Happy Death Day (2017) - Review

Happy Death Day (2017).  Starring Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, and Ruby Modine.

Two stars.

So after a four-year hiatus, I've returned to my legions of what was once ten fans (albeit probably zero at this juncture).  Since I quit writing the last time, horror has delved into a weird state of being.  I don't really understand what is happening with the genre.  We went from full-on torture porn and virus zombie flicks to pseudo psychological horror films and more lame-ass Paranormal Activity entries.  The ratio of a decent horror film to swill is equivalent to finding a pearl inside a giant cowpie. To find anything worth watching, one has to sift through the endless vacuum of streaming services.  Some sites, like Shudder or Screambox, have cornered the market somewhat.  However, tedium still ensues from perusing the endless tiles of movies streamed to you via MP4.  The theatrical releases were already bad circa 2014, and this doesn't seem to have changed for better or worse.  Among other things, it seems like Hollyweird has less originality than before, which I couldn't have fathomed to be possible.

So now we come to this movie, which features sorority sisters and a killer running around on campus, all of which are stuck in a 24-hour time loop.  Some people call it Groundhog Day mixed with Scream, but I think it's more mixed with Sorority Row, the awful 2009 remake and not the semi-watchable original from the 1980s.  This film centers around a girl named Tree Gelbman (Rothe), your typical alpha-bitch type female that has been commonplace in many genres besides horror since the late 90s.  She treats people like crap, including anyone from her roommate (who remembers birthday by getting her a cupcake) to her estranged father.  She ends up being stalked and murdered by the eponymous killer after leaving a party. The killer is wearing a mask that's reminiscent of the one worn by the killer from 2001's Valentine.

To add the the confusion for Tree,   she wakes up and relives the day.  So, the movie is Bill Murray waking up to obnoxious morning DJs, only this time it involves going through the motions and get killed by a maniac on a daily basis.  I was intrigued when I first saw the trailer for this movie.  It's an interesting take to say the least.  The problem is that the characters in this movie are either bland or so unlikable that I couldn't care less what happened to them. Not to mention the identity of the killer is so obvious that it's hard to sit through the last half-hour of the film. 

Happy Death Day gets the extra star for good cinematography, sub-par acting and good special effects.  Beyond that, it's a giant bore.  The sequel is due in theaters February 2019.