HYSTY’S HORROR HOUSE // Happy Death Day

Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse is the worst film I’ve ever seen. The film was a mess of childishness and vulgarity which lacked any of the comedy it promised. When I saw that film’s director Christopher B Landon was helming Happy Death Day, I felt nauseous over having to sit through something like Scouts Guide again. What a surprise it was that I genuinely laughed throughout Happy Death Day.

MORE: Blade Runner 2049 is a spectacular feat in filmmaking. It takes the strongest elements of the original, heightens them, and delivers perfection, surpassing the original – 9/10.

Sorority sister Tree (Jessica Rothe) wakes with a hangover in Carter’s (Israel Broussard) dorm room on her birthday. On that night she is murdered by a baby-masked killer. But she wakes up again in Carter’s room on her birthday again, only to be murdered by the same killer again. As this routine repeats, Tree decides to find the identity of her killer in the hope she’ll finally see a different day.

It’s a simple premise that could easily summarised as Groundhog Day meets Scream. Despite being produced by Blumhouse Productions—the company behind Split, The Purge, and horror-hit Get Out—it’s neither a scary or gory film. But it is incredibly funny and self-aware; less Scream’s winking at the audience, more giggling with the audience. A montage of Tree following suspects only to be murdered repeatedly shouldn’t be as funny as it is, but Rothe’s cartoonish expressions are a delight.

Even with its strange premise, there were elements of the film that were too dumb, especially the killer’s motive. But Happy Death Day is a sugar-rush of a film: it’s not smart, but it’s silly, fast, and fun.

STICK THIS NEXT TO: Groundhog Day, Scream, Scream Queens

RATING: 7/10