154.
Happy Death Day
6/10
Continuing with the Halloween theme for the month and proof that I am real behind with the reviews, Happy Death Day is going to give us a horror, with a little comedy, that seems like something I have seen before. I couldn't quite put my finger on it at the beginning but as the day drew on, it finally came back to me. I really wasn't expecting too much after viewing the trailer and all I knew was that a girl constantly wakes up on her birthday, to be killed by a masked assailant, over and over and over again. Will she find out who this person is and more importantly, survive until the end of the day. This could be a birthday to forget.
As the opening credits hit, the Universal logo that we have become accustomed to, repeats itself twice, before the whole motion happens as normal, highlighting the time loop that we are about to witness. The movie beings, just as the trailer did, with a hungover Teresa, waking up in a dorm room of schoolmate Carter. He phones goes off, ringing a song about a birthday, yet in the trailer it was 50 Cent 'In Da Club'. No idea why that changed last minute. As she gathers her things, another guy walks in ready to ask if Carter had slept with the girl, to all of their embarrassment and 'Tree' quickly exits. On her way out of the room, she runs into a girl wants signatures for a petition, a guy falling asleep during his pledge, a car alarm, people getting socked by sprinklers and finally a guy called Tim, who she never returned a text to. She finally gets back to her friend questioning where she had been and once in her room, her roommate, Lori, presents her with a little cupcake and candle for her birthday. She blows out the candle and throws the cake in the bin, mainly because she can't be doing with extra carbs. So far, this girl seems like a right bitch and fair enough for someone having enough of her shit. Tree goes to class, late and instantly gets spotted by the lecturer before the scene turns to the both of them in her office, clearly in a relationship, even though this guy is married. They even almost get caught by his wife, who I think is a bit suspicious too. Before she entered the offices though, she bumps into Lori who claims she knows why she is there in the first place. She knows what is going on. Tree goes to join her sorority sisters for lunch and we can see where the bitchiness comes from as the lead sister, Danielle, pulls up one of the girls for eating junk food. The girl eating, Becky, gets up and bumps into Carter, causing a milkshake to fall onto Tree. Carter is there to return a necklace that Tree had left at him and she is clearly embarrassed because she pulls him aside quickly to hide what has happened.
The movie moves on to the night and Tree is in her room being invited to a party but she is clearly not that into it. In the end, she makes her own way there, walking through the campus grounds alone and coming across a gang of drunken guys wearing the school's sports colours. The team is nicknamed the babies and at the back of the group is one lad wearing a baby mask, the one which we seen the murderer wear in the trailer. As she carries on, she heads under a bridge where she finds a random music box playing. She goes to pick it up and sees the guy wearing the mask standing there silent and after the threat of calling the cops, the person runs. Starting to leave, she is then chased by the person until being caught and stabbed to death. This start our cycle because she wakes up once again in the dorm, dazed and confused but putting it all down to a dream and deja vu. She doesn't through the cupcake this time and things take a slight change as she warns Becky about the bump this time but is still covered in shake. Tree heads to the party once more and as she enters, all she sees is that baby mask again, so lets out a punch to the jaw, only to find out that it is Danielle's boyfriend and the party is her surprise birthday one. Nick is a little gutted with the punch and the party is soon in full swing. Nick clearly has a shine for Tree and hints at them going upstairs, which Danielle gets wind of and is visually pissed off. Up in the room, Nick messes about with the mask once more and Tree isn't too happy. He turns a switch and the room turns into a mini disco, music blaring and spotlights swinging. She turns her back on him and in the background, the murderer emerges from a closet to stab Nick to death. She turns back around and still thinks it's Nick before she realises that he is on the floor and there is a struggle for her escape. Tree gets a text from Danielle about going up to the room with Nick and accusing her of it happening before and the night ends with the killer putting a broken bong piece through her chest. First instincts and a pure guess leads me to it being the lecturer she has been hooking up with.
Again, Tree wakes up in Carter's but with a lot more screaming this time. She runs out of the room to see all of the things that I have already listed once before. She runs to her room and tells Lori that she thinks someone is after her and once she has calmed down, she decides to take the day off to relax. She locks herself away, boards up the doors and windows but the TV keeps turning itself on and off, before the killer emerges from the curtains and stabs her once again. After going through everything again, she finally comes clean to Carter, who takes it surprisingly well, considering. H suggests that they write a list of who the killer could be and he suggests that it may be someone targeting her because it is her birthday, but means everyone is a suspect because everyone would be at the party for her that night. On the other hand, she has an unlimited amount of chances to find out who her killer is. There is then a montage of her constantly dying as she tries to work through the list of suspects. First is the guy who she didn't return a text to and she finds him watching gay porn. Next comes Stephanie, but she spots here elsewhere, moments before the killer drowns her. Danielle is up next, but she ends up killing herself after a short fight and an incoming bus ends the sequence. She crosses off the names and then suspects Gregory, the lecturer. She heads to the hospital where he works and gets x-rays, to which he is astonished that she is alive due to the evidence of many traumatic accidents. She gets out of bed as he goes to get her a drink and heads to his office to search his draws. In there, she finds the baby mask! I'm right! Feeling a sense of accomplishment, I'm intrigued to how this plays out. That's until the killer turns up and kills Gregory anyway. Tree makes it to the parking lot and finds Gregory's car, making a break of it and driving in excitement, she finally feels that she has escaped. That's until she gets pulled over by the cops for speeding. She lies and says that she is drunk, knowing that she will be locked up for the night. When she is cuffed and put into the back of the police car, another car speeds past and completely takes out the cop. The killed gets out and the first thing I notice is that this person is wearing gloves. Now to me, a massive part of covering every part of the skin up, is to not show the colour. There is really only one, maybe two people with a different skin colour in this movie and the main one is the roommate. That's where my suspicions are now. The crash has caused a leak from the side fuel tank and the killer drops a lit birthday candle into the leak, causing a fire, which spreads to the car and blows it up.
