Happy Death Day [DVD]

My son and I are big horror buffs. He's seen most of my favorites before he was 8. He bugged me for like a year to watch this. I kept putting it off because I HATE groundhog's day movies. With a passion. The repetitiveness and predictability drive me nuts. Same with slasher flicks - not a fan. I assumed this movie would be predictable, repetitive, and focus more on gore than plot.I've never been so happy to be so wrong about a movie in my life. I finally caved and very begrudgingly bought this (it was only a couple dollars cheaper to rent) to watch with my son.By 5 or 10 minutes in, my attitude was softening. At least it was fun and there was great banter. Probably by the 30 minute mark I was already in love with the movie. It's not terribly repetitive, the characters are easy to love and the plot was engaging and different. There were a couple minor plot holes that were easily ignored, and overall I was in love. The story is interesting, inventive, and scary enough to call itself a horror with some epic deaths. It was a fun ride with just the perfect amount of comic relief.I was very reluctant at first, but in the end I loved this so much we bought the sequel and watched it the next night. You probably will too!

good whodunnit

This is one of those films that you look at the cover, and think this is going to be pretty lame, same old crap. But then you watch it and it knocks your socks off and takes you by total surprise. If you are a true horror fan, and are judging this movie by its cover, buy it, buy it, buy it totally original, and interesting movie to add to your collection I repeat its not what you think. Only true horror fans will get what I just meant by that. This movie actually reminds me of another recent movie, not because its similar in style, not by a long shot, but because of the statement it made when it came out IE THE BEST HORROR FILM OF THE 21ST CENTURY, and then fell flat on its face, what is that movie, oh I can't remember , oh yes DON'T BREATHE. In the cat and mouse style of horror genre, this one however HITS THE MARK, 1. THE MOST ORIGINAL PLOT I HAVE SEEN IN YEARS, IN FACT THIS IS A FIRST OF ITS KIND. 2. KEEPS YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT AND THE SCARES AND QUESTIONS AND PLOT TWISTS COME A MILE A MINUTE. 3. THE MOST ORIGINAL CAT AND MOUSE HORROR STORY IN YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's all I am going to say, to good of a movie to give anything away. For the true fans out there and to pay homage to that other movie I talked about all I can say is don't make a sequel, don't make a new movie, JUST, DON'T BREATHE, HAPPY DEATH DAY. Enjoy

I guess when you throw enough things against the wall eventually at least one is going to be good.This movie is surprisingly clever and fun. Don't get me wrong, it has it's flaws, but it overcomes most of them and ends up being a fun ride.The mystery is well done. Its unfortunate these days movies are so bad most of the time the movie actually convinces you it's going to be one of those for just a minute. Then it goes... just kidding that's dumb this is the reality. When it does you feel good the movie didn't do that dumb thing.Anyway, the acting is solid. The lead, Jessica Rothe, does a pretty admirable job here. I'm not going to say she nails it, but over the course of the movie her performance improves and you can tell she put in the work. Other actors take note: this is what it looks like when someone is trying to develop a character over the course of a film. Even if the character choices are disjointed, and at times don't make sense you can still tell she took this seriously enough.The writing is all over the place for me. At times the movie is really funny- especially at the end- but most of the time it's not really funny at all. At other times I think the movie is trying to be scary. Unfortunately, for being a murder mystery of sorts it shows no death, no blood, no gore, nothing like that. So it never leans into any of the angles it appears to be trying to go for. This may be my biggest complaint with the movie. If you want the movie to be funny then lean into that more. If you want it to be scary, or gory, or whatever lean into it. Don't stop right at the door. It makes the movie feel confused which weakens the story. I'm not even entirely convinced all the comedy was intentional. Especially the death of a certain someone who falls out a second story window. I'm not sure exactly how that would splatter anyone let alone kill them. Sure, it would be bad, you'd definitely need a hospital, but I don't think you'd die let alone splatter all over the pavement. It's an incredibly funny scene, but I'm not totally sure it was supposed to be.Anyway, I only mildly spoiled that because this movie has been out for a while now. It's not that big of a spoiler so don't worry. You still won't get it until you see the movie. The movie is a mystery and that part is in tact for you and the movie does that part very well. Not only is it a well written mystery it's also intriguing enough to follow along so you enjoy trying to guess where it's going or solve the mystery along with the characters. This is an integral part of any mystery, and 95% of mysteries fail to capture this which could be why there are so few mystery films anymore. Intentional or not, though, this movie nails it.Overall this movie is a lot of fun and shows a competence that I am surprised to see, but this is one of those movies that proves letting a filmmaker try something new- even if they trip at times- you can find interesting and fun ideas to explore that are worth going along with. It's also another example of good casting makes a movie.Anyway, I definitely recommend this movie. If it isn't already I suspect this one will be a cult classic. It has that appeal to me although I really wish it wasn't so aggressively trying to be about death and literally never show any real death at all. PG13 is the death of creative expression.

Badass movie had me guessing the whole time and had a great amount to comedy to it

This is a great movie and very entertaining. The actors did a great job. As others have commented, it is a mix of Groundhog Day and Friday the 13th. The gore is actually hardly there which helps one enjoy the character development more. The star does a wonderful job showing her development from an unlikable person to someone that can be loved and admired. Along the way, there are some humerous scenes and some poigniant ones. I highly recommend this movie and its sequel: Happy Death Day 2. The sequal actually adds to and improves on the story and is just a much fun.