A Lifetime of Happiness: Movies, TV, and Video Games

Happy Death Day (2017)

• Steve Bennet-Martin, Stephen Martin-Bennet • Season 1 • Episode 162

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The Steves discuss the 2017 comedy slasher Happy Death Day, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!

Our discussion includes:

  • Names and numbers behind the scenes
  • Our original guesses and theories with the suspects
  • The iconic walk across the quad
  • Being harsh with a guy who didn't get the hint?
  • The killer's mask- scary or silly?
  • Music box tunes- cute, childlike, and whimsical or spooky AF?
  • De ja vu - where does it come from?
  • Roommate issues
  • And much more!

Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.

Support the show

Steve:

Hello, returning Happys and new listeners. This is Steve Bennet-Martin. And this is Stephen

Stephen:

martin-Bennet and welcome

Steve:

to a lifetime of happiness. The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy, while hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way.

Stephen:

And we're spending the month of March talking about some of our favorite murder mystery movies and in honor of our dog, Remy's third birthday earlier this week. We're covering a movie that's all about birthday, after birthday, after birthday, after birthday. It's happy death day. Yes.

Steve:

And thankfully Remy didn't have a babyface killer mask chasing him all day. Yes. But before we get into all that, my love, what's been making you

Stephen:

happy? Ugh. It was a good weekend to finish off award season. The Oscars were Sunday and Jamie Lee Curtis won best supporting actress for everything everywhere, all at once, and the rest of the cast got their awards. The show got best editing, it got best directing, writing, and best picture. They won seven awards. It is the most awarded. in history. Wow. And one of my favorite movies of all time. And I love Jamie Luke Curtis, as you know. So this was just a really great day. Yes.

Steve:

And if you enjoyed everything everywhere all at once and haven't heard our episode talking about it, scroll back a month or two and check

Stephen:

it out. Yes. It was in January during our best of 20, 22 month. Yes.

Steve:

Leave it to you to love the movies. Yes.

Stephen:

What about you, my darling? What's been making you happy? Mark Jacobs What about Mark Jacobs is making you happy.

Steve:

I have the opportunity to meet and interview Mark Jacobs at this year's GaN Sober mens conference. And so that's been making me happy. I've been working on it for, I would say the past month, and it came to fruition last week and now it's public news, and I'm very excited for the opportunity.

Stephen:

I think it's incredible that you are going to share a stage in front of 500 people with fashion designer extraordinaire Mark Jacobs, and have this one-on-one conversation. Is so

Steve:

amazing. I know. I can't wait. I'm ready for June Pride in New York City already. Can we just fast forward the

Stephen:

next few months? No, because if we get to June, yeah, that means summer in Sarasota's here, and I am not quite ready for the heat.

Steve:

All right. I also still have a little bit more to prepare for the conference so we can hold off on time

Stephen:

travel. Okay. Well, until then, how about we talk about the movie? I love that

Steve:

idea. I mean, I love Happy Death days so much, and it makes me so happy we saw it in the theaters. We did again after. It's funny, it's smart. You know, you take that slasher genre in a new direction with that Groundhog Day twist and the lead, Jessica just does an amazing job. and

Stephen:

I couldn't agree more. They took the words right outta my mouth. Literally. Yeah. why? Why else do you love it? I think you covered

Steve:

everything. All right. Well, IM DV describes the movie as a college student must relive the day of her murder over and over again in a loop that will only end when she discovers her killer's identity. That

Stephen:

is actually an accurate. like I am DB Summary. Good

Steve:

job, Yeah, good job. Happy Death Day is a black comedy slasher film directed by Christopher Landon and ran by Scott Lobdell, who we met. We did meet him and he loved dark cosplay.

Stephen:

He did. We were dressed as Cy Clubs in Phoenix. And he even made us stand up in the middle of one of the panels and acknowledged how great our costumes were.

Steve:

Yes. Because you fell in love with him back then, cuz he was a writer of the comics X-Men. He was,

Stephen:

he was writing uncanny X-Men at the time. Shortly after I first fell in love with

Steve:

the comics. Yes. Well, I think that he wrote another hit here. I loved it. As I mentioned, it stars Jessica Roth as. And has Israel ARD as

Stephen:

Carter. It was released on October 13th, 2017 with a budget of only 4.8 million,

Steve:

which I don't know how they did it with all the effects and everything. I feel like there's movies we cover that have much higher budgets that don't manage to land it as well. Right.

Stephen:

And it had a killer box, office of 125.5. Spawning a sequel Happy Death Day to

Steve:

you. Yes. And that is a different movie for a different episode. Oh my, yeah. Took the premise and made it a little more out there. Yeah. The original script was written with Scott Lal. Including material to make it an rated movie. It was supposed to be much grizzly, grizzly or death scenes. Oh, yeah.

Stephen:

Like she dies and it immediately reverts back. But we could have easily seen a lot of blood and a

Steve:

lot of gore. Yeah. And they definitely tonen that all down to get a PG 13 rating. The, with the films director, Christopher Landon leading that charge.

