Happy Death Day

A horror spin on Groundhog Day, Happy Death Day follows superficial college student Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) as she’s forced to live the day of her murder over and over again. It’s an intriguing yet thoroughly familiar premise that is, for the most part, employed within the context of a fairly run-of-the-mill slasher, as filmmaker Christopher Landon, working from a script by Scott Lobdell, delivers a narrative that’s rife with precisely the sort of elements one expects from a PG-13 production (including bloodless kill sequences and a raft of somewhat one-dimensional characters). There’s nevertheless little doubt that Happy Death Day, though saddled with a few lulls here and there, manages to keep the viewer entertained throughout its appropriately brief running time, with the movie befitting substantially from a periodic emphasis on far-more-clever-than-anticipated sequences (eg a fun montage of Tree investigating various suspects and subsequently dying). It’s equally clear, though, that the limitations of the premise pave the way for a fairly repetitive midsection, and yet it’s hard to deny that one’s patience is ultimately rewarded with a prolonged but fun (and surprising) final stretch – which does confirm the film’s place as a decent effort that hits more than it misses.

**1/2 out of ****