Skilful slasher a real scream
Happy Death Day (15)
As concepts for a horror movie go, Groundhog Day-meets-Scream is up there with the most tantalising in recent years.
That’s the enticing premise served up by Happy Death Day as Jessica Rothe’s teenager Tree Gelbman must endure the worst birthday ever; reliving the day of her murder at the hands of a masked killer over and over again.
Director Christopher Landon’s previous two genre efforts – Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse and Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones – left a lot to be desired, but the Californian shows a surer hand behind the camera this time around.
Working from a script from Scott Lobdell – whose only previous big screen work was on little-seen 2005 comedy Man of the House – Landon has created a nasty-but-fun little horror that doesn’t reinvent the wheel but delivers a healthy dose of scares and giggles.
If blood and gore is your thing, though, then best hold off until Jigsaw’s return to cinemas this weekend as Happy Death Day concentrates more on mystery than mayhem.
There are more suspects than even Hercule Poirot could cope with as Tree’s ex-boyfriend Tim (Caleb Spillyards), roommate Lori (Ruby Modine) and professor Gregory (Charles Aitken), along with in-custody serial killer Joseph Tombs (Rob Mello), are among those in the frame for her multiple murder.
This is mostly down to Tree starting out as an odious character whose done wrong to virtually everyone she’s come into contact with; a concept that could have left you willing her to get killed in all sorts of different ways.
Thankfully, Rothe (La La Land) evolves as her character becomes more terrified and infuriated and takes solving the mystery of her death by the horns to finish up as a scream queen worthy of comparison with some of horror’s best.
However, while Groundhog Day and even the similarly-themed sci-fi Edge of Tomorrow made good use of its recurring day theme, and never made it outstay its welcome by keeping things fresh, Landon and Lobdell struggle to fill the 95-minute running time.
Certain scenes belong on the cutting room floor and the slasher flick tropes are overused to the point of parody.
Landon’s most clever filming device is to surprise the viewer by shooting previously seen locations and props from different angles, meaning an ability to shock and surprise even the most prepared cinemagoer.
The killer him/herself, however, could’ve done with a creepier mask; the baby face get-up won’t be remembered in the same breath as Michael Myers, Jason or Ghostface’s iconic looks.
If you prefer Hallowe’en chills to thrills then there are much scarier offerings to watch through your fingers than Happy Death Day.
But if fresh, fierce fun and left-turns are more up your Elm Street, then this is definitely the horror film for you.