Happy Death Day

Now, you all know I love me some horror flicks with the slasher subgenre being my favorite.  The films of yore, showing masked maniacs terrorizing teenagers and being defeated at the end by the survivor of the film (yet never truly dying) only to come back in a sequel is very nostalgic to me and something we haven’t seen lately in theatric horror movie releases. 

 

Don’t misunderstand me, there are quite a lot of horror films in the past ten or fifteen years that have been captivating and entertaining.  But I’ve just missed that age of cinema where we’d get a slasher flick here and there that was just pure fun and terrifyingly engrossing.  Nowadays, we’re just treated to so many haunted tales, like The Conjuring, Insidious, and Annabelle, leaving “Chucky” and “The Creeper” to scare audiences only in direct-to-disc releases.

 

There’s just something about a masked-killer-movie that gets the blood pumping and gives the audience that point of mystery—especially if the killer is never revealed, only to be resurrected in a follow-up film.

 

And that’s what I had expected when I first caught a trailer for the 2017 film, Happy Death Day.  Seeing the killer stalking around with a butcher knife and wearing a baby-faced mask seemed all too perfect.  Add to that, the story seemed to take on a Groundhog Day vibe, where the focal point of the film must relive her demise over and over again…the film seemed to be the faultless amalgamation in making a slasher for the 21^st century.  I was interested—yet, not that interested to go out and see it in the theater—and when it was available on Netflix, I gave it a looksee.

 

But before I get into my view of the film, here’s the synopsis of Happy Death day…

 

After a night of hard partying and heavy drinking, self-centered college student, Tree (Jessica Rothe), wakes up on the morning of her birthday with a serious hangover in the dorm of a guy—Carter (Israel Broussard)—whom his name she can’t remember.  Within the course of the day, Tree is murdered by some unknown masked assailant and wakes up to start the day all over again.  Tree then realizes she’s re-experiencing the day of her murder—always restarting with her waking up in the same dorm with the same situations—and will end only when she discovers her killer’s identity.

 

 

What I liked about the film, without a doubt, was the look of the masked killer.  I guess you can put any type of mask on someone and if they don’t speak and just leer at their victim, they’ll seem just as disturbing.  Although my opinion of having the film reveal who was wearing the mask the whole time was that they should’ve chosen not to do so, but the twist that was worked into the end more than made up for it.

 

What I didn’t like about the film was the matchup of Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard as Tree and Carter.  It worked at first only because Rothe’s character was a despicable person who was easy to hate and when she treats Broussard’s character like crap, it was easy to take in.  However, once she took a liking to him and saw that he cared about her, there didn’t seem to be enough chemistry between them.  The scenes they shared at that point were awkward and unnatural.  Luckily, those scenes were very few so it didn’t take you out of the film as much.  Another aspect of the film I thought was wrong to include was Tree’s relationship with her father and how she makes amends with him during the second act.  It felt out of place and seemed to be taken out of a Hallmark or Lifetime channel movie.  The actors tried to convey their strained-relationship-turned-loving interaction, but just like the rapport between Tree and Carter, it seemed artificial. 

 

Alone, though, Jessica Rothe seems to really take hold of this part and plays it very naturally, especially the spoiled and bitter college sorority girl.  In fact, she plays the part so well, it makes it hard to believe that she could change her ways near the end of this film.  At first, she looked familiar, yet I really don’t recognize her from anything else.  Looking at her IMDb list of productions, however, she has a list of about 33 acting parts—but nothing I’d ever seen.

 

The same goes for Israel Broussard, I kept thinking he looked familiar and all through the movie I kept racking my brain as to where I’d seen him before.  Glancing through his résumé on IMDb didn’t help much because there was nothing there I’d seen…and it finally hit me—he just reminded me of Hayden Christensen.  Perfectly cast as this good kid who decided not to take advantage of the hot girl who he let stay in his dorm room, there was no believable kismet about them when it comes to this flick.

 

Happy Death Day was directed by Christopher Landon and although he hasn’t directed a slough of films, he’s actually helmed a couple of flicks that had surprised me.  In 2014, he directed the Paranormal Activity spinoff, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and the following year had him overseeing the very entertaining Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.  I can’t say that Landon did anything special with this film, nor can I say he was able to bring out the best in these actors, but the shots were set up nicely and I really couldn’t complain about anything regarding the direction of the film.  Writing credit goes to Scott Lobdell and his claim to fame is being the writer of a number of X-Men comic book titles in the 90s.  Besides writing the comedic film Man of the House back in 2005, this is probably his biggest theatrical film that he has a credit for writing.  Together, these guys really didn’t knock it out of the park, but it was a solid effort.

 

Even though the plot is similar to Groundhog Day--so you really can’t give the story the recognition for being original—there is one supplement to the plot that I thought was a unique twist to the whole living-out-your-day-over-and-over idea, and that is the little subplot on how the repeated murdering of Tree is taking a toll on her physically.  At one point, she passes out and ends up in the ER where the doctor tells her the x-rays show scar tissue and damage from the trauma her body had withstood from the murders she had suffered through.  I thought that was a nice touch…though it went nowhere from there after that.

 

So…what’s my final “bit” on Happy Death Day?

 

Aside from borrowing the framework of Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day, the film works with that aspect of the main character living the same day over and over again, especially bringing in the mystery of this killer always getting to her no matter what course she takes in the day.  But, then again, that’s the downfall of the story because it gives a sense of the supernatural that no matter what happens or what the main character does, this killer always kills her.  Though this aspect kept me rooted in my seat and having me wait for the reasoning behind this, when we find out, it really doesn’t make sense.  If you can suspend disbelief in that facet of the film, it’s still enjoyable throughout the first half.  However, interjecting the strained relationship with the father brings the story to a full halt and really changes the style of the film to a lighthearted drama—something that really shouldn’t be in a horror movie.  All in all, the film is entertaining enough, but don’t expect it to be remembered for years to come.

