Happy Death Day (2017)

A college student must relive the day of her murder over and over again, in a loop that will end only when she discovers her killer's identity.

Director:

Christopher Landon

Writer:

Scott Lobdell

Stars:

Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jessica Rothe	...	Tree Gelbman
Israel Broussard	...	Carter Davis
Ruby Modine	...	Lori Spengler
Charles Aitken	...	Gregory Butler
Laura Clifton	...	Stephanie Butler
Jason Bayle	...	David Gelbman
Rob Mello	...	John Tombs
Rachel Matthews	...	Danielle Bouseman
Ramsey Anderson	...	Keith Lumbly
Brady Lewis	...	Frat Brother
Phi Vu	...	Ryan Phan
Tenea Intriago	...	Student Protester
Blaine Kern III	...	Nick Sims
Cariella Smith	...	Becky Shepard
Jimmy Gonzales	...	Police Officer

Storyline

A teenage girl, trying to enjoy her birthday, soon realizes that this is her final one. That is, if she can figure out who her killer is. She must relive that day, over and over again, dying in a different way each time. Can she solve her own murder?

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Plot Keywords:

stabbed to death | trapped in a time loop | time loop | slasher flick | parking garage | 

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Taglines:

How will you die?

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence/terror, crude sexual content, language, some drug material and partial nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene where Tree walks through the campus quad naked had to be done quickly, given that it was being filmed on an active college campus, this presented the risk of students witnessing the scene being filmed and/or taking photos. The crew took extreme precautions to clear away any potential onlookers. In the end, they managed to do just 2-3 takes.

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Goofs

When the newsflash about John Tombs is first shown, Tomb's first name is shown on the television as Joseph.

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Quotes

[after erasing the names of Nick, Tim and Stephanie from the suspect list, Tree checks on Danielle. They walk together, chatting]
Danielle Bouseman: So exhausting...
[someone bumps into Danielle, making her drop her books]
Danielle Bouseman: Asshole!
[Tree bends to pick Danielle's books. Suddenly she noticed a birthday card among the books, similar to the one she received. Thinking incorrectly that Danielle is the murderer, Tree looks at her murderously]
Tree Gelbman: You bitch!
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Rather than "The End", the film concludes with the quote "Today is the first day of the rest of your life".

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Connections

References Repo Man (1984)

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Soundtracks

Confident
Written by Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Ilya Salmanzadeh (as Ilya), Demi Lovato
Performed by Demi Lovato
Courtesy of Hollywood Records, Inc. & Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.

User Reviews

Expect the unexpected, and then expect the expected, and then the unexpected again

I saw a pre-screening of Happy Death Day and let me tell you, it was one of the most fun theater experiences I've had. The movie doesn't take itself too seriously, which is definitely for the best. If anyone walks into a movie about a sorority girl living the same day over and over and being killed over and over and expects it to be some genre-defying horror perfection, that's on them.

However, that doesn't mean this is a bad movie by any means. Jessica Rothe as Tree Gelbman and Israel Broussard as Carter Davis are fantastic as the two leads. They have excellent chemistry and make us root for them. Rothe's character wasn't the typical horror movie sorority girl, either. She was cunning and badass. She made us believe she could actually figure this mess out. If you don't change your mind on who the killer is at least twice throughout the film, you aren't paying attention.

There are curveballs thrown left and right, which made my theater gasp and yell numerous times. You think the movie is about to end on at least two different occasions. The script is smart, there's horror, there's comedy, there's drama. Happy Death Day takes you in numerous directions, while also making sure you have fun along the way. This is definitely one of my all-time favorite campy horror flicks out there. It even pokes fun at Groundhog Day, which it very clearly took some inspiration from. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys horror; again, it doesn't redefine the genre and there are definitely an abundance of clichés. With that, though, there are still a handful of clever moments I certainly was not expecting.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Instagram

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 October 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Half to Death

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$26,039,025, 15 October 2017

Gross USA:

$55,683,845

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$125,479,266

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Digital Riot Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1