Happy Death Day (2017)

[baumer]

Discuss

[baumer]

Highlighted by a terrific performance from Jessica Rothe, Happy Death Day grew on me to the point where I couldn't deny that I enjoyed myself.  While as far from a horror as you can get, the film has a growth from the main character that is very welcome and quite enjoyable.  It's not scary and there is no blood and very little on screen violence.  But it just kind of sneaks up on you to the point where you find yourself trying to piece the clues together.  They kind of give it away at one (actually two) points but never to the point where you are sure.  And then the end is nicely done.  And they even reference and mention Groundhog Day, so that was cool.

 

7/10

[DeeCee]

Pretty solid film. I liked it better then Before I Fall. Jessica Rothe is good. I liked what they did with the Universal logo and the Groundhog Day reference. 

[filmlover]

Nothing amazing or scary but it's brisk, doesn't take itself too seriously, and has a lot of fun with the Groundhog Day concept. Jessica Rothe is a find. B-

 

Best moment: the kill montage set to Demi Lovato's "Confident."

Edited October 16, 2017 by filmlover

[GroceryGuru]

I liked this film, and went in knowing she would be a bad person transformed as she repeats the faithful day over and over. There were nice surprises and twists that worked, and the movie made some sense with how characters act. There was one problem that I found. If I were her, then I would have died one more time so I can simply take the cupcake to the cops and bust the room mate before she frees the convict. As the film ends she pushes her to her death, and will realistically be in jail for a murder. that is glossed over to rush an ending, and it conflicts with the level of realism the story seeks. I am buying into this amazing structure of a story and that one aspect is not treated well. But the film still ranks high on my list for 2017

[WrathOfHan]

7 minutes ago, GroceryGuru said:

I liked this film, and went in knowing she would be a bad person transformed as she repeats the faithful day over and over. There were nice surprises and twists that worked, and the movie made some sense with how characters act. There was one problem that I found. If I were her, then I would have died one more time so I can simply take the cupcake to the cops and bust the room mate before she frees the convict. As the film ends she pushes her to her death, and will realistically be in jail for a murder. that is glossed over to rush an ending, and it conflicts with the level of realism the story seeks. I am buying into this amazing structure of a story and that one aspect is not treated well. But the film still ranks high on my list for 2017

Not really. The cops have proof the cupcake was poisoned. 

[K1stpierre]

Just saw this a few hours ago, and I have to say I very much enjoyed this movie and was happy to be surprised by how much I like it.

 

Let's just get this out of the way early, this is most definitely not a film to be taken seriously based on the plot of the story, aka someone that keeps dying and yet keeps coming back to the day of her death. There's no explanation of this of why this happens, whether she was cursed, or if she came upon something that cursed her. There's nothing. It's definitely the weakest part in the story to have it just randomly happen to someone with no explanation as to why other than just to have it. If you can overlook this (which I overall did), then the rest will be fine for you and you should enjoy this movie.

 

The film doesn't try to take itself seriously, and it works well. The film does a very good job of balance between being funny at parts, but not overly funny where it takes away the stakes. The film creates a balance of humor/fun meanwhile throwing in moments of terror/seriousness reminding us that there something at stake here. The pacing of the movie was very well done, and I liked the fact that once the third time she's awoken from dying, you can tell they rehash some stuff but leave out the unnecessary minor details that have no point, as if they kept going it over and over, it would get really annoying and make the film just longer. The movie felt perfect in terms of run time, it didn't feel long at all and when it ended it felt right. 

 

The actresses/actors in this are good as well, especially the lead actress. She really does a phenomenal job in portraying a character as complex as hers. She really draws you in on the second day, and you slowly notice the changes in her character as she portrays them perfectly. Even though the film doesn't take it seriously, it's her acting moments that still make you as an audience feel for her at times and are slowly pulled into her complex situation. Her 'somewhat' partner that she thought she slept with, has his moments as well (his friend that goes in everytime yelling about did he get "bleep" was very funny). The other minor characters like the sorority girls were okay, kind of forgetful except for some funny one liners, but it didn't take away from the story to me.