Stephen:

Now comic book writer Scott Lobdell said he wanted to play with the tropes of the slasher genre as according to him, every slasher film opens with the mean girl getting killed and the good girl living till the end. And he thought, how can I make the mean girl and the good girl the same

Steve:

person? And I love that because that's exactly what this movie does. It gives the the bad girl a chance to learn and grow while getting murdered over and over again. And if that won't spark a change in your personality, I can't imagine, what would Yeah, and the movie opens with a really cute touch. The intro of the Universal logo rewinds twice like her days do, and the

Stephen:

film opens as the bell tolls for 9:00 AM Bayfield University. On Monday the 18th, Teresa Tree Gelman wakes up hungover on her birthday in the dorm room of Schoolmate Carter Davis. She would endorse a phone call from her father with an annoying ringtone about her birth. After asking for Tylenol, tree starts to head out and sees Carter's roommate Ryan coming in and ask if he had slipped with that fine vagina. Yes. And to her disgust and Carter's embarrassment.

Steve:

Yes. And we've all just woke up somewhere not knowing where we were and who we might have been with the night before. Right. No. Oh, okay. Well, I was able to relate to Jess to Tree in this situation, but one thing I remember actually from the previews, which is funny cuz I don't remember a lot, but I remember her ringtone being 50 cents in the club. Yeah. Do you remember that in

Stephen:

the movie? Absolutely. That was what was in the trailer. Yep.

Steve:

But however, they couldn't get the rights to it in time. So instead they created that one that you love so much last minute.

Stephen:

Ugh. I mean, and it's fine and it totally. Fits with it and it rips off into club a little bit. Yeah. And it, I mean, it's memorable. Yes,

Steve:

it is. And she has a walk across the quad, which be, we become more and more familiar with as we go through. But what are the, some of the, the small things that you notice? So

Stephen:

there's a vampire that shames her with his sunglasses. Yes. A stop global warming girl. Mm-hmm. people making out, getting drenched by sprinklers. Yeah. A car alarm going. Frat hazing of pleasures who are made to stay awake and sing for 46 hours. And which leads us to the last part of the recurring thing in the quad,

Steve:

which is on her way to her own room. We meet suspect number one guy she went out with by the name of Tim, the ash tree. Why? She has an answered this texts and she says, because their one date involved them going to a subway and it made her miserable and according to director Christopher Landon Tree's, punchline of who takes their first date to Subway, it's not like you have a foot long was improvised by Jessica.

Stephen:

She is so smart and what I find kind of sad is you, if you look at IM DB since this mm-hmm. she has not been working steadily in what I like. I thought this was going to be a platform for

Steve:

like stardom. Yeah. If I was making a movie, I would want her in it.

Stephen:

Absolutely. She's quite. What are your thoughts on Tim as a suspect?

Steve:

I mean, it definitely adds up at first. You know, he gives even later on at the frat party that kind of like, I'm watching you from a far look like

Stephen:

the whole wounded, privileged

Steve:

white boy. Yeah. It wouldn't be the first time that a wounded, privileged white boy went off the rails because of simple rejection. I mean, we

Stephen:

see it every month here in America.

Steve:

Yes. And it also reminds me with her having to just be as blunt as to say, it's not like you have a foot long have you ever had to be harsh with a guy for him to get the picture?

Stephen:

Yes, my stalker. And he still didn't get it. Like I was cruel and he didn't get it. And so he found some of my friends who were out one night while I was out of town and asked them why I was being mean to him since he and I were going out and Brady was. You aren't going out with him. Mm-hmm. I don't think you get that. You went out, you had sex because it was Steve at that time. Mm-hmm. And you didn't go out again.

Steve:

Let it go. Yeah. I never had to be that mean. I grew up in the age of where ghosting was a thing, so I just ghosted. Oh

Stephen:

no. This is also the person I think I told you. Called once and I answered the phone and he was like, outside your house and he was sitting across the street in his car and I had to like lie and get in my car and go over to

Steve:

Brady's house. Yeah. And then you have suspect number two. Tree arrives at her dorm room and sees her roommate Lori. Tree realizes she's late for class and frantically, frantically gets ready. But Lori gives her a cupcake, which she baked specially just for

Stephen:

tree for her birthday, and it's red velvet and it has cream cheese frosting. So good job, Lori, on Elise going out with a good

Steve:

cupcake. Yes. And tree blows out the candle and dumps the cupcake in the trash because of

Stephen:

carbs. Ugh. And what's partially as annoying is she said she made the cupcake for her. you went to all that trouble for one cupcake. Yeah. I was like, there must

Steve:

have been at least like a batch. Yeah. But then again, she,

Stephen:

she wor she lives at the sorority house, so none of them, I, because one of our suspects in a minute won't let them eat carbs. So Yeah. I don't know, but, but. Thought and my thoughts on Lori as the suspect. Mm-hmm. she actually seems more potential single white female. Yeah. Than slasher killer. And you kind of wonder why she and tri are roommates, like, did they get assigned? Because I don't think they picked each other. Yeah. And at this point tree doesn't seem like a good PO person. And Lori seems like she's kind and she's focused and she's either a med student or a nursing student cuz she's in scrubs. So we don't. and she's figured out tree's, extracurricular activities, which we'll get to and tells her she should

Steve:

stop them. Yes. Have you ever had any issues with college roommates?

