Happy Death Day (2017)

Nobody likes Mondays

By: JWBM

This is a tale about a normal day that turns deadly for a young, carefree college gal. For anyone else, they would be resting peacefully in the afterlife with an extra hole or two in their previous body. Though there comes the catch. She gets a reset: body back to normal; mind not the same. From there on out, that day—that initially started out like any other mundane Monday—turns into a battle to escape this recurring daymare.

"Happy Death Day" is not set up to be grab-my-heart scary, but instead plays out as fun and energetic. It's like a gateway film for someone who doesn't outright like the kind of horror that keeps you up at night, but doesn't mind a safe mix of mystery and suspense to take the reins. The film has a tendency to flirt with different tones throughout, whether that be light jokes, horseplay, or even venturing to light drama about reconciling. It's not a comedy like "Shaun of the Dead," but it's also not in league with balls-to-the-wall horror such as "Martyrs." It finds its home somewhere in a comfortable, don't-worry-about-the doors-being-unlocked middle ground. It's a well-packed feature that dabbles in the heres and theres without overly concentrating or being outright outstanding in either.

When this isn't being a homage to late '90s slashers with an emotionless, unwavering killer on the
loose with a memorable mask, the other side of this horror tale is a mystery. It uses the backdrop of "Groundhog Day" to replay clues to pick up on. This will make some repeating moments instantly annoying, while others—that are initially overlooked—turn out to be significant pieces to the story. It gives an element of attention to the film that would have otherwise just been a pretty girl being chased by a homely killer. The lead character, Tree—played by Jessica Rothe—does a decent job at carrying the many emotional shifts and turns this film takes the viewer through. She starts out as self-centered and unlikable—from signature eye rolls and sarcasm—to growing and adapting to the experience. It's very much a reactionary movie. One of those root-for-the-character films: the kind you could talk over and yell at the screen with a few rowdy friends.

"Happy Death Day" is an amusing, shameless movie that may get watched once and lost to the yesteryear. But that's the point. This is a slick Hollywood horror film that has all of the bells and whistles without bringing anything necessarily new to the table. The locations and shots are mostly on point. There's no grit or outright savage moments like you'd see in a typical pulse-pounding slasher. One scene easily and gracefully flows to the next. The movie is mostly safe, and you can count on it to be consistent throughout. There's a glaring formula, yes, but a formula that feels tight and worked through. If you're looking for something new that's more playful than it is challenging, this might be up your alley.

Rating: 6.5/10

Director: Christopher Landon ("Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse")
Actors: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews
Info: IMDB
Trailer: Youtube

Red Hook (2009)

Can't stay locked away forever

This is a modern day slasher about a girl named Jenny Traylor who had an older sister that was brutally killed when she was younger in front of her. Now as a young adult she's rigid and untrusting, which results in a share of awkward moments when she changes scenery from North Carolina to the fast moving university campus in New York City. Everyone's either a snob, overeager or a prankster with little in between until she meets a down-to-Earth guy named Gavin. He invites her to a small scavenger hunt held by the persistent resident advisor Tim but then fails to show up while her roommate Angela and others she's getting to know arrive--though with me-or-you competition in their sights. The participants have to find an object from clues sent to their phones via "Red Hook," then snap a picture and send it back to get another all before midnight for a grand prize. Eventually another kind of sport is made out of the game when the bodies start to rack up from Jenny's past coming back to haunt her or something else.

After seeing the sister bumped off, this turns somewhat light as if nothing out of the ordinary is going to happen. Though this plays the part a little too much as if it's just the latest, derivative dramedy pilot about one girl's growing pains. Time was spent showing the character's lives on the surface but it still comes off as mundane: Jenny can't find a seat in the lunchroom, her new neighbors pull pranks on her, her roommate is one moment nosey but then the next needs space to perfect her acting chops. This is no "Carrie" in college, that's for sure. The major driving point is about Jenny being afraid to go outside because her sister was killed after running out the door of their home to get away. Something doesn't chime about that as it was such a random, unprovoked attack as to seem a fluke and not something that could be repeated again...until now of course. "Red Hook" presents a far-fetched world where psychos grow on trees and are sent out into the world as an innutritious pang in your stomach. It's like the filmmakers only studied other films by coping their villains and situations instead of starting from the ground up.

