Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Happy Death Day Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 16, 2018

The movie begins with a nifty looping Universal logo that offers a cleverly enjoyable tonal hint for the movie to come, which is basically a Slasher movie version of Groundhog Day. Of course Director Christopher B. Landon’s (Scout's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse) Happy Death Day lacks the comic genius, the touching emotional content, the burgeoning love story, the memorable moments, and the hilarious side characters that have made that Bill Murray film an indelible classic and its story, moments, and lines part of not only the language of cinema but everyday lexicon. But Happy Death Day is certainly a solid enough movie given the premise. It’s an enjoyable time killer, fairly novel despite clashing together two disparate but very familiar motifs, but it does struggle to maintain momentum and avoid various pacing pitfalls and plot perils for the duration.

Tree (Jessica Rothe) is a typical college student, attractive and not without abundant opportunities to make a name for herself in the bedroom. She's sleeping with one of her professors, may have slept with a random boy, has been on a date with a third individual, and isn't above sleeping with other guys at a party. But her day, which just so happens to be her birthday, is about to get a lot more strange than waking up in a random dorm room. On the night of her big day, she's murdered, stabbed to death by an individual in a weird mask. She awakens the next morning in the same dorm room and, again that night, is killed by the same masked perpetrator. The cycle repeats, with the same set-up each and every morning. But as she comes to realize what is happening and becomes armed with foreknowledge and the memories of her repeat days, she takes the opportunity to track down her killer's identity and perhaps even right a few wrongs and find the best in herself and those who treat her well through her looping nightmarish ordeal.

Happy Death Day’s opening moments serve as a set-up for the usual time loop movie barrage of memorable moments that will become familiar calling cards each and every time Tree loops back to the beginning of her birthday. Waking up in an unfamiliar dorm room, disgusted by an off-handed comment by said room’s occupant’s friend, approached by a global warming activist, witness to sprinklers soaking a couple on the lawn, hearing a car alarm blaring, and watching a gaggle of students singing the bottles of beer song all serve as rapid-fire calling cards that, yes, she’s experiencing it all again. The film progresses through various clashing-genre tropes, having fun with both the opportunity to time loop on and around a college campus while also playing up the chance for the killer to cut down Tree in any number of ways. Fortunately she’s not just stabbed to death every time. The film finds various opportunities for her demise to come in unexpected ways that all feel familiar but, with the movie’s playful tone and wide-eyed embrace of genre cliché, most of it works even if the end result is usually always the same.

The premise allows the film to maneuver through any number of kill sequences with comic diversity but genre repetition. It works to a point, but the repetition does grow a little repetitive, with a predictable string of events that unfold as she grows from fear to frustration, from frustration to fun, from fun to finished with the idea of waking in the morning and dying at some point during her day. Tree does eventually take the opportunity to better herself and the small world around her, to find the best in herself and her situation as well as the people around her, though she’s certainly not above ruining the days of a few other people along the way. But most of the movie is just noise. Characters are little more than story facilitators, individuals who play a necessary role in furthering Tree’s understanding of what’s happening or give her someone to take her frustrations out on as the need arises. The killer’s identity doesn’t come as a serious shock; the film misses an opportunity to make it someone more dramatically worthwhile and the reason more fluid and filling, but again the movie banks, and by-and-large thrives, on its genre hybrid approach that offers fans of one or the other, or both, a safe space little romp through a clever idea that’s fairly, but not perfectly, executed.

Happy Death Day Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The digitally photographed Happy Death Day looks just fine on Blu-ray, though it never really excels or stands apart in any way. Details can be a little smooth; skin textures lack the absolute complexity of many higher end productions shot on digital, a recent example being Marshall that parlayed its digital source into a much firmer, more organically detailed picture. Still, essential textures are fine, clarity around the campus (whether in a dorm room or out in the open) is strong, and basic textural finesse is available in agreeable quantities on clothes and various other objects. Colors are fine, pleasantly vibrant in the daylight, holding their own in warmer and low light. There's a satisfying vitality and depth to green grasses, for instance, while various examples of attire, such as one headphone-wearing girl's pink clothes or Tree's red heels, displaying organically punchy colors. Flesh tones appear accurate and black levels are enjoyably deep and true during nighttime exterior shots. Light noise pops in during low-light scenes but most other maladies are kept in check; light aliasing is visible on a building façade during the opening shot and again as the same shot is recycled later in the picture. Otherwise, this one's good to go.

Happy Death Day Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Happy Death Day celebrates its big Blu day with a killer DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is intense and dynamic, large and never afraid to push its limits and dazzle with intensity and clarity to match. Exceptionally strong thumping party music showers the stage with toe-tapping beats in chapter six, while an overlaid Pop song vigorously supports a montage in chapter 10, both delivering healthy bass and plenty of stage-stretching width and depth. Tree's mental break partway through the movie, walking through campus in a daze as the reality of her situation sets in, is defined with not only psychedelic imagery but a barrage of unkempt but perfectly fluid and weird sound elements, altered from those same sounds that have defined several scenes prior to maximize the sensation that she's losing control. The track offers a handful of perfectly positioned and uniquely imaged effects, notably an audio hospital page hanging off to the right side early in the film. Supportive atmospherics are pleasantly filling throughout, and dialogue is always clear and commanding of the stage, well prioritized and naturally lifelike. The track is large and enjoyable, often coming across as having more channels and greater coverage than its 5.1 configuration.

Happy Death Day Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Happy Death Day contains deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and a trio of featurettes. DVD and digital copies are included with purchase.

• Alternate Ending (1080p, 2:21).
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 9:22 total runtime): Cupcakes and Killers, You Killed Me!, and Tree's Final Walk of Shame.
• Worst Birthday Ever! (1080p, 3:14): A quick run through the core plot details, storytelling challenges, shooting techniques, performances, and Christopher Landon's direction.
• Behind the Mask: The Suspects (1080p, 3:15): A look at how the film keeps the audience guessing re: the identity of Tree's killer.
• The Many Deaths of Tree (1080p, 1:34): A death scene compilation.

Happy Death Day Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Happy Death Day is as happy-go-lucky as a Slasher film can be. It doesn't take itself all that seriously, instead opting to have fun with the concept and enjoy the opportunity to settle into cliché with a wink and a nod. The picture boasts serviceable performances but becomes mired in the repetition; the last thirty minutes or so are a drag and the killer's identity and motivations aren't particularly memorable, but the overall experience is a net positive. Universal's Blu-ray features strong video, high-end audio, and a few extras. Recommended.