 

I have to say, I did not see the ending coming. I predicted the big shocker of the movie was going to be that even if she killed her killer, she still was going to be stuck in the time loop, as (since again, we never got an explanation as to why this was happening to her) perhaps maybe because she was a shitty person in her life, this was in a sense karma coming back and either A). She was to be stuck in this time loop forever ; or B). Once she comes around and is actually thankful for what she has, she again wakes up (like we see in the  movie) again after she thought she killed the killer, only to this time be killed later and that time she actually truly dies (as in a way, once she accepts her faults in life, death finally greets her). However, I did not see the whole cupcake thing at all. And at first when she was saying it, I was so confused. It didn't really hit me till I actually thought back, and remembered (like her) that no, she never did take a bite out of it. It was very well done, even though sure the meaning of her roommate wanting to kill her was very dumb/cliche, the execution behind it was superb and didn't see it coming. 

 

Overall, if you're going into this expecting it to blow your socks off, then perhaps you shouldn't see it. This is a laid back, fun movie where if you're just looking to pass by the time and have fun, this is our movie. I think sometimes people think that a "fun" movie = bad made movie, which isn't always true. This is an A- movie for me, 8.5/10 for me.

[K1stpierre]

On 10/23/2017 at 4:15 PM, GroceryGuru said:

I liked this film, and went in knowing she would be a bad person transformed as she repeats the faithful day over and over. There were nice surprises and twists that worked, and the movie made some sense with how characters act. There was one problem that I found. If I were her, then I would have died one more time so I can simply take the cupcake to the cops and bust the room mate before she frees the convict. As the film ends she pushes her to her death, and will realistically be in jail for a murder. that is glossed over to rush an ending, and it conflicts with the level of realism the story seeks. I am buying into this amazing structure of a story and that one aspect is not treated well. But the film still ranks high on my list for 2017

 

On 10/23/2017 at 4:23 PM, WrathOfHan said:

Not really. The cops have proof the cupcake was poisoned. 

 

Yeah, I agree with Guru here, it did seem weird and very convenient to me that she can just jump kick her room mate out of a window and yet be scott free. I get that the cops found it was poisoned, but with her room mate dead, how would the cops have put all the pieces together? Unless she had wrote her master plan down in a diary of something, I don't get how the cops show up, see a dead body on the ground, and then just believe what the main character tells them like, (shrug) "sure, sounds good to me". I mean, for all they know the main character could have poisoned the cupcake. 

 

But hey, since this isn't a film that is to be taken seriously, I'm not gonna sweat it.

[Frozen]

I liked it a lot but the roommate being the killer was so obvious from the start. You could tell she was majorly jealous of the girl. 

[somebody85]

Oops saw this opening preview night.

Before I Fall (or Groundhog Day) meets a PG-13 version of Scream/I Know What You Did Last Summer. More comedy than horror...but still a fun time. IMO Before I Fall did this scenario more effectively but Happy Death Day adds some cool twists. I also felt the "turn around" felt less forced here. I wouldn't think about it too much though because one of the deaths is a giant plot hole. - B-

[Maxmoser3]

Not exactly a horror film. But definitely lots of fun! The main character played by Jessica Rothe did a good job as the lead and seemed fun in this film. The concept is different for a film like this and was interesting of trying to figure out who her killer is.

And the Universal logo opening was pretty cool with it repeating over and over, and the Demi Lovato complicated scene was fun and kinda funny and not bad to see her backside. 

My only problem was the twist near the end with the killer was kind of expected once when they showed the birthday candle. But that didn’t hurt the film too much.

While not a horror film, there are some silly parts and plenty of fun moments. And the acting by the actors especially Jessica Rothe(has she been in any stuff?) was a lot of fun! The script and idea was pretty solid, and Happy Death Day is a fun thriller with some silly bits and is a good movie but is nothing amazing. 

Grade: B

[Joel M]

I didn't find this scary at all, pretty much everything after the first death is just not scary it can't be. And yet I still think this is a great movie. For me it played exactly like the late 90s-early 00s teen movie, it had a fun/ridiculous concept, the lead was perfect, it was smart at times, smartass at others and despite the ridiculousness it had a romantic undercurrent that was completely genuine.

