Everyone at the university dreamed of going to her birthday party, but the holiday was hopelessly spoiled by a stranger in a mask that killed the birthday girl. However, fate has presented the birthday girl a chilling gift – an infinite supply of lives. And now the girl has a chance to find her killer, because this day will happen again and again.

4k movies reviews
The volume of films produced by Blumhouse Productions continues to surprise fans of the genre for a year in a row. Through the efforts of producer Jason Bloom we have seen such remarkable pictures as ‘Paranormal phenomenon’, ‘Astral’, ‘Judgment Night’ and several dozen other pictures, which could not boast large budgets, but managed to make a path to the heart of the audience thanks to the well-crafted script, confident directing and a good acting. Of course, with time it became harder for Bloom to release consistently high quality projects with great distribution prospects, and his filmography began to drown in mediocre creations intended mainly for home viewing, but nevertheless, for a dozen pictures produced by Blumhouse Productions there is at least one tape, worthy of attention. To Blum’s credit, he is not afraid to experiment, primarily investing in talented people prowling for recognition. And sometimes he does manage to sidestep annoying pitfalls and give audiences an actually worthwhile work of fiction that will enjoy considerable popularity. Another such project was ‘Happy Death Day’, another inventive work which came to the screens thanks to Jason Bloom and showed that, despite the discontent of skeptics, slasher is able to develop and sometimes give us serious surprises.

So, the plot of the film introduces us to the attractive student Tri Gelbman (Jessica Roth), whose life is very hard to be called exemplary. The girl does not mind drinking alcohol, instead of studying she is ready to go to the first available party, and promiscuous sexual relations have long been the norm for her. And nothing suggested that Tri would try to change herself and finally admit that her behavior had nothing to do with morality. Nevertheless, some people do get a chance at redemption for all their transgressions, but in Tri’s case, her moment of truth comes in a somewhat unexpected format. On the heroine’s birthday, when she should be distracted from all her sorrows, an extraordinary incident occurs. An unknown man in a child’s mask sneaks into Tri’s room and stabs her, after which the victim dies… However, the story really only begins there, as the heroine comes back to life after her death and relives her nightmarish birthday. Realizing that she is caught in a kind of time loop, Three tries to learn lessons from what happened and understand how to stop the faceless killer, who always comes to her with a knife in his hands. And the more similar days the heroine experiences, the clearer she begins to understand who she was just recently and why she needs to change, which becomes, perhaps, the most important lesson of all that she has ever had to experience.

Happy Death Day was, for director and screenwriter Christopher Landon, the atonement for a multitude of cinematic sins to which he was directly involved. Jason Bloom’s longtime comrade and colleague became famous for writing the synopsis for several ‘Paranormal Activity’ sequels, and although they all paid off at the box office, critics were merciless about Landon’s work. He himself was not afraid to sit in the chair of one of the spin-offs of the series, known as ‘The Devil’s Mark’, and it is worth admitting that his enthusiasm proved entirely unrequited as audiences for the main ‘Paranormal Phenomenon’ blew the artistic qualities of the spin-off to smithereens. Nevertheless, with the support of Bloom, who sensed in some creators a solid core, waiting for the right hour to prove themselves, Landon was able to recover from creative adversity and deliver the comedy horror ‘Scouts vs. Zombies’, which showed exactly in what direction to move. As a playwright of serious genre films Landon looked unconvincing, but he was fine with self-irony. And just because of this, he was the best candidate to direct Happy Death Day from a long list of Jason Bloom, never lacking directors.

Getting to work on the picture, Landon properly painted the image of the title character, which is brilliantly embodied on the set of Jessica Roth. The director did not hurry, approaching the development of her story consistently and thoroughly. So viewers have to be patient while waiting for the main temporal attraction, and get to know Tri Gelbman properly enough to kind of hate her. Putting such a repulsive person at the center of the narrative, the creators were obliged to make a complete revision of her image, in order to then transform the girl into a completely different person. For this, Christopher Landon had every opportunity, because producer Jason Bloom, as usual, does not mind giving the producers the necessary credit. Especially since the production budget of Happy Death Day was within acceptable limits. Thus, our introduction to Three will be challenging, but really fascinating. We will have to get used to her defiant behavior and unflattering actions. But all this torment will be completely justified with just one stab, after which the established course of events will change forever and a whole different chapter will begin, filled with solid conclusions from all that Tri has had to endure on her endless birthday.

The role in “Happy Death Day” was one of the most important for Jessica Roth in her career, as she was able to realize her full potential and get out of the horde of supporting characters, which had become dangerously numerous. Inviting an adult actress to the role of a young student, the filmmakers knew what they were doing, because Roth still has a fresh, sweet appearance and has proved that she is up to the most different roles. And even those that she has supposedly long outgrown. She manages to show a surprisingly authentic image of an average bitch from a sorority, and while watching it, there is no doubt that Three is bound to get her portion of the brutal punishment. But it’s much more interesting to watch as the girl begins her rebirth and suddenly realizes that she hasn’t really had anything worthwhile in her life. Few people enjoy facing the realization of their own worthlessness with their foreheads, but Jessica Roth’s heroine was able to endure the ordeal with dignity. At the same time, even in the most difficult moments of confrontation with herself, the maniac and time, Three does not miss the opportunity to let off an effective joke or become the head of a hilarious comedy sketch, neatly woven into the storyline.

Such an unconventional approach to the work of the creators has led to the fact that “Happy Death Day” is very difficult to attribute to the traditional horror movies coming out under the auspices of Jason Bloom. Such a circumstance evokes extremely positive emotions, because some studios have not yet forgotten how to take risky steps in the name of art. Of course, like any other successful producer, Bloom is eager to increase the return on his projects, but still, he is not averse to going against expectations, giving us charming surprises, among which “Happy Day of Death” is far from lagging behind.

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (85.0 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles
English SDH.