Review of Happy Death Day (2017) by Calvin C — 14 Oct 2017

Groundhog Day meets Edge of Tomorrow meets Scream. That is what you will see all the critics describe this movie, because it is. They even mention Groundhog Day in the movie. A stuck-up, ungrateful sorority girl gets murdered on her birthday. The only thing is, she keeps reliving it over and over. She finds out that she has given this chance to find out who her killer is, so she dies in all sorts of ways while trying to solve her own murder. First off, I hate PG-13 horror movies and this movie is PG-13. So a lot of the killings you don't see which really sucked. This movie would have been so much better had they just made it rated R and go all out with the violence. Speaking of horror, the movie plays more like a dark comedy than a horror movie, You will end up laughing more than you scream. I liked the movie's self-awareness and tongue-in-cheek humor. I guessed who the killer was 20 minutes in, So, if you pay attention enough, you could probably figure it out too before the reveal at the end. This didn't take away from my enjoyment of the movie. It actually made me more entertained because I wanted to see if the main character could get to that conclusion. The movie is fun to watch because of the breakout performance of Jessica Rothe (La La Land) as Tree (nickname for Theresa). It is Rothe who carries the movie. She is so engaging and funny. I hope she gets more roles in the future. The movie never explains why Tree keeps repeating the same day. Why her? Why that day? Also, the ending was a little too corny for me, especially for a "horror" movie. But Jessica Rothe is the main reason to go watch this lighthearted take on old slasher movies.

GRADE: B.