Stephen:

Actually, no. I had a dorm roommate who he and I tolerated each other spoke to each other. We never fought. We never hung out. After moving out day at the end of the year, we never saw each other again or spoke to each other again. It was one of those things where neither of us did anything that really irked the other person, but we were just not made to be roommates.

Steve:

Yeah, I would say that, I mean, I had my issues with college roommates, but it was more like they frustrated me, so I just dealt with it silently and held onto resentments until I moved out But I did have issues after college with a roommate who moved in with me. Then about a week or two later, met a guy on Craigslist who moved in that night and sold drugs and stole for me, and she was like a blind and oblivious to the entire thing. Oh my. And it turned that friendship really rough and really uncomfortable at the end. Ouch. Yeah.

Stephen:

Like I had a college roommate who's now like super MAGA and we don't speak anymore. whenever we were roommates, it was one of the best roommate situations. Yeah. Now we get to suspect number three. Yep. And tree joins her sorority sisters during lunch for a meeting regarding their spring charity event. The head sister, Danielle Chastises, another sister Becky, for bringing junk food to eat. Becky gets up to leave and bumps into Carter, causing Becky to spill her food all over her. Carter tries to return trees, some jewelry she left behind, but tree pulls him beside to keep from hiding the fact that she slept in his

Steve:

room. Yes. And we now have like super capa bitch Danielle, did you think she was a suspect? Okay,

Stephen:

so our first introduction to Danielle is slut shaming tree at the very beginning. Yeah. And then she's fat shaming Becky who isn't fat. Yeah. And the audience is told quickly that we are not to like Daniel. And we also know that tree made out with a guy that Danielle likes. And from her personality, we know that she's probably petty enough to probably kill, kill her dad for that. But also that seems a little too obvious. So while she has the most personality, like of a killer mm-hmm. I think it's too obvious for a, who done it, for it to be

Steve:

her. Yeah, I agree. And also the fact. She seems like the type of person like tree at the time, who pisses a lot of people off. So if her solution was murder for every time that a girl made out with her slutty boyfriend, who I don't even understand why either of them like him, somebody, lots of people would be dead. Yep, exactly. Yeah. And then we meet another kind of pair of suspects. Tree goes to her class and later meets with her professor, Dr. Gregory Butler. The two are having an affair despite Gregory being married and we also meet his wife Stephanie. Who's at the door after tree? Keeps it locked. Yeah. And is it me or does Stephanie look more like his mother than his wife?

Stephen:

So, absolutely. He looks to be about 32 and she looks in her forties. And I can usually see in situations like this where you want to find someone that's attractive because obviously the guy that you're saying is the one that's caught in the middle. Mm-hmm. would. Been sleeping with someone attractive and married to someone attractive, but you don't want the wife person to be more attractive than the girls. Cause its like, why is he doing that? Right? But I think they went too far with the casting because while Stephanie is a beautiful woman, I think they went too far with the age difference. Yeah,

Steve:

I agree. But do you think that she would be a suspect?

Stephen:

No. And and, okay. Two things. So she seems like she's totally aware of what her husband does. Yeah, the look in her eyes is like, this is the new one. So she, I don't think she's clueless. It's, has she been putting up with it for the doctor money and she's just gonna keep putting up with it cuz she has her own affair on the side or was this the one that pushed her too? We'll

Steve:

find out. Yeah. Danielle invites tree to a party at a fraternity later that evening. Tree gets through the campus alone and passes a group of guys wearing the school's, sports team merchandise. They're the babies, which is,

Stephen:

would never happen at a university. I'm sorry.

Steve:

Apparently, no. There was like a huge almost lawsuit that they took this mascot from like a, a school in New Orleans. No. Yeah. And then because this movie takes place in New Orleans, like it was like a whole pending lawsuit that's still going on. Do

Stephen:

you mean like that guy that we saw on. Remember when we were there on Bourbon Street? On Bourbon Street? Yeah. And he was wearing a speedo and a baby mask. Yeah. Do you think that that's possibly like their mascot? I

Steve:

hope not. That mascot, cuz that mask was creepy. Oh, so creepy. Okay. Yes. As she starts heading towards the tunnel, she hears the sound of a music box playing Happy Birthday Tree goes over to pick up the box and sees someone with a baby mask standing a few feet behind her. She threatens to call the cops and the person. Tree starts to leave, but is then chased by the masked person and they eventually catch her and stab her to death.

Stephen:

Okay. One question that's not in the script, do you think because of all the movies we watch and everything, yeah. The sounds of a music box is. A cute be always creepy. Always creepy. Okay.

Steve:

Me too. Yes. And the Bayfield University Baby killer costume was designed by Tony Gardner, who also just assigned the Ghost Face mask, which you love. And we all know from the Scream Films. Yes. Well done. Tony Gardner. Yes. And director Christopher Landon tested wearing the option of a baby mask for the killer in the office. And when he is scared a coworker, he confirmed it was the right choice. I mean,

Stephen:

you see it and you're like really a baby. And then the more you look at it, you. That's fucking creepy.