To get a momentary reaction the film leaves gaping holes with more questions than answers, which ultimately gives it zero replay value. It tries to be sneaky with its story to keep one from guessing anything outright but the issue is it's to the point of not being able to follow around activities on most of its characters as a few are potential suspects till it gets revealed which one it was at the end. Not to mention the death scenes are delivered quickly and abruptly with no build up prior due to little being shed on what's going to happen. One scene of someone stabbed years ago foreshadows everything that's to come? By the time it gets to the bloodshed the audience long forgot which genre they were watching. Up to a certain point there doesn't seem to be any real danger to fear apart from one character having a general anxiety disorder that appears to come and go. The horror feels oddly misplaced once the bodies start to pile up as even the scavengers are lead to believe it's a joke since one aspect feels only loosely tied with the next. It amounts to a lack of tension and little anticipation past a certain point. The clues they're sent to find are hardly a challenge: most are uncaring employees at businesses who take the scavenger's pictures next to the objects that have little significance to do with anything and feel like padding in between. Maybe if it was an equal part cat and mouse game where the clues could have potentially prevented a death, it could have redeemed itself and made to be more engaging.

There are a share of characters and not enough time to concentrate on them all. As a result, the amount of room for their performances only reaches a middling point with little that stands out as exceptional since they're just caricatures of regular, hip college students: some jerks, some quirky and some you can befriend. The only piece that might have stood out here is the scavenger hunt gimmick, or possibly some unique deaths to make this memorable, but the finale of it all was so over-the-top as to lose the audience with eye rolls and double checks on watches to see how much time they've wasted for something that looked a big bang but only came with little backing power.

Rating: 2.5/10

From Black to Red recommends instead: "April Fool's Day": This '80s slasher came out with a unique concept that keeps one guessing.

Director: Elizabeth Lucas (Clear Blue Tuesday)
Stars: Christina Brucato, Tate Ellington, Bryan Fenkart, Terrence Mann
Link: IMDB

Blood Ties (2009)

Overeager students, shady faculty and a masked killer in the midst

Back in '85, a reporter named Michael Archer and his significant other were heinously killed. He uncovered a scandal that accused a football coach at Hollow's Pointe University named De Luca and a quarterback named Jake "The Snake" for the Red Devils for accepting a bribe from a rival school to throw the game. Eighteen murders and twenty something years later, a group of students decide to write a paper surrounding the subject to four staff member's panic who still work at the school. They're trying to figure out how to silence the students that made the connection when one of the shady staff gets brutally slain after hours at the school. The group of youngsters put their lives at risk to investigate further, as well as the remaining staff try to stop the slayings in order to save face from their past involvement that's resurfacing. Yep, no one here are police advocates, because their egos might just be bigger than the killer's blade.


"Blood Ties" was no doubt made by a couple of diehard, aspiring movie nerds that are probably so wrapped up in celluloid that the brightest light they've seen in years is the stage light shining down on their locked away set. The result is a pure cinema invention so far gone from the real world that it feels about as overly coincidental and far fetched to be a Scooby Doo like story for adults. Depending how easy you are, it still comes with a quicker pacing and, apart from some confusing plot twists, a share is laid out to do the work for you. These amateur students are brighter than detectives that have been at it for twenty years and connect dots in a short amount of time like it was a cakewalk between their rambunctious partying and jokes.

The performers have moments of being over-the-top and exaggerated and it's hard to say if they're just badly acting or it's on purpose--possibly both--to get an instant reaction from a viewer than a gradual one that will grow. Jason Carter is the most believable of the bunch as their British accented professor named Fredericks who taught them the ropes but is now their rival in the ring. The story feels like it combines parts of an episode of a soap opera murder mystery, a generic slasher, a softcore porno and a trendy National Lampoons movie into one. The tone feels all over the place: one moment cartoonishly surreal, raunchy with sexual references and drugs, the next serious with melodrama and danger, or be it sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek. The filmmakers show they have an array of potential for future projects but it feels like they tried to make several movies at the same time without always being tuned in as to how to put them together cohesively so the audience could get some breathing room and move at the same time as it's speeding by them.


