Happy Death Day is a rare film that blends slasher horror, mystery, and comedy into a well-acted fun film that feels pretty standard or forgettable at first, but stays with you as a fun party movie or hangout movie.
Jessica Rothe portrays Teresa Gelbman, or Tree, as she awakes in an unknown dorm room after a night of heavy drinking and partying. Carter, played by Israel Broussard, brought her here last night, and helps her out before she storms out of the building. Throughout the day, she continues to mean and rude to others, until she is ultimately murdered at night by someone in black with a Baby mask of the school's mascot.
Teresa wakes up in the morning again, the same dorm room with Carter. She continues throughout the day as everything had happened before. By the end of the day, she changes her actions to avoid the situation that led to her death. But, she's murdered again in a different way by the same person.
Thus, the mystery and suspense continues in sometimes unexpected ways as Teresa stumbles into various death scenarios to ultimately find her killer.
Since 2019, I've been using this film in my 1st year Expression classes. This was actually the first film I decided to use, too. Despite being a horror film, it is PG-13. There's no blood or nudity, so it's a very school friendly film, besides the idea of suicide. Here are the full course contents.
Jessica Rothe is also really great in the film. She puts in all of her efforts in each of her scenes to bring out feelings of tension and mystery. Her acting is very expressive which makes it easy for students to understand her thoughts and feelings without necessarily understanding what is said. Broussard does a pretty good job with this, too, and complements Rothe together as Tree and Carter.
Another reason that I really like the film is the overall journey Teresa takes from beginning to end. Throughout her adventure, she's able to examine her life and understand how terrible she's been to others. By the end, she's changed into a better person.
As the class ends, I mention to students that people often go through life working on one thing to the next without truly examining their life. It's important to think about the kind of person you really want to be, and think about what you can do for yourself and others around you to accomplish your goals and their goals, too.
You can view the whole list of course contents on the course page. After watching portions of the film, I have questions for students to answer about the contents. Or, we'll watch a particular scene again and again for listening. For questions, we'll watch the film with English subtitles. For listening, there are no subtitles. Sections of listening are often followed by double-checking the meaning of the dialogue.
The main fun of the course are the performance tests. Two students will make a pair and perform dialogue together. The full grading criteria is on the course page. Grading for the performance test is based on the correctness of the spoken dialogue, the expressiveness, and also cooperation between both members because acting isn't something done alone.
The first performance scene is about 25 minutes in the film between Tree and Lori. Tree has already been killed twice, so she confesses to Lori about what's going on and how she feels. Lori doesn't believe her. In the scene, one student is Tree, and one student is Lori. While performing the dialogue, they should correctly show these emotions through their voice, body movements, and facial movements.
The second performance test is way more intense. After dying 5 or 6 times, Tree is sent to hospital. The killer is there, too, but Tree escapes in Gregory's car. She's then pulled over and arrested on an empty highway. She thought she had gotten away, but the killer catches up with her and confronts her in the back of the police car. Through frustration, fear, and confusion, she snaps at the killer. "What do you want? Why are you doing this? Who are you?"
This is the performance. One student stands over the other, and Teresa says these words with passion and emotion. Then, they switch roles. I think it's easy for students to understand her frustration and fear, but students should really try to push their voices to match the emotion. Not too loud, though.
The final performance is the opposite. After realizing her terrible behavior and how she has treated her father, Teresa finally meets him at the restaurant and apologizes. She holds his hands, and whole heartedly says, "I'm sorry" and "I love you."
In a pair, one student is Teresa and the other is the father. They hold hands, and one student expresses these words to the other. This isn't so easy to do. Eye Contact is important. Also, students should try to think of their own parents to correctly express their feelings. Pairs with friends or same gender is usually best for this.
Maybe it's not too difficult to figure out the identity of killer. Halfway through the class, I have students write down their thoughts of killer and write out two reasons why they think so. Some of them already have the right idea.
Spoilers, it's her roommate, Lori. I think their motive makes sense, and the opportunities for her to commit the murders makes sense. Some people online aren't so convinced and complain about it, but the movie doesn't take itself so seriously that everything has to make total sense.
There is an alternate ending where Gregory's wife, Stephanie, is the killer. I think her motive makes more sense, but her opportunities do not. Perhaps Stephanie and Lori working together would be best.
Either way, I feel like Happy Death Day never really got its chance to shine. Nobody really talks about this movie enough.
There is a sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, but the hard turn from horror into science fiction and a further lean into comedy, which is often too slapstick, probably turned off its audience. A third movie to complete the trilogy is set up at the end, but it was never given the green light. 2U came out in 2019, so the pandemic also helped killed the three-qual.
Both movies together are pretty fun, and definitely recommended.