Steve:

It is really creepy. Yeah. But rather than being dead, dead tree wakes up in Carter's room at the beginning of the same day. What clearly freaked out and confused, she leaves the room and thinks she's going through deja vu. She goes to her room and once again she rejects Lori's cupcake, but this time just leaves it instead of dumping it during lunch. Tree warns Becky before Carter bumps into her. But the same thing still happens cuz it was just a little bit too late. Yep. Stephanie catches her in Gregory's office after it's been locked. Oh, and I just forgot, like part of the plot is that she was hungover and I was like, waking up every morning with that killer hangover must be horrible. I was like, oh wait, I did that for too long. So I'm glad that those days are over. Yeah. Now, have you ever, because we live in like a world where movies like Groundhog Day exist, have you ever like woken up and thought that you were living the same day again, only to realize that you were being silly?

Stephen:

it's a little bit reverse. There was one time in Cincinnati that I was sick. Mm-hmm. And so I was sleeping off and on for a full 24 hours. Mm-hmm. and each time I woke up I thought it was a new day. Yeah. And like I felt like I had gone through a week's worth of time and like to realize. it was still the same, like the same day. I kept waking up and it was still the same day and it felt like it shouldn't be. Yeah, and it was very confusing. So similar, but not from a deja vu sense. Oh, okay. What about

Steve:

you? Yeah. I remember one time when I was like living on my own and having a very like, Like, wake up, go to work, get home, just watch tv. Like there was a day where I could have sworn I lived the same Sunday twice. But like, I obviously know that that didn't happen. But like, cuz I didn't have like the deja vu moments, but like I lived through a Sunday and then I woke up again and I was like, And I looked and it was Sunday, but I guess it was just Saturday the day before. Yeah. And I love from her, her sorority sister. Deja vu means someone's thinking about you while they masturbate and it happens to

Stephen:

her five times a day. Oh,

Steve:

that's some thing. So

Stephen:

I decided to look at deja vu from a spiritual perspective, cuz that's what I do. Yeah. And so there's several things. It's a key I. that you were on the right path and meant to be where you are currently standing. Mm-hmm. And some say it is something that you experienced in a past life and some believe from a more scientific thing that when you've previously dreamed something so vividly that when something similar happens in your real waking. your brain vaguely remembers the dream and that's why you get the feeling

Steve:

of deja vu. See, and I never remember any of my dreams, so that might be why I don't really get deja vu too much. Do you? Mm-hmm. do you get deja

Stephen:

vu ever? I do.

And

Steve:

like that's cuz I'm thinking about you while I masturbate.

Stephen:

You should. So I kind of like that it's your whole spirit guide, key indicator that you're on the right path, but also with how vividly I dream I could. See it being my brain, remembering a, a vague dream.

Steve:

All right, you take your answers. I'll keep the masturbating. Okay, now tree heads over to the party again, but this time avoids the bridge because who the hell would go through that bridge again? Exactly. She makes it to the fraternity and it's dark and the front door is locked. Which is weird cuz there's supposed to be a party. Yeah, she's knocked and she's greeted by someone with a baby mask who causes her to scream and punch them in the face. Bravo. It turns out to be Nick, the guy Danielle. That tree kissed the night before. It's a surprise party for tree. Aw. She goes around drinking and trying to enjoy herself. She sees the, the creepy Tim. Tim

Stephen:

who's just staring at

Steve:

her from across the room. Yep. And she goes up to Nick's room where he messes around with the mask for a bit. When she's not looking, she gets a text from Danielle accusing her of hooking up with Nick behind her back again after it already happened freshman year. And while Nick's douchey techno music is playing so loud, the killer comes in and kills Nick before attacking tree. After a struggle, he takes her with a broken bong piece, which is awesome. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, we've kind of went over the suspects, but there's really no one that she encounters in her day-to-day life that she treats with kindness. At this point, no,

Stephen:

not at all. And,

Steve:

and like at this point in the movie, who are your prime suspects?

Stephen:

Danielle, Tim, and Stephanie. The doctor's wife. Yep. But also something that happens in the scene that, kind of, you forget about, she's screaming for help. Mm-hmm. one of the frat boys opens the door. Yeah. And she goes, oh God, help me, help me screaming for help. And he goes, yeah. And closes the door letting what he thinks is Nick have his way with her, against her will. Yeah. That's not cool. No, not

Steve:

at all. now Tree wakes up in Carter's room again. She's even more freaked out this time. She's panicked and spiraling. She runs out to her room and tells Lori she's living the day over and over again, and someone's after her. Lori calms her down and suggests he takes the day off and relax in her room and eat a cupcake. Yep. Tree locks up the room and puts up boards to prevent anyone from getting in. But later that night, the killer breaks in. Tree fights off the killer a little bit, but is still stabbed to death

Stephen:

Now. Who would be the first person you would confide in back in college?

