Tree is apparently the child of hippies, cause who else would name their kid Tree?
But seriously… Tree is a popular and all around unpleasant sorority girl. On her birthday, she wakes up in the room of some random guy. She storms out and has a generally annoying day that culminates in her murder by a masked killer (the mask is the school mascot… which is a pretty creepy choice for a school to make).
She wakes up to the same day, confused as events repeat themselves…including the masked killer murdering her. She then wakes up and realizes it is the same day. As she pieces it together, she tries to figure out why, but decides she has to solve her murder.
Of course, the problem is, Tree is just a jerk, she has a lot of suspects to work her way through.
To be blunt…and the film admits this outright…it is basically Groundhog’s Day, but with a serial killer. And it really…well, works.
The film starts adding progressive stakes, forcing Tree to face the fact that she may, in fact, not survive the experience. And this causes her to look inward and not like the person she sees. While Bill Murray’s Phil decides to use his time loop to woo Rita, Tree looks at the bigger picture. And I think this is something the film does pretty well. Jessica Rothe does a convincing job of showing tangible change in Tree’s personality. The gimmick feels pretty fresh, even though it is clearly lifted from a very specific film.
Happy Death Day is a fun horror film that I think even folks who don’t care for slashers might enjoy.
Phil is a jaded weather man who really hates his job. When he is paired up with producer Rita and forced to go produce a segment on the famous Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil to see if he sees his shadow…well, Phil ain’t happy. He is annoyed by Rita’s bubbly personality. He is annoyed by the townspeople. He is annoyed by his lodging conditions. Phil is bitter and cynical.
Haley is somewhat estranged from her parents, but when her father is unresponsive to calls from her and her sister in the face of an impending hurricane, she drives into the storm to find him. When she finds him wounded in a crawlspace beneath the home, she discovers they are trapped by alligators. As water fills the crawl space they struggle to find a way out.
Kumail Nanjiani is the titular Stu. Stu is a…uh… studious guy. He works to thankless job, and is helping a woman he is in love with start her own business. Meanwhile, Dave Bautista is the reckless and angry cop Vic. Vic is dedicated to catching the cop killing drug dealer Oka Tedjo. But on the day he gets eye surgery, he finds out that he only has hours to find Oka.
And so here we are at Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film (Apparently Death Proof does not count?). A pretty loving homage to the Hollywood of the 60’s, Tarantino weaves a tale of fading actor Rick Dalton and his best friend Cliff Booth and their place in it all. Cliff is less bothered, content to help out his friend and then spend the evening sitting in front the TV with his dog. But after a meeting with producer Marvin Schwarz, Rick is realizing he is becoming…well obsolete…and it scares him.
The writing is both the cleverness we expect from Tarantino matched with compelling characters (there is a bit of a question if Cliff is maybe a darker guy, but the film leaves the door open on just how dark). I would say the weakest link in the main characters is Robbie’s Sharon Tate. Not because Robbie is a bad actress. She is charming and kind as Tate. There is a sequence where we see Robbie express insecurity turning to joy as she watches a movie she is in with an audience. Robbie sells this moment. But she feels so incidental to the story for much of the time.
After the massive epic that was Avengers Endgame, a smaller story to actually close stuff off may seem like an odd choice. And yet? Well, it may have been what was needed.