Another Cliche Horror Movie?

A Review of ‘Happy Death Day’

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Natalie Sangnam ’19 said that she is not willing to spend her money to watch “Happy Death Day.”

The renowned indie-horror production company Blumhouse (producers of ‘Get Out,’ ‘Paranormal Activity,’ and ‘The Purge’) released another horror film on Friday, October the 13th, 2017: “Happy Death Day.” Depicting a bratty sorority girl facing an endless loop of her birthday over and over again, this movie may seem like a derivative plot. However, the viewer learns that the girl relives each day only to be stabbed by a mysterious figure each night. This figure, whose face is shielded by a creepy baby face mask, has a new method of murdering the girl every day. The movie becomes suspenseful when the viewer learns that the girl is stuck in this miserable cycle, until she figures out who her killer is.

In light of Halloween coming up, this movie is great to watch with your friends, significant other, or even family members who appreciate the horror genre. It’s not only scary, but it has several humorous parts. This playful spirit of characters lightens the tense environment that it usually present in the movie theatre featuring a horror film. In order to see if other students in this school were willing to watch the movie, I gave them a quick synopsis, and asked for their initial impressions. Here is what they said:

“I would definitely watch it. It seems scary and is a good transition to the Halloween spirit,” said Mahdi Tanzim ’19. “Horror movies are great. I’ve watched a bunch, and I want to watch this one, too.” Although Mahdi seems very excited for the release of the film, others aren’t. “It seems very unoriginal and cliche. I’ve read a lot of stories and watched a lot of movies where a person relives a cycle of the same day, over and over again. I wouldn’t watch it, because it’s not worth my time or money,” said Natale Sangnam ’19.

“I would definitely watch it. It seems scary and is a good transition to the Halloween spirit.”

Although there are continuous debates if the movie is worth the money, it is definitely true that the movie has a huge plot twist. This makes the movie worth the time, especially if you are watching it with a friend. After watching this movie, I was quite spooked. I was not able to go to bed in the dark without imagining a nine foot giant with a evil baby creeping towards me. However, this movie would definitely not be on my list of ‘Top 10 Scariest Movies.’ I have definitely watched bone-chilling movies such as ‘The Conjuring,’ ‘Annabelle,’ ‘Babadook,’ ‘Insidious,’ and ‘Dead Silence.’ In comparison, this movie was unoriginal and repetitive.