Happy Death Day Review

A review for Happy Death Day can be summed up in two words: glorious trash. But since movie reviews are typically much more substantial than that, I'll try to go more in depth in dissecting a film that has none.

The premise here is simple: a stuck up sorority girl named Tree (Jessica Rothe, or a poor man's Blake Lively) is trapped in a Ground Hog Day type loop, except the particular day she is doomed to repeat happens to be both her birthday AND her death day. Each time she relives this birthday, no matter what she does, she winds up murdered by the end of the day by a masked killer. After a new friend suggests that the only way to escape the day and move onto the next is to discover the identity of the killer and defeat him, Tree makes it her mission to do just that. But with so many people out to get her, it might take her much longer to discover the killer than she might think.

Your enjoyment level of Happy Death Day will vary upon how much you take the film seriously. It's the type of movie that's kitschy trash, and knows it is. If you can accept it at that level, you can enjoy it, which I most certainly did. It's not trying to be a particularly good film, nor does it even attempt to explain its plot gimmick. Happy Death Day is perfectly content to be what it is and nothing more. However, it's understandable to see the film somewhat of a missed opportunity because if it had more bite in its humor as well as its violence, this film could have reached true cult status. As it is, it's a mindless wannabe horror comedy that ends up being pretty forgettable.

Even still, I can't say I didn't enjoy it on a guilty pleasure level. As I already established that the film is mostly trash, I did mention earlier that it's pretty glorious trash at that, and that's a very important distinction to make. That's because of how often it manages to cross the "so bad it's good" line, which makes the whole thing pretty enjoyable to watch. The ending is the most prime example of this, but there are certainly other moments that made me feel incredulous that what I was watching on the screen was really taking place.

Because this film was so stupid, yet so enjoyable at the same time to watch I have a difficult time grading it. My head says one thing, and my heart says another. Therefore I shall have to give it two scores. ENTERTAINMENT RATING: 6.5, FILM RATING: 5/10