Steve:

I went through a different couple phases of college, but like the one that like lasts the longest. It was, it would probably be one of my roommates, like when I was living with Peter,

Stephen:

so I could, when Leslie Monika, Ronnie j Catherine, I could have turned to any of them. Some of them might not have believed me as much. Yeah, but they all would've been. For me.

Steve:

Yeah. And did the killer being able to get into her sorority room this easily eliminate any of the suspects for you or raise any new

Stephen:

flags? No, because a trope of any slash or flick is that the killer seems to have a skeleton key to every building and every door, and can be anywhere at any time. We see it with Halloween. We see it with Scream, just whenever they think they're safe. The killer was somehow behind them. So no, by the rules of any slasher. Like they, they, he could have, the killer could have gotten in at any point in time. Like she thought she was in the room alone and had the door barricaded and things like, we don't even know how they got

Steve:

in. Yeah. And. I just also have to give kudos to the suspense scenes before her death, like this one, but like a couple of them are just really good action scenes where they really get your heart pumping. No,

Stephen:

but this one with the suspense, because she's in the room, she has barricaded the door, she's put boards over the windows. We think she's truly alone. And she's trying to change the channel with, and the TV goes off. And she can't find the remote. So she gets up and then she realizes, oh, someone could be in the closet or someone could be in the bathroom. And then she starts going towards the bathroom and her hand is slowly, slowly, slowly reaching for the shower curtain. And just as she's about to. the killer messes with the tv. Again, with the remote, she turns around, heads back out to the tv, and then the killer's behind her in the bathroom. The killer was behind the shower curtain and was able to get the jump on her by playing with the tv, like she almost would've had the jump on the killer at that point. Yeah,

Steve:

tree goes through the same thing again, waking up in the dorm room, and this time she's in a fugue state as she stumbles into the quad, only to have Carter come after. She then explains her situation to him and he's understandably confused. He suggests that she narrows down her list of suspects until she can find out who the killer is. Carter thinks the killer may be specifically targeting tree on her birthday, which means everybody at school is a suspect. Since Danielle told everyone about the surprise party she also learns that they didn't sleep together, but he took care of her to make sure she didn't choke on her own vomit.

Stephen:

Aw. Now I do love that her aligned to Carter when he's not quite. Will you stop staring at me like I just took a dump on

Steve:

your mom Yeah, that is funny. And I would love to see that. Well, no, I wouldn't want to see that. You know what I mean?

Stephen:

In her list of suspects are the Uber driver she spit on and the girl she got fired from TJ Max last week. Tree is not

Steve:

a good person. No, she's not. If you were murdered tomorrow, who would be the biggest suspects? I mean, besides me, obviously

Stephen:

I can't say the name out loud, but I. Think we pretty much what I, I think that that person would be. But I think that, I don't think

Steve:

they have the reason anymore.

Stephen:

or maybe more. Yeah. And the list is much smaller these days than in my twenties in Cincinnati. I am bet it is.

Steve:

What about you, Morgan? Yeah, yeah. Michael, my coworker Morgan. But I, I would be one of her many victims on a a, a tirade

Stephen:

path. Now, would you believe it if a friend came to you with this issue? Depends on the

Steve:

friend. Yeah. But like if you came to me, if like someone I knew and trusted came to me, I'd be like, okay, I'm in. But if it was like, like in this case, like someone I just like took care of last night when they were too drunk and didn't know them beforehand. Yeah. And then they woke up saying this, I would have a hard time believing it as well. Agreed. Now, treat goes through several loops as she goes after her suspects. She first goes after Tim, but catches him in his room looking at gay porn, which she's very proud of him for. Yes. After dying again, she suspects Stephanie, but she spot Stephanie moments before the killer drowns her. She then suspects Danielle, but ends up dying on her own after the two get into a fight and they get hit by the bus, and then she takes one walk through the quad completely in the. now question before we get to the nude part. Yeah. Watching it, the critically though, like does that necessarily eliminate Danielle? Not the fact that they got hit by a bus together. Not

Stephen:

at all. Because the man baby wasn't driving the bus. Like if she looked up and the man baby was behind the wheel of a car. Yeah. Then Danielle would be cleared the same way Stephanie was cleared because she got drowned while Stephanie was still in eyesight. Yeah. But because we didn't see who was driving. Danielle's not cleared. She just died

again.

Steve:

Yeah. And that, that's what makes me like the first time through, I thought that it was going to be Danielle cuz I was like, they're trying to trick us because she, the way they tried to trick us and scream six. Yeah. And in the scene where tree walks through the campus quad naked, the original plan was to have her where like modesty covers and strategically, but Jessica Roth, however, wanted to do it in the nude so she could feel the same thrill tree was. because of this, it had to be done quickly, given that it was being filmed on an active college campus, thus presenting the risk of students, witnessing the scene, seeing her naked, being filmed, or taking photos. So the crew took extreme pre precautions to clear away any potential onlookers with all the female members of the crew surrounding her with like big coats and clothes to prevent future onlookers. And in the end, they managed to do it with just two or three takes, and Jessica says it was the most freeing moment of her life. Would you do that if you could?

