What if you had to relive the same day over and over and over again? Sounds a bit like a rehash of “Groundhog Day,” right? Well, what if it were your birthday on repeat? That ought to make things marginally more compelling. Okay, now what if I told you there was one last teensy little quirk: at the end of each go around you get to be gruesomely murdered, stuck in the loop until you figure out the who and the why? Ah, now that’s a fresh, disturbing gimmick with a bit more oomph!
That nightmarish twist on the time-loop trope is the premise for “Happy Death Day,” Universal Pictures’ upcoming horror-thriller starring Jessica Rothe. You might have seen Rothe last year playing a minor role in a little-known flick called “La La Land.”
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In “Happy Death Day,” Rothe plays a young college student. And she’s joined by Israel Broussard, who plays her friend also known for his role in Sofia Coppola’s“The Bling Ring” as well as a recent stint on AMC’s “Fear The Walking Dead.” Rounding out the starring cast is Ruby Modine, who had a recurring role as Sierra in the seventh season of SHOWTIME’s hit show “Shameless.”
“Happy Death Day” was directed by Christopher B. Landon, best known for his work on the ‘Paranormal Activity’ series, for which he wrote the second-through-fourth installments before writing and directing the fifth, “Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones.” Landon co-wrote “Happy Death Day” with comic-book-writer-turned-screenwriter Scott Lobdell. While Lobdell is a relative newcomer to both screenwriting and to horror, Landon certainly makes up for it with his experience in the genre, as evidenced by his writing credits on the 2007 thriller “Disturbia” as well as the 2015 horror-comedy “Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse.”
“Happy Death Day” hits theaters October 13th, which, as you might expect, is a Friday. Watch the trailer and let us know what you think.