The Wesleyan Argus | Grief, Murder and Time Loops: The Strangely Poignant Themes of “Happy Death Day”

This review contains spoilers for Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2U.

It's birthday time, Wesleyan. 9 of The 10 most common birthdays take place this month. I'm sure most of us know at least three or four people who celebrate their birth in September, and every weekend brings with it a series of other birthday foreplays, parties and picnics. Yesterday was someone's birthday, tomorrow will be too and the day after that and again and again and so on and so forth. You could say it almost feels like the days are repeating themselves.

As I sat in my wooden frame on the hill, mindlessly scrolling through the seemingly endless streaming options, a vision flashed through my mind. It was Jessica Rothe's character Tree in the hit film Happy Death Day 2U (2019) – a sequel to what I can only hope becomes a cult classic: Happy Death Day (2017). I saw a scene so clearly that was burned into the foundation stones of my mind: Tree shouts at her ex-boyfriend that he's gay before marching onstunned the poor trunk speechless.

Dear readers, I am a simple man. I know when God sends me a sign. That was all I needed to cue up the first “Happy Death Day” and press play. As the Universal logo repeated three times before playing in its entirety, I settled in to rewatch one of my favorite films.

If you haven't seen Happy Death Day yet, I'll give you a rundown. The film follows Tree (short for Teresa) on her birthday – Monday, September 18, 2017 – as we are introduced to her life at Bayfield University. She's mean to the man who took care of her the night before (Carter, played by Israel Broussard), she sleeps with her married professor, and she's all around inconsiderate and selfish. She even throws away a homemade cupcake that her roommate Lori (Ruby Modine) gives her, sarcastically saying that it contains too many carbs.

Baum is not likeable. She's superficial, unfriendly, and condescending, and you almost wish someone would do something about it. Luckily, your wish will come true! On the way to a party that evening, a murderer with a baby face mask stabs her in the head and kills her. Short film, right?

But suddenly she wakes up again and everything is exactly as before. She's in Carter's room, she wanders home, throws away Lori's cupcake, goes to sleep with her professor – it's all the same. This really confuses her, but when the baby-faced killer takes her out, she wakes up and it's the same day for the third time.

The rest of the film is devoted to her attempt to break this cycle of death – with some extremely comical results – and in the end we learn that the murderer all along was… Lori! She gave her a poisoned cupcake and chased her down to kill her for sleeping with the professor (not because it was bad or wrong, but because Lori wanted to sleep with him instead).

It's a hilarious thriller, but also something deeper. Every Groundhog Day-style narrative includes some sort of theme of a protagonist confronting his imperfections, improving on them, and becoming a better person; This film is no different. In the end, Tree learned to appreciate other people much more, to think beyond herself, and to behave less selfishly.

But that wasn't what her arc was about at all. Or at least not directly. You see, one reason Tree was so mean and bitter, especially on her birthday, is because she shared it with her recently deceased mother. Now every year she is overcome with grief over the loss of her mother, and instead of facing it, she represses everything. She ignores her father, with whom she is supposed to have lunch, because she cannot bear the pain of an empty seat at the table. She's built up such a strong protective shell that now every day just feels… the same.

Oh, that's a metaphor, who knew?

What I find interesting about this film is that while the problem is with Tree, it's not that she's an inherently bad person who needs to improve; Rather, she is a wounded person who needs to heal. She has to make room in her life for people like her father or Carter (whom she ends up dating) and allow herself to feel the joy of love even when it comes with the pain of grief.

I can't even begin to talk about the second film here – long story short, the loop starts over, except now she's been thrown into a parallel universe where her mother lives, and she has to choose one, to return to a parallel universe world without leaving her mother or subjecting an alternate version of herself to this life. And she also screams: “YOU’RE GAY!” at her ex.

I cannot recommend Happy Death Day enough, dear reader. As Halloween season begins and birthday season comes to a close, this is the perfect time to head to Peacock and watch the movie. Whether it's your birthday, your friends' birthday or your campus colleague's birthday, celebrate the right way. Maybe you'll learn something about yourself as you watch this poor girl get massacred over and over again. I know I really did.

Sam Hilton can be reached at [email protected].