Happy Death Day

This review may contain spoilers!

This film tries to subvert its genre in a similar manner to what Get Out did; it's unfortunate that the film completely fails to do this in a convincing way. I would give Happy Death Day a 3/10.

The film has a nice comedic tone which surfaces in some standout scenes; I really enjoyed when the feature tried to escape the standard horror/supernatural structure that it adhered to for a significant amount of the film. The cinematography for the film has a very nice style to it; every frame is perfectly angled to otherwise look very nice or couple with the horror tone well. The soundtrack for the film is very strong, often lending itself well to those comedic scenes mentioned earlier; however, the score also does well and has a nice theme for the serial killer antagonist.

Jessica Rothe, who played Tree Gelbman, was quite an interesting protagonist to watch; Rothe does a great job of playing the two polar opposites this role goes through of arrogant sorority girl and self-affirmed free spirit. Jason Bayle, who played David Gelbman, lends quite an emotional performance to the scene; the immediate connection Bayle and Rothe have lends to one of the best scenes of the film.

However, the best performance came from Rachel Matthews, who played Danielle Bouseman. Matthews has a very natural performance in relation to her role, feeling very much like the dominant, narcissistic leader of her sorority. This is quite a harsh character and she can be very nasty to those she's around so this provides a good source of antagonism throughout the film. What I liked about Matthews is that she presented a consistent performance and challenged the protagonist of the story in a way that felt very grounded compared to everything else that was going on throughout the narrative.

This film doesn't know how to portray the narrative it is trying to get across, even referencing films like Groundhog Day in places to reassure the audience what is trying to achieve. However, the fact that the protagonist is reliving each day as if it were her last fast turns into a novelty when it isn't being used for the comedic purposes mentioned previously. In fact, by using it for comedic effect so many times you no longer feel as if the protagonist is really in any great deal of danger. The film also tries to present this narrative as being cathartic for the protagonist, but her personality just does a complete 180 by the end of the film rather than go through a form of natural character development. This is exceptionally lazy writing to watch unfold and makes for a rather boring film in terms of pacing. The antagonist for the feature doesn't have a great reveal by the end of the film, in fact, the motivations of this character are rather petty and solidify the film as rather two-dimensional. The romantic sub-plot throughout is kinda weak, it's hard to see or understand the chemistry between Tree and Carter and the declaration from Tree that she "wants to have Carter's babies" comes as quite a sudden and immature change of pace.

Israel Broussard, who played Carter Davis, isn't a great pick for the love interest of the film; Broussard plays a character that feels too different from Rothe for the chemistry to emerge. Ruby Modine, who played Lori Spengler, is very obvious as the film's overall antagonist; the fact Modine attempts to play quite the monotone role makes the reveal very clear and her portrayal of her motivations to kill Tree is quite weak. Charles Aitken, who played Gregory Butler, is quite stereotypical as the dirty college professor sleeping with his student; it's often hard to see the reasoning behind the relationship Aitken and Rothe's characters share. Laura Clifton, who played Stephanie Butler, falls into the background constantly throughout this feature; Clifton feels like a plot device to make the Rothe/Aitken relationship a bit racier. Rob Mello, who played Joseph Tombs, feels like a killer but does not at all feel like a character; his role is solely motivated by killing other characters which ultimately makes Mello rather boring to watch.