I argue that the repetitive and circular structure seen most famously in Groundhog’s Day (1993), Happy Death Day (2017) combines comedy and the existential with the horror movie to create something new. This is significant in order to better understand the horror movie during its 21st Century apex. In this, I respond to an idea of post-horror, a belief by Steve Rose that since 2017 horror movies are actually going far beyond their genre expectations. Rose explains post-horror films as “replacing jump-scares with existential dread.” He seeks to interrogate inventiveness of what others have called a horror renaissance of the last five years. Finding Happy Death Day as more complicated than Rose’s term can account for, I look to form of the circular puzzle film, seen in Groundhog’s Day, The Edge of Tomorrow (2014), or the Netflix show Russian Doll (2019) as well as others. Using this form, Happy Death Day and its sequel Happy Death Day 2U (2019) blend genres to create something new in horror. But rather than arguing, like Rose does, that horror has changed because it doesn’t meet audiences’ genre expectations, I believe Happy Death Day meets such expectations as well as the expectations of its circular structure—repetition that creates comedy and existential questions. By looking hard at this form, the blending of comedy/horror, and more, I find that Happy Death Day does indeed show horror movies are changing, but not quite in the way Rose thinks.
About the presenterZachary Michael Powell
A English PhD candidate at the University of Rochester who studies film, television, literature, video games, war, history, and genre theory.