Review of Happy Death Day (2017) by Brianna S — 06 Dec 2017

Imagine waking up to realize that is it the same day you had just lived - how could it get any worse? Is it just déjà vu, or is it something more than that? Main character Tree, played by the spectacular Jessica Rothe in the film Happy Death Day, did relive the same day over multiple times and it did get worse. It was not just her birthday, a day she was not fond of celebrating, it is also her Death Day. After being tragically murdered each night, Tree would wake up in stranger Carter Davis's, played by Israel Broussard, dorm everyday.

After a few days of reliving her literal worst nightmare, Tree decides that she is going to stop the murder from occurring. As a sorority sister, and maybe not the best one at that, Tree finds out that it might be a lot harder than she thought. There are many sorority sisters, as well as other people from her school who might not like her and could potentially be her killer. The last few years had been tough for Tree, as her mother had pasted away. She become distant from her dad and he closer loved ones. She began to be not such a great of a friend, girlfriend or daughter. She hasn't spoken to her dad, in who knows how long, and goes after her best friend's boyfriends. As the film goes on, each and ever person that could be her potential killer gets their alibi check out, along with Tree becoming a better person everyday. She starts to help the people she sees everyday she lives over again. One by one gruesome death every night, Tree gets even closer to discovering who her true killer is, as well as becoming her true, genuine self.

The actors could not be more perfectly cast. Jessica Rothe plays the role of Tree with much enthusiasm and spunk. She portrays the moods of her character effortlessly as she changes from scared to motivated to careless about her odd predicament. Israel Broussard, acting as Cater, is tremendous. Having a screaming girl in your bed could be even more horrific than actually being the screaming girl. Israel's acting is outstanding in the way he can almost change characters depending on what new predicament he and Tree will be in that day. The cinematographer does a fantastic job with the camera shots and lighting. They add just enough darkness in the scenes leading up to the murders to help describe the mood and characters.

Overall Happy Death Day is one to remember. The film is equally suspenseful, humorous, and engaging. The movie was well casted, filmed, and directed. With that being said, I do feel like the film is almost a one-time see movie. I say that because once you figure out the ending, the point of the movie being suspenseful is gone. Although the suspense is gone after the first time seeing this movie, there is still an aspect of reliability. The underlying message that I got out of Happy Death Day is that sometimes we must go through the hardest situations, in order to truly become ourselves and be a better person. Tree found this out as she relived her death day over and over again, going through some of the worst days of her live, she still gained a better perspective of who she was and how she wanted to become.