Movie review: Happy Death Day

Lavinia Huang, Editor

In the midst of Halloween season, this is the movie to watch. Happy Death Day is a roller coaster of suspense and thrill that will leave you guessing to the last minute. If you’ve seen Groundhog Day and Scream, this film is the perfect mixture between the two. Director, Christopher B. Landon (wrote screenplay for the Paranormal Activity series 2-5 and Disturbia) delivers another box-office blockbuster for horror production company, Blumhouse Productions.

The movie starts out with Theresa “Tree” Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), a stuck up college girl, waking up in Carter Davis’ (Israel Broussard) dorm room on her !8th birthday after a night of partying too hard. She ignores a phone call from her father and is bluntly rude to everyone that approaches her including a guy who seems interested in her, her sorority sisters, and her nurse roommate. It is revealed later in the day that she is having an affair with her professor who also is a doctor at the university hospital. While walking to her surprise party that night, she is ambushed and killed by a masked slasher only to wake up again and relive the same horrific day. She quickly learns what is happening to her and attempts to compile a list of suspects but realizes she has mistreated so many people. As she endeavors to find her killer, she is murdered each day from failure.

Tree comes to realize the person that she has become is not one that she is proud of and is determined to change her ways. The movie gives an underlying message that each day you can fail but you can always get up and try harder. The jump-in-your-seat scares coupled with your usual appealing teen romance makes this a popular selection for teenagers alike.

“It was a pretty good movie because even though I knew she was going to die and wake up again, it was still full of anticipation and I wanted to see if I got the killer right,” said Lisa Mei ‘18.

“This was one of the better movies I’ve seen. The movie kept me engaged and like how Tree’s character changes throughout the movie to get the ending she deserved,” said Kristin Reid ‘19.

Overall, I suggest you grab a friend to see this edge-of-your-seat thriller before it’s out of theaters and take a guess for yourself from the trailer… WHODUNIT??