Stephen:

If, if I had a body like hers, probably, yeah. Like, you know. felt and all of that. Because I think you would have to be comfortable in your own skin completely before you could do that. I would un unless you're just saying,

Steve:

fuck it. I was gonna say I'm heavy. And I would still love to do that. I would, I would, I would. Like, if it wasn't like against the law, I don't wanna go streaking. Like I think that, like going to like a nudist campus somewhere on our bucket list. I think that it just, like, it must be pretty. You never

Stephen:

know. The next morning she passes out in Carter's dorm room and is taken to the hospital where Dr. Gregory shares that she sustained severe internal damage and scar tissue and lesions from her previous deaths, and that she should be dead while going through Gregory's office for her keys so that she can escape. The hospital tree finds a baby mask in his drawer. However, the killer stabs Gregory and then has an awesome chase scene as she. Tree into the parking lot. Tree makes it to the car and gets out of the parking garage. And as tree excitedly thinks that she escaped death and that because she plans to keep on driving until it's the next day a cop pulls her over for speeding and realizing that a way to be safe is to get arrested and put in a prison cell. She goes, yeah, I'm so drunk, so high. Like all the drugs. Yeah. All of that drunken high. And when she is cuffed and put in the back of the car, man, baby drives past and hits the cop and grazes the cop car. And the gas tank starts leaking and the killer drops a birthday candle to ignite the fuel and blows

Steve:

tree up. Yes. Now are we starting to see a change in tree's personality yet Absolut. Yeah. I see it a little bit where she thanked Carter. Mm-hmm. before he left the hospital. But I also wonder like if she did survive this time and did just drive away until the next night, whether it would've been a lasting permanent personality change, or whether she would've thought like, I beat this thing and I'm good now, and kind of reverted back to all behavior. I

Stephen:

don't think that she would've gotten to where she is at the end of the movie. Yeah. But I think she would've been a permanently better. than she was.

Steve:

Yeah. And while I'm No, Dr. Gregory, don't these injuries, injuries mean that even if she ends up surviving through this movie, that she's probably medically fucked the rest of her life. Yeah, she, I think

Stephen:

she'd have to have a lot of surgeries to remove some scar tissue and things, because my guess is that her internal organs probably have scar tissue wrapped around

Steve:

them. And whoever the killer is. I also just think at this point, like so far they've just killed tree, but now they're willing to kill a cop to get to her. And I feel like that's some next level hate. Like if I wanted to kill someone, which I don't, but if I was, had someone in my like lines that I was like, I'm gonna murder them. I can't imagine wanting to murder someone so bad. I would also murder a cop or anyone else who got in my way. Right. You don't want to

Stephen:

have any collateral

Steve:

damage. Yeah, exactly. Now tree wakes up in Carter's room again. Yep. She proves she knows what's going to happen. By pointing out some things that she's been noticing frequently. Like the car alarm going off, the sprinklers being set off on the college students. The frat pledge is standing together while one member drops to the ground. And if someone like said that they were doing this, even if it was a guy you just met the night before when you were drunk mm-hmm. if they were able to point out all of that, would you believe. Yes. Yes. I think otherwise it'd be like the world's strangest flash mob conspiracy. Right. And

Stephen:

I mean, and it would had to have been two planned, like. it. Like, it'd be very difficult. It would be I mean, cuz she would've also had to have faked being that drunk. Yeah. And everything like this would've had to have, he would've had to have picked out, it would've had to have been timed perfectly and everything.

Steve:

Like in that, that Netflix show where they explained the magic, where they convinced the sky that he turned invisible because everyone in the park was just ignoring him. Acting like they couldn't see him. I love that

Stephen:

episode of Magic for Humans. Yeah, that's,

Steve:

that's what this reminded me of is I was like, if it was like all a conspiracy, that would be just like that.

Stephen:

Now Carter takes tree to a nearby burger place as she is now getting weaker with each new loop. She's getting worried that she may be running out of lives. Tree mentions avoiding her dad's phone calls and tells Carter that her mom passed away three years. she and her mom share a birthday. Mm-hmm. moments later they see a news report on TV about a serial killer named Joseph Tombs, who is notorious for going after young women that all kind of resemble Tree. Tree believes he's the killer and now she can finally stop

Steve:

him. Yes. And now you really are starting to see more of a change now that she realizes she might only have so many lives before they run out. You can see that

Stephen:

in the way she is talking to and sharing with Carter. this isn't the tree. Like the tree at the beginning wouldn't have been vulnerable. Yeah.