 

It might be my favorite Blumhouse production of 2017.

[Goffe]

Both are terrible, but I liked Before I Fall a bit better because slightly more palatable character arc and more pleasing aesthetics.

 

But really, this is trash. When Tree decides to become a Good Person it goes south harder and faster than any other movie I've ever seen. 

 

I knew something was off when that trashy pop song started playing over a detective montage. 

 

2/10

Edited January 23, 2018 by Goffe

[somebody85]

21 hours ago, Goffe said:

Both are terrible, but I liked Before I Fall a bit better because slightly more palatable character arc and more pleasing aesthetics.

 

But really, this is trash. When Tree decides to become a Good Person it goes south harder and faster than any other movie I've ever seen. 

 

I knew something was off when that trashy pop song started playing over a detective montage. 

 

2/10

Dude whenever I see your name next to a film review, I'm just going to guess you hated it. Like a lot lol. I'm usually shocked if it's the other way around. I would hate having the expectations of movies that you do. I don't know why you even watch them if you walk out of them constantly let down. 

This film is far from great. It's just forgettable fun but then I see you trash stuff like Coco and The Florida Project too, I'm curious what you want out of a viewing experience?

I saw your Letterboxd man. You seem to like very little and I'm not sure why you bother since that's so much time that you could be devoting to other stuff? Just being honest.

Edited January 23, 2018 by somebody85

[Avatree]

it was alright. I thought it was a fun take on groundhog day concept. Didn't like the ending reveal but otherwise enjoyed myself. saw it on halloween, never seen a movie on halloween before, I think that officially makes me an adult - going to the cinema rather than going out clubbing.

[Goffe]

3 hours ago, somebody85 said:

Dude whenever I see your name next to a film review, I'm just going to guess you hated it. Like a lot lol. I'm usually shocked if it's the other way around. I would hate having the expectations of movies that you do. I don't know why you even watch them if you walk out of them constantly let down. 

This film is far from great. It's just forgettable fun but then I see you trash stuff like Coco and The Florida Project too, I'm curious what you want out of a viewing experience?

I saw your Letterboxd man. You seem to like very little and I'm not sure why you bother since that's so much time that you could be devoting to other stuff? Just being honest.

the rewards, even if few in numbers, make it worth going through all the junk. 

Edited January 24, 2018 by Goffe

[somebody85]

19 hours ago, Goffe said:

the rewards, even if few in numbers, make it worth going through all the junk. 

Fair play. I was just curious since I know a lot of people hate watch and I get it (because I've done it with at least one show) but it seems like a waste of valuable time.

[Goffe]

39 minutes ago, somebody85 said:

Fair play. I was just curious since I know a lot of people hate watch and I get it (because I've done it with at least one show) but it seems like a waste of valuable time.

I don't hate-watch tho. Never did. I too agree time is too valuable to waste your time seeing stuff expecting to (happily) pick it apart.

[somebody85]

4 minutes ago, Goffe said:

I don't hate-watch tho. Never did. I too agree time is too valuable to waste your time seeing stuff expecting to (happily) pick it apart.

Oh, I wasn't claiming you did. I thought at first you might but your response indicated that you didn't. I was just saying that I know it's a common thing for a lot of people to do. Example: The Walking Dead.

[Blankments]

Happy Death Day is an enjoyable, engaging film. It's hard to imagine one watching this and getting bored. The fast pace and charismatic leads work in its favor, especially when one of them is such an unlikable character. It's never scary, but there are a lot of fun moments. However, it's hard to think another time loop movie that disregards its own rules as miuch as this one, and when there are no rules to such a temporal unbalance, it's hard to really care about the stakes. Also, the answers to the mystery are really dumb, and although I appreciate some audacious aspects of the third act, ultimately it tears the entire movie down around it. Happy Death Day scratches that "time loop" movie itch, but really never vibes as a cohesive horror film, despite its intriguing elements. C-