This has a lot of personality but it feels like one too many inside jokes that aren't always enough for outsiders to fully enjoy what's so funny, cool or exciting. Maybe on the third time or with a cast member to shed some light from coming on too hard and too fast the first go. Some are obvious, such as "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" rivalries, but still feel too random and misplaced regardless. A frat party where a guy does magic tricks that converts money and makes a girl's top disappear, had to do with what again? Or just little odd comments and banter that seem to come out of nowhere. Their brand of humor feels like a YouTube video with an actual budget that's more for long time friends and family of the participants that would get them more than a newcomer.

I can see where "Blood Ties" was going: to give a little pep before they get to the usual darker elements, but the late transition over doesn't always make this tension filled, shocking or scary, not to mention the audience could really care less when the characters get knocked off because they were just pure and simple entertainment monkeys prior to switching over tones. After going through the filmmakers channel surfing for the first half, it narrows down to a more serious and steadier picture as shown in the trailer--definitely misrepresented before that--where upstarting ambitions, built up reputations, tarnished pasts and the innocent and guilty have their lives hanging in the balance from an omnipresent homicidal maniac with a mask and superhuman strength. Some answers come about with an over-the-top explanation while others are brushed under the rug for brevity's sake. It includes an ambiguous finale that seems more a sacrifice for getting your senses riled in the direct moment rather than lining up 100%.




Rating: 3.5/10

Director: Nathaniel Nose (Talent)
Link: IMDB

Kill Theory (2009)

Human beings used as pieces on a madman's board game

A man is in a mental institution serving out a sentence from cutting his own three friends off a rope to save himself when climbing. After time served a doctor puts him on a temporary release program to see how he adapts back into society. Yep, he's ready...he immediately turns over what happened to him onto a group of others to see if they would make a similar decision. Meanwhile eight friends about to graduate college are celebrating in a remote cabin with drinks and a carefree time. After the party wagon winds down and everyone goes to bed, one of the women is forced on camera by an assailant to point a gun at her sleeping boyfriend and shoot or else she dies. The object of the game is to make a decision to take someone else's life to save your own. If 6 AM comes around and one person is alive, then they go free. If not, they all die. They soon find out that the maniac hiding outside holds their lives in the palm of his hand and attempts to pit them against each other. They show distrust, cave-in on themselves from mounting pressure and indecision, and also form alliances all the while finding out who was really their friend or loved one due to the diabolical set of circumstances they suddenly found themselves in. They probably weren't the most prime examples of a set of normal people who have it in them to commit violence as opposed to blood related siblings or a family with wife and children, but then again this is a lunatic who probably went to great lengths to prove his theory after all with a warped sense of reality.

"Kill Theory" is essentially a board game for the audience, except where there would normally be inanimate pieces, the playing field is comprised of living, breathing people. This doesn't hide the fact that it's formulaic but there is still something about moving people around like chess pieces that gets our morbid fascination of suffering fixated. This isn't exactly a cat and mouse game where the little guy gets a fighting chance, since the ways to get out are frequently blocked with obstacles. The quicker the characters realize that the quicker they can be the strongest to survive. This is the TV show "Survivor" in a literal sense. The movie frequently amps up the carnage without always showing thoroughly valid reasons for the characters to take out one another, and there is a share of down time with showing the villain in action. This moves like a thriller so some of the faults and inconsistencies move by quicker than if they slowed this down or if you had time to think about it later. They represent the yous and mes, the regular folk not accustomed to murder, so some extra triggers would need to be in place than a few obstacles and some prior, albeit minor, relationship issues in the way.