Steve:

And my only question about tombs possibly being the killer is how would he know it was her birthday? Because they were clearly taunting with her that a couple

Stephen:

times. Right? So yeah, that part doesn't track, but she does pit fit the profile of his victims and she has been horribly killed multiple times. So a serial killer does make sense. But you're right, the whole birthday. The only way that would work is if they had had a previous connection, but she doesn't know him. So he's kind of our

Steve:

red herring yes, tree. And Carter runs outta the hospital to stop tombs, but he's already killed a security guard and escaped tree grabs a fire ax and tries to run from tombs. Carter protects tree, but tombs snaps his neck. Ugh, brutally. Yeah. Tree manages to incapacitate tombs, but realizes that if she succeeds in stopping the loops, Carter will stay dead. She runs to the top of the bell tower before tombs can catch her, and she hangs herself promising to find tombs soon. Now, would you repeat the loop for a cute guy you just met? Not

Stephen:

for somebody I just met, but at this point I feel like in. Trees world. They've spent a lot of time together.

Steve:

Yeah. Would you have done it for me after our first date?

Stephen:

After our first date? Yeah. Because we had already been talking for over

a

Steve:

month. Yeah. All right. Now tree starts the new loop with more positive energy. She greets Carter warmly, signs the petition, warns the students about the sprinklers, puts a pillow on the ground for a pledge to land on. And when Tim approaches her, she kindly tells him that he, she knows he doesn't like girls, and that he should be free to love who he really. Tree makes nice with Lori and apologizes for being the worst roommate. Tree goes to Gregory's class and interrupts his lecture to pull him out and tell him she's breaking things off with him and she's dropped his class. during the lunch meeting, tree shows up at the tray full of junk food and proudly scarfs sit down. Although Danielle tries to send Becky away, tree doesn't let her leave, and instead takes Becky's chocolate milk to pour on. Danielle's head humiliating her because

Stephen:

Danielle seems to have something truly against chocolate

Steve:

milk. Yes. Harder then comes by to return trees, jewelry, and she kisses him in front of the other sisters. Sheila invites Carter to join her later that night for her birthday if she makes it.

Stephen:

Have you ever spilled a drink on someone either slowly like this or throwing it in their

Steve:

face? No, but I wish. Like one day I want you just to say it's okay and have me throw a drink in your face so I can say I did it to someone cuz I've never had the chance of you. Yes, multiple times I've dropped drinks on people's laps. But that was more just cuz I was a drunken mess. No, I've never had this like drama moment. What was it

Stephen:

like? So in seventh grade we were at the sweetheart dance and this girl was just being a real bitch. And I said, you know, you don't have to act like that. And she hauls off and hits me in the balls. And so I threw my drink on her and her fancy sweetheart

Steve:

dance dress. Well, there you go. We gotta protect those balls, babe.

Stephen:

And then of course I've thrown a drink on some people out at clubs and bars before, but they had it coming. I'm

Steve:

sure they did. Now Tree goes to have lunch with her dad, David. Finally, she admits to him that it's been hard to be around him since her mother died, but she says she loves him and is sorry for hurting him. The two then laugh to lighten the mood and they have lunch and it's turning out to be the perfect day. Which begs the question, did you think this would be the last day?

Stephen:

100%. This felt like this would be the last day. All the growth and the way that she's fixed. This was gonna be the one.

Steve:

Yes. We'll see. Tree prepares herself to go after tombs. She goes up to the security guard with a knife and takes his gun before telling him to get back up. Tree then walks into tomb's room and aims the gun at him as he pretends to be asleep. She tries to shoot him, but she forgot to take the safety off. Rookie mistake. Yep. Tombs gets up and fights tree brutally slamming her against the wall. Tree had planned for the rolling blackout that's been happening every night. Our tuition dollars at work. Yes, which happens right at the right moment for her to escape out of his line of sight. She appears behind him and takes the safety off, allowing her to shoot him dead. Leaving Tree and Carter to spend the rest of the night together. They eat Lori's cupcake and then blow it out. And she makes a wish for tomorrow. For tomorrow. And if this was how the movie ended, would you have felt

Stephen:

satisfied? Yeah, it would've been satisfying, but we would've needed a small scene the next morning to show us that she had woken up on the 19th. Like that was needed.

Steve:

Yeah. But like if, if she woke up on the 19th, you'd be like, okay, it was tombs all along. Makes sense. No questions. And you would've left happy

Stephen:

with how she had fixed her day and everything. I would've overlooked a plot hole. Yeah. And been content. There you go. I like happy

Steve:

endings. Yes. Well, we are about to reveal that. Plot. Hole's answer. A tree wakes up once more in Carter's room. The birthday ringtone plays. It's still Monday the 18th. She

Stephen:

becomes confused and angry, wondering how she could be stuck in the loop. She runs back to her room to pack up and run away, but then Lori offers her the cupcake again. Tree declines and says she ate it the night before and then it hits. She died in her sleep, which is because the cupcake was poisoned all

Steve:

along. Yes. She never ate the cupcake any time before. So she realizes Lori was the killer the whole time and after the cupcake didn't work, she took it into her own hands. Since she works at

Stephen:

the hospital, Lori was able to set tombs loose and make it look like he killed tree due to his history. But it was always Lori Tree tries to make Lori eat the cupcake and even threatens to bring it to the. Lori comes clean and said this was all because Gregory was more into tree. You've been killing me over a stupid guy. That's not the only reason. You're also a dumb bitch.

