It’s impossible to talk about Happy Death Day without referring to Groundhog Day.
Even Happy Death Day knows this, as it flat out mentions the 1993 film and their striking similarities. The outward difference between the two films is their genres: Groundhog Day being a comedy and Happy Death Day being a slasher-horror. Such genres are merely the basis for both films, however, as there’s plenty more to Groundhog Day than just comedy, as there is more to Happy Death Day than slasher-horror. Both plots follow a miserable person, here a college sorority student named Tree (Jessica Rothe), as they become mysteriously stuck in a time loop where the same day repeats over and over. Both characters must learn to deal with their situation and, in turn, become better, happier people as a result. For Groundhog Day, such premise is the barebones minimal of what its wildly ambitious story contains, but does the same hold true for Happy Death Day? The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is no, yet the film still succeeds on a far lesser degree as enjoyable popcorn entertainment.
Even Happy Death Day knows this, as it flat out mentions the 1993 film and their striking similarities. The outward difference between the two films is their genres: Groundhog Day being a comedy and Happy Death Day being a slasher-horror. Such genres are merely the basis for both films, however, as there’s plenty more to Groundhog Day than just comedy, as there is more to Happy Death Day than slasher-horror. Both plots follow a miserable person, here a college sorority student named Tree (Jessica Rothe), as they become mysteriously stuck in a time loop where the same day repeats over and over. Both characters must learn to deal with their situation and, in turn, become better, happier people as a result. For Groundhog Day, such premise is the barebones minimal of what its wildly ambitious story contains, but does the same hold true for Happy Death Day? The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is no, yet the film still succeeds on a far lesser degree as enjoyable popcorn entertainment.
Happy Death Day explores what would happen if the opening kill girl of a horror film became stuck in a time loop where she has to uncover her killer. The idea certainly has a nice ring to it, though a problem arises almost immediately from such concept. The issue in combining traditional slasher-horror with a time loop scenario is a drastic reduction in audience suspense and fear usually created from the protagonist’s vulnerability. If a character has unlimited lives, why should the viewers fear for their safety? Additionally, Happy Death Day’s PG-13 rating hurts the film more than it helps, preventing its creative death scenes from going all out in gloriously gory fashion. Happy Death Day, sadly, doesn’t look for alternatives to solve such issues and ends up being a relatively tame, wholly not scary slasher-horror film.
Happy Death Day, however, makes up for such deficiencies with its far more entertaining dark comedy. The film’s dark comedy is its best element, with some good jokes aimed at its protagonist’s grim situation. One scene involves Tree’s neck snapping from hanging herself in a tall tower. The day rewinds itself as Tree wakes up and cracks her “stiff” neck, making an unusually loud snapping noise. Another scene involves Tree purposely trying to get locked up by claiming she’s on a variety of substances to a completely baffled police officer. Then there are the film's more traditional slasher-comedy scenes, such as a drunk frat boy confusing a struggle between Tree and the killer as some kinky lovemaking.
Tree is a fun little reconstruction of the stereotypical opening kill girl from slasher and/or horror films. The Tree seen during the film's opening day embodies all the usual tropes: she’s a condescending bitch, she’s promiscuous, she’s completely oblivious to any danger signs, and she’s got the opening kill girl screech and clumsy run down to a T. Happy Death Day explores how Tree became such a person through the time loop, where she gradually discards such tropes to become a better, more competent person. The transformation is believable, with finale Tree having the same mannerisms and characteristics as opening Tree, but with a kinder, stronger, and more openminded outlook on life.
I do, however, question the lead lady’s logic in dealing with her killer. Why, for example, does Tree never bother to obtain a gun during her time loops? The film’s set in America so I know she can find some kind of firearm fairly easily. Yes, Tree does eventually steal one from a cop, but not until the film’s finale, long after spending many, many days stuck in the loop. With seemingly limitless time to both find a gun and train herself in firing it, it’s downright strange Tree never thinks to do so against her knife welding foe (who at several instances throughout appears in a relatively open area). It’s also puzzling Tree never tries staying and/or walking around in a large group during the time period of her previous deaths. Or better yet, leave the campus unannounced early in the morning (through bus, car, plane, etc.) way before the killer strikes. It’s simply too many lapses in common sense for a character who has all the time in the world for planning and strategy.
One of Happy Death Day’s more interesting elements is its mystery. Tree trying to solve her own murder is definitely an intriguing concept, made even more interesting by how she goes about eliminating her suspects. The mystery has an issue in predictability, however, as I correctly guessed the culprit by their first onscreen appearance. To give the film some credit, it tries its hardest to make me doubt such hypothesis—throwing in misdirection and red herrings left and right—yet I saw right these diversionary tactics. Where I had hoped the film would make up for such an obvious culprit was through clever usage of its time loop scenario.
I was hoping Tree would discover her killer’s identity partway through the film, with the remaining story focused on Tree’s looped interactions with the now-revealed culprit. The time loop scenario is a great way to provide a variety of thought-provoking storytelling opportunities. Perhaps Tree ambushes and murders her killer early on, only for the day to continue repeating despite “concluding” her case. Maybe Tree decides to talk it out with her killer beforehand, to understand why she’s being murdered and what their motives are. Maybe Tree tries convincing the killer to forgo the murder but ultimately can’t get through. Maybe Tree gets fed up and, in a rather dark montage, begins killing her killer day after day in brutal fashion. And then maybe, just maybe, Tree realizes murder isn’t the answer, and goes above and beyond her past selfish persona to try and truly help/understand her killer, in addition to the other people around her (an unexpected moral in a slasher-horror popcorn film!?) MINOR SPOILERS BEGIN: Yet none of this happens—the killer ends up being a two-faced psychopath and Tree ends up killing them in an over-the-top popcorn fashion. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with such path, but the end result misses out on a lot of innovatively unique, missed opportunities by doing so. MINOR SPOILERS END
Happy Death Day’s linear setting is another unfortunate miss. Groundhog Day takes its setting of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and turns the town into its own distinguishable character through multiple-path exploration and fleshing out the many inhabitants. There’s no such world building here in Happy Death Day. The film has an entire college campus to explore, yet barely examines any of it. From day one Tree sticks to a primarily linear path, only occasionally diverting to another setting and/or different character (such as the father-daughter dinner scene). Take, for example, the Asian sorority member Tree originally snubs. I expected to see such character fleshed out more, perhaps have a day where she and Tree hang out and get to know each other. Yet all that ends up happening is Tree begins smiling and waving at her while passing by, nothing else. A whole bunch of wasted opportunities if you ask me.
Happy Death Day’s biggest weakness is its connection to Groundhog Day. The older time loop film is just too good at highlighting its successor’s faults and deficiencies. When viewed on its own right, however, Happy Death Day still succeeds as a fun popcorn flick with good dark-comedy and an entertaining reconstruction of the opening kill girl stereotype. I can also confidently write that Happy Death Day is a far superior film compared to 2017’s other time loop film Before I Fall, which is flat out bad.
