Happy Death Day: Movie Review
“Happy Death Day,” is one of the worst horror movies I’ve ever seen in my entire life. And when I say, “One of,” I mean that it’s up there with all of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Friday the 13th” sequels,” “Jaws 4” and, “Escape from Tomorrow,” possibly my least favorite movie of all time. But, I have to be frank, “Happy Death Day” is somewhere between “Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan” and “Jaws 4,” because nothing can be worse than “Escape from Tomorrow.” And, by gosh, did “Happy Death Day” try.
The main character, Tree, played by Jessica Rothe, is a birthday girl set to embark on a terrible trip. Tree is the typical hot college girl. She wakes up in a dorm room with someone named Carter (Israel Broussard) who tends to her every need. However, like the stereotypical hot girl, she treats him like garbage. She also treats many other people poorly too; like, her father and her roommate. Yet, we are supposed to root for this person!
She goes on with her daily occurrences including a daily meeting with her sorority, and getting ready for her surprise birthday party. Only eighteen minutes in and I felt like I was watching for two days. On her way to the party, she notices a little music box in a blocked-off tunnel. So of course, Tree has to check out the creepy music box. And, as to be expected, she gets stabbed by a killer with a mask of the school mascot, the Bayfield Baby. Which is probably the worst team name since the Scottsdale Community College Fighting Artichokes. When Tree wakes up, she starts reliving the same day over and over again after she gets stabbed, shot, exploded, hung, etc. And she only has so many lives she can use up before her injuries catch up with her and she dies for real.
Jason Blum definitely lived up to his reputation for making bad horror movies. He uses the same gimmicks from “Paranormal Activity” and “The Purge” over and over again. Also, there were two other movies about reliving the same day made this year, “Before I Fall,” the straight to Netflix comedy and “Naked,” the movie about a man and his wedding day. But they all rip off “Groundhog Day,” a movie classic. They even mention the movie in the infuriating closing scene when Tree doesn’t know who “Bill Murray” is or what “Ghostbusters” is! I have never yelled at a character so much in my life. However, there were things I liked. I liked how they didn’t shove the neglect of her dad in the audience’s face like other movies. I also liked the lack of jump scares that make up most horror movies. But apart from those, “Happy Death Day” is a mess that doesn’t hold a candle to it’s way funnier predecessor.
GRADE: D+