 

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The Open House

Netflix has had a string of hits within their series of original films, from their television series like “House of Cards” and “Stranger Things” to the movies like “Gerald’s Game” and “War Machine.”  With so many films to choose from and so many series to get into, you can literally spend days to months binging on these presentations and becoming a closed-in recluse as you do so.

 

Of course, I tend to gravitate to anything horror—especially if it’s a Stephen King adaptation—so when I saw this new Netflix Original called The Open House, I immediately sat down to watch it.

 

It actually caught my attention in an online article that listed the “horror movies that’ll blow you away in 2018” and had this flick near the top.  It even showcased its trailer, which I indulged myself in, and I was very impressed with it, so my curiosity was piqued.  However, as an oddity to all this, with my decision to watch this film, I also checked the IMDb page to look into the production a bit more and noticed right away that the film had an average user rating of 3.3 out of 10.  I say that’s an rarity because I usually won’t even start watching a film unless I see it has a 5 or more in IMDb.  But I was enticed and wanted to see for myself how this movie would pan out.

 

So, before getting into it, here’s the synopsis of The Open House…

 

Teenager, Logan Wallace (Dylan Minnette), and his mother, Naomi (Piercey Dalton), find themselves on their own after Logan’s father (Aaron Abrams) is ran down and killed by a car speeding through the parking lot of a convenience store.  With Logan and his mother left destitute, they decide to take the offer of Naomi’s sister, Allison (Katie Walder), to stay in her house temporarily while it’s in the market to be sold.  As the house is open for potential buyers during the day, Logan and his mother are besieged by a threatening force during the dark hours of night.  Is it a supernatural being?  Is it a malevolent individual hiding in the house?  Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to want them there.

 

Now, this movie starts off pretty well and I think the writing and directing team of Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote had some good intentions going into this.  The backstory on the two central characters are described well enough to give you an understanding on their life and how their situation comes to be, moving it to the psychological thriller portion of the film.  It definitely strings you along as we see Logan and his mom experience some very weird incidents in the house—banging in the basement, the water heater being shut off, doors slamming closed behind a character…all your typical horror movie tropes are thrown in there for good measure and are used well.  Even at that point, we get some good scares and setup, evolving the story into some paranormal insinuation, so I can’t fault the two directors on their ability on putting together a film that sucks you in.

 

The problem with this film is how completely unsatisfying it is when it ends, where so many plot points are unresolved and the answer to the main question—Who is this person responsible for everything?—never materializes.  Seems like they wrote themselves into a corner with all the little indications of other characters that appeared enigmatic, but couldn’t come up with a resultant ending to them all.

 

As I’d mentioned, Matt Angel and Suzanne Cootes were the writing and directing team behind this.  Angel has had a nice career in acting, playing bit parts here and there (he actually plays the younger cop in this film), but his directing résumé consists of two films—a film called Ha/lf and The Open House.  Suzanne Cootes, however, has had even less experience.  She’s credited as a writer for two films, a director for two films, and a producer for two films—Welcome Home, Lee and The Open House.  Now, I’m all for giving someone a chance to climb that ladder in the movie business because everyone has to start somewhere, but you’ve got to knock it out of the park or give a little something more than this.  Who knows?  Maybe it was Netflix studio interference or a lack of money for filming…it could be anything out of their power.  But the sum of it all falls here in what we see on screen…and it ain’t much.

 

I’ve got to admit, the film kept me watching, I was never bored or felt like turning off the show, waiting it out until the end.  But it left a bad taste in my mouth to wait an hour and a half to get no answer to the questions raised throughout the story.  Don’t get me wrong, I know there have been a lot of films throughout the years that use the formula of a masked killer that is never revealed, but that formula usually doesn’t include other cryptic individuals that are hinted as maybe being possible culprits.  If they were going for a vibe like The Strangers, then they shouldn’t have written these other characters in as suspects, they should’ve started with how Logan and his mom were thrown into this situation and became targeted by someone who just wanted to randomly target them, much like the movie Hush, which is a very good thriller.

 

The two biggest characters that are shown in this film that makes us think they have something to do with the strange occurrences in the house?  Martha (Patricia Bethune) and Chris (Sharif Atkins).

 

Martha—seemingly a neighbor who resides nearby, but is never shown where she lives—is the biggest question mark, showing up at strange times during the film and saying something at one time only to be contradicted later.  She was purposely written to be a candidate for the unknown terrorist of the film, but is simply cast off at the end.

 

Chris—the local store clerk who tries to befriend Logan’s mom—is another character who seems a little off.  He appears at awkward times throughout the film, even showing up at the house to see if he can look through it as he claims to be a potential buyer only to disappear without saying a word.  The character’s inclusion as one of the suspects isn’t as bad since we see his full arc of the film.

 

Of course, there’s even the hint that all the activity in the house may be on the paranormal side, seeing that Logan has visions of his dad in the house and the song that he happened to be listening to at the time of his father’s death is played by the mystery man as a way to taunt Logan.

 

I think I’ve said enough about this movie…my final bit on The Open House?

 

The story, as a whole, seems to be one big setup that does not pay off whatsoever.  We seem to have a whole lot of red herrings in this film that all come to be nothing at all.  All of this is given to us while strange occurrences are happening in the house, but nothing is paid off for us.  The problem is that the suggestion we’re given throughout the film is that one of the red herrings is responsible for the targeting of the main characters…but I guess we’ll never find out…I doubt there’s a sequel being made for this dud.  My suggestion?  Try watching any of the other good titles on Netflix and make sure to check the average rating on IMDb…I should’ve trusted it more.

 

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