HAPPY DEATH DAY
US, 2017, 94 minutes, Colour.
Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews, Charles Aitken.
Directed by Christopher Landon.
How many times can the director kill off the leading lady? There was hullaballoo in 1960 when Janet Leigh was killed off so early in Hitchcock’s Psycho. In Happy Death Day, I think the heroine mentions she has been killed 16 times. 16 times you may ask – but, fairly soon into the film movie buffs will be thinking Groundhog Day. Hence the at-least 16 times.
In fairness to the writer and the director and their “borrowing� the main idea behind Groundhog Day, they do make amusing references to it at the end, the noble boyfriend telling the many-times surviving heroine about the original film. She has never heard of it. He tries Bill Murray. Never heard of him. He tries Ghostbusters. Never heard of it. Shame on her!!!
For the first 10 minutes or more, many audiences hearts will sink. Those who are very fond of fraternity and sorority raucous comedies will feel they are on familiar ground, so why not another one! And our heroine, Tree (short for Teresa), Jessica Rothe, is one of those presumptuously arrogant, knock-everyone-out-of-the-way-types, immediately dislikeable. How are we going to survive the film? Well, mainly by her not surviving her particular Groundhog Day murders but her waking up every morning, her birthday in fact, her death day in greater fact!
Actually, the film does improve as it goes on. And the filmmakers do employ some ingenuity in highlighting what happens to Tree, waking up in a strange fraternity room with Carter (an agreeable Israel Broussard), his friend arriving with a lewd comment, her fears, racing away, literally knocking people out of her way, encountering a would-be boyfriend, and then the comments by the other women at the sorority. And a cupcake with one candle on it from her roommate, Lori, which first time round she throws into the garbage. Tree is that kind of person.
The whole point of Groundhog Day is the fact that the person re-living the day and has the opportunity to learn, to alter (at least for the rest of the day), and for Tree to work out who might be killing her. Actually, it is somebody in a mask – but, unlike the mask in Halloween and in the Scream movies, this is a cheerful mask, for supporters of a football team, chubby, bucktoothed. But, by the end of the film, it is sinister nonetheless.
On one of the days, Carter does his best and, unbeknownst to himself, Tree takes quite a shine to him. On some of her days, her injuries take her to hospital where she discovers that a maniac killer is present under police guard.
There are some twists as the scenario goes on, Tree testing out potential suspects, the encounter with the killer, and, just when you thought it was all over, the real killer appears!
Interestingly, the screenwriter gives Tree quite a lengthy speech, spoken to Carter, about realising how selfish she is, not supporting her father because of her grief for her dead mother, rude to everyone about her, as she says: not a nice person. So, there you have a horror film with a highly explicit moral which you can’t disagree with!
1. The title, Tree and her birthday, her recurring death day? The tone? Humorous, macabre?
2. The Louisiana settings, the University campus, the dormitories, lecture rooms, offices? The grounds, the paths, the underpasses? The hospital, corridors, rooms? Carter’s room and the recurring waking up? The musical score?
3. Indebtedness to Groundhog Day – and the humour in the final attribution, Tree not knowing the film, nor Bill Murray, nor Ghostbusters!
4. Audience response to the Groundhog Day experience? Tree and her waking up, the encounter with Carter, with Ryan at the door, clothes, getting out, the eerie passer-by, the girl with the petition, the sprinkler, the horns, the team and the man collapsing, Tim and his missing her texts, going into the sorority, Lori and observations, Diane and her criticisms? The birthday cake and the candle? Hurrying to class?
5. The film establishing Tree’s character, in Carter’s room, no memories, getting wasted and drinking? The attitudes towards Lori, towards Diane? The lunchtime meeting and their treatment of Becky and her food? Her going to visit Gregory, the class, the sexual approach, his response, locking the door, the wife arriving? Her self-centredness? Arrogance?
6. Her father, grieving her mother’s death, not meeting him, late for the party, the underpass, the happy birthday playing, the man with the mask, Tim and looking in his window and the gay films? The attack and her death?
7. The recurring waking up, knowing Carter’s name, Ryan at the door and his vulgarity? The skill in the screenplay in keeping the recurring waking but eliminating various details, changing the reactions, the effect on Tree?
8. The day when she discussed things with Tree, his friendship, the explanations, the list of suspects, writing them down? Her imagining the various candidates and eliminating them?
9. The break with Gregory, the locked door, opening it, his wife? Gregory’s reaction?
10. Diane and her haughtiness, the party, their argument? The first party and her going into the room with the boy, the approach, Diane’s jealousy, the murder?
11. Her going to hospital, the nurses, getting out? Hearing the news about the murderer, the police guard, his being in the hospital? His being the candidate for the murders?
12. The background of the mask, 21, bucktoothed, the contrast with Scream and Halloween? Yet becoming a sinister mask?
13. Tree and her trying to control things, the policeman being killed, her confrontation with the murderer? His killing her?
14. Attempting to confront the murderer again, sending off the policeman, the axe, the fight, the viciousness of the murderer, Carter coming to her rescue?
15. Waking up, the next day? And the irony of the film continuing, confronting Lori, suspecting Lori, the poisoned cake, Lori’s jealousy about Gregory, Tree forcing her to eat the cake, and her going out the window?
16. Tree, the sequence of explaining herself to Carter and how she was a horrible person how she could be better? Reuniting with her father and the memories of her mother? With Carter and a future?
17. The night, Tree, the passer-by, signing the petition, warning about the sprinkler, catching the man collapsing, pleasant to Tim…?
18. The screenplay and its conventional beginning with the behaviour at the fraternity and sorority? Introducing the Groundhog Day themes? The masked killer? The variations – and screenplay improving as the action went on? The twists?
