Movie Review: Happy Death Day

Happy Death Day is Groundhog Day but with a horror-themed twist.

I knew I wanted to see Happy Death Day when I first saw the trailer because it had a good plot and I hadn’t seen anything like it since Groundhog Day (Yes, they make a reference to it in the movie). The people who put the trailer together really did a good job because it didn’t give too much away.

The actors that were casted to be in the movie were definitely the right choice. They all portrayed their characters very well. Jessica Rothe, who plays Tree, the main character of the movie, can also be seen in the Academy Award-winning movie ‘La La Land’ and the MTV original show ‘Mary + Jane’. Israel Broussard, who plays Carter, the love interest, has been seen in ‘The Bling Ring,’ and Ruby Modine, the roommate, had previously appeared on ‘Shameless’.

The movie follows a self-centered sorority girl named Tree, who wakes up on her birthday in the dorm room of her classmate, Carter Davis, after a drunken night out.

When her roommate makes her a cupcake for her special day, Tree throws it in the trash. Her whole day is spent like this, acting hateful towards other people. That night, she goes out to a party and is murdered by someone dressed in all black and wearing a mask that looks like a baby, which was actually the mascot of the school she attends. The only thing is that when she dies, she wakes up and lives the same day over and over again. When woken up, she is in Carter’s dorm room and hears him say “Oh hey, you’re up” every time. The cycle will end, but only when she finds out who killed her. Each time she dies, she is much closer to figuring out who her killer is, and to help her figure out how to stop her death, she must convince Carter that she is living the same day over and over again. During each day, she discovers secrets about her friends and even discovers how to be a better person.  

One thing that surprised me about the movie was that her phone ringtone wasn’t “In Da Club” by 50 Cent like it was in the trailer, which was completely different than what I was expecting.

Usually, I don’t go to see PG-13 horror movies because they always turn out the same, but I found this one really good because the plot was unique and different.

No one has seen a movie like this since Groundhog Day. I’m glad they decided to make it into a horror movie. There was definitely a plot twist at the end. If you go see the movie, I guarantee you won’t see it coming. There weren’t many jump scares as anticipated, but it was still very suspenseful. I really enjoyed it and definitely recommend it to anyone who loves horror movies, especially fans of teen screams like Scream and Carrie.