to be psychotic enough to kill for lust. I can give her credit that the cupcake was a smart way to cover her tracks but it wasn't enough for her to be ahead like she was planning to. The fact she's not even responsible for the loop but only Tree's death, since she was surprised of the claim she killed her before, was the only excuse I needed to be onboard for the sequel. This movie was more fun than anticipated, but good stuff like this still has a handful of issues I picked up on during a re watch. For starters, it is part of the joke for Carter's roommate Ryan (Phi Vu) excitingly walking in his dorm asking if he thinks he hooked up with Tree while she's still in the room. But if he knew that's what could've happened, he should've known she'd still be there after the party everyone said she was part of. And why is there only one area of sprinklers being used throughout the campus walkthrough we see? Ain't no way the college would focus on one patch of grass. Also, I respect the effort of dramatic effect but why does the jukebox pause only for it to be play after Tree walks past it? Did Lori have a remote to do that? I refuse to think so because there ain't no way they work like that. That becomes another problem when the partygoers choose to not shout 'Surprise' before Tree freaks out seeing Babyface. That's dumber than Nick wearing the mask at the front door. What is out of character for Lori is to give Tree a birthday card when that is basically leaving behind a clue she's responsible for her intentions. And if she is straight up killing Tree in disguise when messing with the TV, how did she aim the remote from the bathroom? I gotta ask because it looked too far for her to reach. And noticing it is more trippy than choosing to wait so long to kill Tree when she has the advantage. On top of that, she kills the professor she crushes on during one loop when she didn't have to since the focus was Tree. She could've just knocked him out if she wanted him for herself. I don't want to root for villains, but I can't help pointing out they can do things differently. Moving on, it was hilarious for Tree to accept Tim is not the killer when catching him watch gay porn but why would the guy have his blinds cracked open? That is asking to get caught by someone who would out him in humiliating fashion. Also, I think Tree ruins the idea of camouflage if she has pink highlights when watching the professor's wife. And why does Danielle have the envelope at one point? If she's not the killer, there should've been a valid reason to having it. If she bought it and gave it to Lori, that should've been implied. Now I respect the stakes being made on how her body still absolves the trauma from past loops, but why does it take so long to go to the hospital? I feel like after multiple stab wounds, she would've went before she fainted. And why does Gregory have the mask in the first place? There's no way he's that supportive of his college sports team as he shared no interest during the interactions he's had with Tree in advance. Another takeaway was how Tree gets to go back to her sorority house after killing Tombs when she should be held up for questioning. I know we need the twist to know Lori was after her all along but they could've made that delivery by having Lori ditch just to pretend checking in on her when in fact having an excuse to give her the cupcake. Even after the twist blows over, Tree is still not held up for questioning and it’s fucking weird. The only thing that distracted me from the twist was the continuity error that occurred around the cupcake. From the opening, Tree drops it right on the trash can but as the flashback perceives it, she dropped it right on the floor. I refuse to believe Tree dropped it on the floor in the following loops since she’d be in a rush figuring out who’s after her. And lastly, it was so dumb of Tree to tell Lori she was gonna go to the police after deducing it was her. Now that is asking to get killed. Other than that, this is a hella good time. To wrap up, Happy Death Day deserves its notice as an entertaining horror comedy for letting loose of its for letting loose on its setting and remain interesting from beginning to end. If you dig the idea of time loops, this movie might be meant for you.
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