Review: “Happy Death Day”

BY GENNA NORDLING

Happy Death Day is a horror movie telling the story of a self-centered sorority sister, Tree, who continues to live the same day over and over again due to her being murdered in cold-blood each night.

For those who want to be absolutely terrified, viewing Happy Death may not be the best choice. Going into the movie one would expect a bone-chilling thriller that gets blood-pumping and adrenaline racing. Based on the trailer, the movie seems much more horrific and terrifying than it actually is. The film is definitely a slasher style “horror” movie, but would be better classified as a dark-comedy.

It is easy to see how someone would be able to find it scary, but it is very hard  to be frightened when the murderer was wearing a ridiculous baby mask. Even though the killer is difficult to take seriously, it adds to the comedic side of the film and gives it dimension. Another genre the movie could loosely fit into is romance. Over the course of the movie, Tree realizes how good of a person Carter (a boy she sees multiple times during the day) is and ultimately falls for him. He aids her with her thoughts and believes her when she tells him that she is reliving the same day.

Happy Death Day may not deliver on the horror, but it definitely makes up for it with the storyline and the plot. The concept of reliving the same day while attempting to avoid continuously getting murdered is extremely interesting. The main character Tree also realizes that in order to escape the loop, she must solve her own murder and kill the culprit before they kill her, which is also a very captivating idea. This also allows the audience to take part in the movie and guess who the killer is.

The best moment of the film by far, is when Tree figures out who has been killing her and sets off to stop it before that person can doso. Even though she has succeeded, she still wakes up the next day only to relive it again. Tree realizes that she had died in her sleep and she didn’t identify the right suspect, and her roommate was the one trying to kill her the entire time. This plot twists really adds to the movie by creating a moment that allows the audience to think , “I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming!”

Aside from an interesting and eventful plot, the movie also spreads a good message. Before this experience, Tree was kind of a garbage human being and was rude to basically everyone around her. After reliving the same day, she was able to help people out and be kinder which ultimately allowed her to solve her own murder. This spreads a message to a generation that is so self obsessed to care less about oneself and more about others, because ultimately it all comes back around. It was nice to see Tree’s character develop throughout the movie. Her development is apparent and easily observable because of the storyline of the film.

Overall, Happy Death Day is not a very scary horror film, but it definitely excels in other areas. The storyline, plot, message, and character development were interesting and prominent and the movie was entertaining overall.

Photo courtesy of Happy Death Day movie franchise