The premise of “What would it be like. to live the same day over and over again?” has been done in film to varying degrees of success. “Groundhog Day”, the 1993 Harold Ramis film would considered the gold standard of the format. Another recent gem is the straight to Hulu entry, “Palm Springs”, a 2020 entry from Max Barbakow. These two films share the distinction of being romantic comedies. That genre lends a lot of compatible traits to a story structure where the premise is predicated on the protagonist or protagonists experiencing character growth. “Happy Death Day”, the 2017 film from Christopher Landon, takes the premise of “Groundhog Day” and applies it to the slasher film genre, unfortunately, to mixed at best results. 

“Happy Death Day” follows the actions of Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), a college student and sorority girl, who wakes up on her birthday hung over in the dorm room of Carter Davis (Israel Broussard). Tree, when the audience meets her, is not a particularly likable character. She employs a lot of. the stereotypical traits of a sorority girl, which the film seems to enjoy skewering and criticizing, and also has lingering family issues. Tree is rather unpleasant to most people around her, including when she runs into Carter once more and her roommate Lori Spengler (Ruby Modine). She is also having an affair Gregory Butler (Charles Aitken), her married college professor. These unpleasant actions build until Tree is confronted by someone in a baby mask resembling the mascot of her college. A chase ensues and the masked figure “kills” Tree. Tree, of course, wakes up and begins to experience the same day and same set of actions over and over again. 

The film then follows a predictable pattern of Tree figuring out what is happening, trying to convince others, namely Carter, what is happening, and then realizing she must take this opportunity to better herself while still trying to figure out who is trying to kill her. Rothe’s performance carries this large portion of the film, but, unfortunately, the issues with the script overwhelm any positive traction gained by her on screen abilities. 

Taking the Groundhog Day premise and applying it to a horror/slasher movie is good in theory, but a critical flaw exists. The audience, if they are paying attention, will start trying to figure out who the killer is once all the repeating elements are established and the action resets. The fatal flaw of Happy Death Day’s script is that it telegraphs who the killer is very early but thinks it is doing so in a subtle way and with misdirections. The audience can figure things out rather quickly, thus negating any of the character development Tree experiences. Sure, it is nice and even fun to see her become a better person and try to fix the issues in her life, but, again, if the audience has paid attention, they are simply going to be saying, “Yeah… we have figured this out already. The film is just treading water until we get to the final act climax”. Some might disagree, but it prevented me from having any emotional connection to the more “serious” portions of the film.

“Happy Death Day” is not all bad, again, mostly due to Rothe’s performance and the delight it takes in skewering campus life over and over again because of the “Groundhog Day” structure. Points for trying, but this script and story needed a few more passes done to really establish a level of doubt and mystery in order for the film to be a really effective blending of genres. 

This review is part of my From the Vault series showcasing movies of the past I have decided to visit or revisit and review.

Happy Death Day
(Christopher Landon, 2017)
⭐️⭐️ 1/2