Yet again, Tree wakes up in the same place and this time takes Carter with her, showing him all of the mini events that will take place as she leaves campus. She is getting worried that she is running out of lives and also mentions the fact of her phone ringing in the morning is her dad, who she avoids at this time of year. It's because her mum had passed away three years earlier and she shared a birthday with her. Moments later, on TV they notice a bulletin about a well-known killer, Joseph Tombs, who preys on younger girls. Figuring out that he is the killer, she can now finally stop him. The pair go to the hospital, where he is strapped up in a bed but as they arrive, they notice that he has already escaped and killed the guard. Tree grabs a fire axe and tries to run from Tombs as he makes himself appear from the shadows. He kills Carter and then turns his attention to the blonde. She manages to get him to the ground and is ready to end it, that's until she realises that in doing so, Carter will remain dead, so instead, she kills herself with a jump from the clock tower. She promises this killer that she will be back for him soon. This time, the loop has started with a renewed energy and Tree is ready for it this time around. She warns everyone about the little mishaps on campus, the sprinklers and tells Gregory that she is calling things off because he is married. She gets a full tray of junk food and sits with the girls and although Danielle tries to send her away, she pours the milkshake on top of her instead. Carter returns the necklace and she kisses him in front of her sorority sisters. She even invites him over that night for her birthday. This time she is confident that she will survive. Tree's next step is to meet up with her Dad. She admits that it has been hard since her Mum passed and the two finally share a laugh and lighten the mood.
The movie is now drawing to a close I think. Tree turns up at the hospital and holds the guard at knife point, taking his gun and telling him to go for back up. She walks into the room and points the gun at Tombs, who has actually been pretending to sleep. He is untied and shoots out of bed. She tries to shoot him but forgets about the safety on the gun, which gives him the chance to attack her and brutally slams her against a wall. Tree then remembers that a brief, rolling black out happens every loop and she uses it to her advantage, escaping Tomb's line of site. She appears back behind him, with the safety off this time and plants a few bullets into his chest. Tree and Carter spend the night together and she finally gets to eat that cupcake before her birthday is over. She blows out the candle and makes a wish. But shit, that's not the end! She wakes up in Carter's once more, angry and confused as to how this is still the loop. She runs back to her room and Lori is there once more with the cupcake. She tells her that she ate it last night and finally, it has hit her. She died in her sleep, which means the cupcake was poisoned all along. She didn't eat it before so she never died from it. That's why she never realised that Lori was the killer all along. Boom! I was right the second time around! Lori works at the hospital and was able to set Tombs free each night. She even finds the mask in Lori's desk all before asking Lori to eat the cake to prove there is nothing wrong with it. Lori finally comes clean and it's all because of jealousy and a guy she likes, likes Tree more. For God's sake! Shit motive. The two start fighting, as Danielle is outside the room, shouting at the two for the noise. Tree grabs the cake and shoves it into Lori's mouth before jumping up to grab the lights on the ceiling, swinging and kicking the bitch out of the window. Dead as disco.
Tree and Carter are back at a diner, watching the whole news report on TV, with Danielle loving the limelight. Tree wakes up the next morning to the same ringtone again, Carter in the same position, with the same dialogue... surely not? Tree starts to freak out but Carter is just pranking her. That's probably the most savage prank I have ever seen. Brilliant. She has made it to the next day and finally, the film can draw to a close.
This was a little more fun for a horror film at this time of year. It wasn't a gory one, nor did it contain massive amounts of violence. Each kill was quick and not dragged out. The main focus was the storyline as to find out who the killer was more than anything else. Although I got it wrong the first time, I was pretty pleased with getting the killer right the second time around. I hadn't seen anyone in this film, in anything else before and the casting was pretty decent. I do love a good twist and the film keep you guessing at all times, especially the prank at the end, which truly made me think that the loop was still going. The repetition didn't spoil the film at all and I had enjoyed that kind of style before in Live, Die, Repeat, which kind of used the same storyline in order to carry the film, with many possible outcomes on its way. Viewers shouldn't go into this movie expecting too much. It's a good laugh at times and nothing too imaginative but it does do the job for some entertainment. With some decent editing and is pretty fresh from the other constant slashing on offer at Halloween.
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