Happy Death Day is an American black comedy slasher film directed by Christopher Landon and written by Scott Lobdell, it stars Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard. The film was released on October 13, 2017.
In 2019, it was followed by a sequel called, Happy Death Day 2U.
Plot[]
After a night of drunken partying, Tree Gelbman wakes up on her birthday in the dorm room of classmate Carter Davis. She dismisses him, returning to her room. Her sororityhousemate Lori Spengler gives her a cupcake, which she throws away. Tree meets with her married professor, Gregory Butler, with whom she is having an affair. That night, on her way to a party, Tree is lured into a tunnel and murdered by a figure wearing a mask.
She immediately wakes up back in Carter's bed and is unnerved to find the previous day's events repeating themselves. Baffled, she relives the day, this time avoiding the tunnel and reaching the party. However, the masked killer follows her and murders her again. Tree again wakes up in Carter's bed, realizes she is in a time loop, and barricades herself in her room to avoid death. The killer, already hiding inside, murders her a third time.
Waking up, Tree explains the events to Carter. He suggests taking advantage of the loop to identify her killer. She spends the next several iterations trailing suspects but she is killed each time. After waking from a loop where she is bludgeoned, Tree faints and awakens in the campus hospital. When the killer shows up, she escapes the hospital in Gregory's car, only to be pursued and killed again.
Back in Carter's bed, Tree convinces him of her predicament by demonstrating her knowledge of the day's events. She sees a news report on John Tombs, a serial killer being held at the campus hospital. Concluding that Tombs is her killer, she rushes to the hospital to warn of his escape.
Tombs breaks free and nearly kills Tree, but Carter follows and rescues her. Tombs kills Carter before chasing Tree to a bell tower, where she subdues him with a crowbar. Before delivering a fatal blow, she realizes that if she kills Tombs and ends the loop, Carter will remain dead forever. She runs to the top of the tower and hangs herself from the bell rope.
Tree awakens in Carter's dorm room and finds him alive again. Now confident in solving her murder, she proceeds happily through the day. She ends her affair with Gregory and meets her father for lunch, where they begin to reconcile. That night, she goes to the hospital and traps and kills Tombs. Relieved to be free, she celebrates her birthday in Carter's room and eats the cupcake Lori gave her.
Tree wakes up still in the loop. Horrified, she returns to her room with the intent to run away, when Lori offers her the cupcake again. Tree realizes that the previous loop was the only time she ate the cupcake, and she had died in her sleep, thus Lori is her true killer. Lori had poisoned the cupcake, but when Tree failed to eat it, Lori used her job as a nurse to frame Tombs for Tree's murder.
Lori admits to also having an affair with Gregory, whose preference for Tree drove her mad with jealousy. She then attacks Tree, but Tree manages to stuff the poisoned cupcake in her mouth, then kicks her out of a second-floor window to her death.
At a restaurant, Tree and Carter muse over the day's events, and he offers her his room for the night. The next day, she wakes up believing she is still in the time loop, but Carter quickly reveals he was just playing a prank on her and it is really the next day. Tree is too relieved to be angry at him, and the two kiss.
Cast[]
- Jessica Rothe as Tree Gelbman
- Israel Broussard as Carter Davis
- Ruby Modine as Lori Spengler
- Rachel Matthews as Danielle Bouseman
- Charles Aitken as Gregory Butler
- Rob Mello as John Tombs
- Phi Vu as Ryan Phan
- Caleb Spillyards as Tim Bauer
- Jason Bayle as David Gelbman
- Laura Clifton as Stephanie Butler
- Cariella Smith as Becky Shepard
- Tran Tran as Emily
- Blaine Kern III as Nick Sims
- Dane Rhodes as Officer Santora
- Tenea Intriago as Student Protestor
- Missy Yager as Mrs. Gelbman
List of Deaths[]
| No. | Name | Cause of Death | Killer | On Screen | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Threresa ''Tree'' Gelbman (1st Time) | Knifed in head | Lori Spengler | Yes | Later came back in loop, first death |
| 2 | Nick Sims | Stabbed | Lori Spengler | Yes | Later came back in loop |
| 3 | Theresa "Tree" Gelbman (2nd Time) | Stabbed in stomach with broken bong | Lori Spengler | Yes | Later came back in loop, second death |
| 4 | Theresa "Tree" Gelbman (3rd Time) | Stabbed to death in the chest from the back then again in front | Lori Spengler | Yes | Later came back in loop, third death |
| 5 | Threresa ''Tree'' Gelbman (4th Time) | Stabbed to death in the chest | |||
| 6 | Theresa "Tree" Gelbman (5th Time) | Drowned in a fountain | Lori Spengler | Yes | Later came back in loop, fifth death |
| 7 + 8 | Theresa "Tree" Gelbman (6th Time) & Danielle Bouseman | accidently run over by a campus bus | bus driver | Yes | Later came back in loop, sixth death for the former |
| 9 | Theresa Tree (7th time) | runs around campus naked until killer catches her
has a little fun ;) than takes her out |
Theresa "Tree" Gelbman | Yes | Later came back in loop |
| 10 | Theresa "Tree" Gelbman (8th Time) | beaten in the head by the same bat | Lori Spengler | Yes | Later came back in loop, seventh death |
| 11 | Dr. Gregory Butler | stabbed in the chest | Lori Spengler | Yes | Later came back in loop |
| 12 | Officer Santora | Wramed with car | Lori Spengler | Yes | Later came back in loop |
| 13 | Theresa "Tree" Gelbman (9th Time) | Burnt to death in cop car | Lori Spengler | Yes | Later came back in loop, eighth death |
| 14 | Cop | stabbed in the back | John Tombs | Yes | Later came back in loop |
| 15 | Nurse | shot in the chest | John Tombs | Yes | Later came back in loop |
| 16 | Carter Davis | Neck snapped | John Tombs | Yes | Later came back in loop |
| 17 | Theresa "Tree" Gelbman (10th Time) | Sucide via hanging in a bell tower | Herself | Yes | Later came back in loop, ninth death |
| 18 | John Tombs | Shot in the chest | Theresa "Tree" Gelbman | Yes | Later came back in loop |
| 19 + 20 | Theresa "Tree" Gelbman (11th Time) & Carter Davis | Poisoned | Lori Spengler | No | Later came back in loop, tenth and final death. |
| 21 | Lori Spengler | Poison cupcake shoved into her mouth, kicked out of the window to her death | Theresa "Tree" Gelbman | Yes |
Production[]
Filming[]
Filming took place at and around Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and it lasted 5 weeks. The scenes where Tree awakens in Carter's bed after her death were filmed back to back in a span of two days. The scene after Tree pushes Lori out of the window was supposed to take place at the sorority house, but the filming permit had ended before production was able to shoot there, forcing the location to be changed to a Los Angeles diner.