Happy Death Day (2017)

'Happy Death Day' tells the story of a young girl who is cursed to repeat her birthday over and over as a killer stalks and kills her. There are many films like this such as 'Groundhog Day' and 'Edge of Tomorrow' and the film is aware that it isn't being that original. So instead, it decides to use a youthful style and black comedy and just has fun with its concept. I know a lot of horror fans will be bummed but this is a comedy with some horror like elements. You of course have the typical jump scares and a killer in a creepy mask stalking and killing someone but everything is rather light hearted and dialed back despite the gruesome plot. However, I don't want the film's tone nor its PG-13 rating to discourage you because I was genuinely happy with how well made 'Happy Death Day' is.

I think director Christopher Landon has some skills when given the right material to work with. His previous efforts on the 'Paranormal Activity' series were very weak but has a strong visual style that showed some promise. Here he shows off a lot more of his talent, with some really nice cinematography and some creepy lighting. The comedy is hit or miss and while I'm aware that it likely isn't aimed at someone my age, some of the jokes are downright lazy such as a random fart joke or crude sexual comment. It's like watching a teen sex comedy which did aggravate me sometimes. What I really loved about 'Happy Death Day' is it clearly has a love for the slasher and giallo genre of horror films. I was particularly surprised at how similar the film was to an old Italian film like 'Deep Red' in which every character is made to be suspicious or unlikeable in order to throw you off until that final reveal. It was a nice modern take on old mechanics and I felt it worked well.

The only real negative here is the main character herself. She is unlikeable and she's supposed to be at first. The problem is, I still don't like her at the end of the film nor did I feel that she truly deserved salvation at the end. She just seemed like the same old person at the end but a little nicer to people. It's a classic Dickens plot with some blood splatter that just work in the end. The other small negative here is sort of spoiler territory so I won't go into much detail but the last half of the film doesn't seem to really add up and when you learn the identity of the killer it hurt my brain. It all seemed a bit too convenient for all of the pieces to fall into place here.

'Happy Death Day' was a fun horror comedy overall with some genuinely good things about it. If you just want something fun to watch on Halloween, I say give this one a go just don't expect to remember it after a few weeks.

( C + )