The performances aren't always award winning but they do partly help in that they cry and plead their hearts out with no one to help, audience included; yet after their selfish ways come out, I'd like to think you were meant to be detached to them with any shred of empathy. It's a game where people die when they lose, and that game was made by someone who has no care for the players involved. In that sense, the film translates that cold distance than finding relating points. It turns the tone into a kind of rubber necking that happens at an accident scene as you curiously drive by in your car, wondering the morbid circumstances. There are some viciously gory scenes at times when inner emotional turmoil bursts out all at once by taking their rage on the closest body part, as if they're disgusted with themselves or want to get it over with as quickly as possible.

"Kill Theory" is a cinema invention. You'd be kidding yourself or would be heavily disappointed if you went into this otherwise. I mean, cross relating this to real life is so slim to not be believable even if read in bold print in the newspaper. Though what holds it together is it's often treated somewhat simplistically. Some movies need a few more layers to spice them up. But this is a film that sticks to its guns by doing what it does well enough and not going out on a limb with a temptation of getting overly ambitious. It would have undermined it by including too many twists to make it even more far-fetched. The characters are basic archetypes, which makes it easier to discern but it still has some go a different course than expected. As a viewer, you know what you're going to get but, of course, with a few surprises to where you'll anticipate where it'll end up.

Rating: 6/10

Director: Chris Moore (producer of "Feast" series)
Link: IMDB

My Soul to Take (2010)

A lot of blood spilled over a soulless killer

A homicidal man with schizophrenia named Abel Plenkov speaks to himself and tries to fight the demanding voices in his head. Though the evil personality of him takes over and several people end up dead. He gets injured when the police show up and he's placed into an ambulance, but on the way escapes and is never captured. Seven were born on that day 16 years ago and remember the anniversary each year called "Ripper Day" due to Plenkov's weapon of choice: a curved pocket knife with the inscription of "vengeanace." This creates an urban legend along the lines of "Candyman" meets superstitious rules of psychology like "Mirrors" that's all fun and games at first until someone crops up dead again.

The first ten minutes hooks you in as it's highly cinematic and ludicrously exaggerated. The slasher element, instead of being omnipresent, comes and goes as the rest of the movie switches around flow and tone. This dodges a fore-fronting investigative route with the detectives who are still around from the original incident as well as the town isn't sent into a panicky fright, but this instead concentrates on the Riverton Seven through their daily activities and struggles as teens. This has sarcasm along the lines of "Mean Girls" and the "Heathers" as there is a hierarchy system with elite young ladies running the social circle at the neighborhood high school.

This has an element of mystery and some revelations are unveiled to carry you along. Could it still be Plenkov? What about that person due to that suspicious action or sentence? Taking the template from "Scream," it's going to keep you guessing till its close, that is if you didn't guess it right away. The picture is unsympathetic--so there's hardly a care if anyone gets killed--with the exception of the unexceptional guy named "Bug," who plays an innocent along the lines of "Forrest Gump" who's slow on the upkeep and gets the brunt of every joke and beating. He's afraid of most situations and gets taken advantage of, though his character is slowly but surely gaining strength to protect himself from the cruel world around him that he doesn't quite grasp. Though the get-to-know-him angle seems like a lost cause and a major distracter because it's hard to really step in with both feet and feel sorry for him as the mysterious killer could be just about anyone without exclusion.

During the course of watching the tone jump in and out of supernatural visions spliced with teen sitcom, the darkly dressed killer appears and hardly seems like a menacing presence. He's the run-of-the-mill slasher archetype where he can literally be anywhere to jump out out with cheap, short lived, shock theatrics; think of some of illogical physicalities done in "Jason Takes Manhattan" and you wouldn't be too far off. He intuitively knows what the victim's next moves are before they do, so what's the point and where are the building thrills? It also doesn't help that this has some of the cheesiest one-liners spoken from a killer in an attempt to personalize him when he does show up. Freddy Krueger could be both funny and condescending, though the guy here should have kept his mouth shut as it threw all fright factor out the window and made the laughs directed at him.

Rating: 4/10

Director: Wes Craven (The Last House on the Left, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream)
Stars: Max Thieriot, John Magaro, Emily Meade, Denzel Whitaker
Link: IMDB