'Happy Death Day' REVIEW: A fun, fun, fun mix of Groundhog Day and Scream heightened by a br

'Happy Death Day' is brought to us by Christopher Langdon, the director who brought us "horror" films such as Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015). I put horror in quotations because those films weren't scary all, in fact they were garbage as horror films. But, I was thirsty this month for a new release of a horror film and this is the one I decided to watch first. I initially wasn't expecting to watch this, but I wanted to see it anyway due to having an interesting concept that's similar to the film Groundhog Day (1993). Initially I wasn't expecting much from this film. It looked cheap, poorly acted and tame especially with its PG-13 rating. After walking out, I actually had a good time.

The plot of Happy Death Day revolves around a bitchy college girl named Tree (played by Jessica Rothe) and on the night of her birthday she gets killed by someone in a baby face mask. Every time she gets killed she relives the day over and over again and soon this becomes a mystery of who's the killer so that she can get out of this time loop.

The only word that I can say to describe most of the movie's run time is fun. This is a perfectly solid Halloween flick, but it is elevated due to a marvelous, charming and charismatic break-out performance from Jessica Rothe. She carries most of this movie by her shoulders and actually is pretty funny at times. Like I said before, this film does have a similar premise of Groundhog day, but what I like about that film does apply here. The arc that the main lead goes through is satisfying. She grows from an unlikable girl to being a more kind person by the end through this whole experience. As typical with a modern day horror flick it does utilize jump scares to get a reaction from the audience, but luckily they're not used falsely. There are times (especially in the first act) where we as the audience are introduced to the potential suspects and they do come out from nowhere and thank god there's not loud booming music when they appear. I like the design of the killer as well. I could see that creepy and dirty baby face mask potentially being the next Michael Myers mask from Halloween (1978) or the Hockey mask from Friday the 13th franchise.

This film isn't perfect, but I wouldn't say that it was great either. This film suffers from a lot a tonal shifts from a cheeky college film to a slasher fest. It felt as if there were two different directors each doing their own part of the film and stitched them together. The main problem that I do have with the film is the same problem that I have with a film that has a plot like this: The reason why the day repeats itself is never explained. Why this day? Why this person? What makes the repetition stop? These are questions that I wished were more answered with a film like this. The film that I think is the best and actually does provide an explanation is Edge of Tomorrow (2014). Even though it was a complicated explanation in that film, I was just glad that there was a reason at all and this film doesn't do it. But, I do get it that being given the answer does reduce the fun of the film and in the end it goes on its merry way. The biggest mistake that I this film does make is that it markets itself as a slasher horror film. I actually would highly recommend that you don't go see this as a horror film, but a mystery thriller. The tonal shifts does ruin the scare factor of this film most of the time.

In the end, this film isn't special. It is there to be fun and I did indeed have a fun time. It was darkly funny, thrilling and it was much better than anticipated for me. You should go to this film as a mystery thriller NOT as a horror film. Believe me, you will be disappointed expecting to be 'scared' by this film. I wish the explanation to why the repeated day happens was there, but I do let it flow through. Jessica Rothe makes this film much better than it is and I expect to see her in more films soon.

'Happy Death Day' gets a B