Steve:

Yes. The two start fighting as Lori tries to finish tree off for good. They are interrupted by Danielle from outside the room as Lori has tree pinned down to the bed. But Tree manages to grab the cupcake and shove it in Lori's mouth tree, then jumps up and grabs the ceiling lamp so she can kick Lori's ass out the window to her death in front of the poor, cute, blonde Asian girl who just wants to smile at all the world while listening to her K-pop. Ugh. So

Stephen:

also something I noticed again, and I noticed this before when she grabs the ceiling lamp. Mm-hmm. it's not action movie esque. It's. And they're like, that's how it should be. She's not a gymnast, she's not trained to do this. Yeah. She used the momentum, but the way she grabbed onto it and then swung was like a normal human would do that. Hadn't practiced that. Yeah. So I was like, good on the movie for not making it look right out of a superhero film.

Steve:

Ah, yeah. It was very well done. So was the reveal, what'd you think of it being Lori? Because she wasn't any, she wasn't on the list of suspects, which I also think is kind of funny.

Stephen:

Because she's a good person and she's focused on her work. Mm-hmm. and she was just trying to make tree be a better person by telling her to stop having the affair because she, like tree, saw Lori as someone who had their shit together. Mm-hmm. And that's why Lori probably annoyed her. Yeah. But, and so she never thought that it could be her. Yeah. Well

Steve:

that was the first clue is when she was going to meet Gregory. Lori warns her. I think something like this is bound to have some pretty serious consequences.

Stephen:

Except that most likely it could have been her Guinea expelled from school.

Steve:

True. But then second, the murderer used a candle to light the fuel leaking from the police unit in that one death seam sim. And it was very similar to the candle on the cupcake, which Lori made

Stephen:

for tree. I missed it being similar to the cupcake candle. I just assumed. It was a birthday candle because of the whole birthday thing. Happy death day thing. Yeah.

Steve:

And another Easter egg is entry, supposed a last loop where she fixes everything, including her relationship with Lori. Lori doesn't give her the cupcake because she may have been disoriented from tree's apology, but she still later releases John Tombs from his restraints, who then goes on in a text tree is before this was done to show. It was more than just needing an apology. She's still a psychopath. Yeah. tree. Having ensuring the cupcake with Carter at the end of that specific loop also indicates that Lori gave her the cupcake at a later point. or a tree possibly found it. Yeah.

Stephen:

And since after doing this loop so many times, she knows where everything is by this point. Like Carter's, Tylenol. Yeah. And things. She probably knows where her cupcake is too. So I could see her finding

Steve:

it. Yes. Now I'm not toxicologist, but how much poison would've needed to be in the one cupcake to kill.

Stephen:

So much so that even having it in her mouth freaked out. Lori. Yeah. Enough. Like just having it shoved in her, not even ingesting it. Freaked her out so much. Yeah. So I think a lot.

Steve:

Yes. Now Tree and Carter and a diner are watching the news report on the incident with Danielle doing an interview just for the publicity and that adds up. Yep. Carter starts to tell Tree that our situation reminds him of Groundhog Day, but she's never heard of it or Bill Murray. And while I have heard of Groundhog Day and Bill Murray, I also have never seen Groundhog Day. your

Stephen:

parents did such a disservice to you and your movie history in so many ways. Like not seeing the Indiana Jones movies, not seeing the Ghostbusters movies, not seeing the Back to the Future movies, not seeing Groundhog Day. I

Steve:

didn't see Star Wars until I was in like junior high or high

Stephen:

school. Okay. That's fine, but the others seem like a crime.

Steve:

Yeah. Well, Trey wakes up and here's the birthday ringtone again. No, Carter acts like she's just waking up hungover again, so tree starts to freak out. But Carter reveals he's just playing the world's meanest prank on her and that it is Tuesday the 19th. Oh, Carter. They laugh about it and kick Ryan out when he tries to come back in and they start kissing

Stephen:

because Ryan wanted to see. If he had gotten that fine vagina

Steve:

and he did now we also saw the alternate ending. Ugh.

Stephen:

So there was an original ending. Yep. Featured Teresa succumbing to her accumulated injuries after she kills off Lori, her real killer cuz we see her pass out Yeah. In

Steve:

her sorority room. So in the original script, she wakes up in the hospital after waking up from those injuries. Yep. She sees her father, she sees Carter. Yep. Everything's fine. Yep. And then in, after being told no painkillers Yep. Quote unquote nurse comes in to administer. Her painkillers and we find out that it was Stephanie, the doctor's wife, finally giving revenge for sleeping with her husband, thus entering another time loop the test audiences as well as you. When you watched, it reacted furiously to this ending feeling betrayed that the protagonist after becoming a better person, could not break free from her past. The sending was conceived as a way of leading the viewer to believe it was never going to end, and it was scrapped and reshot to the current theatrical ending as a. and the sequel also ignores the new ending because it opens with the scene where Ryan catches train, Carter kissing on the bed, and Carter tells him to get out.

Stephen:

So when I saw the original ending, I didn't see it as stirring a new loop or a loop at all. I saw it more as. She made it through all that and now she dies. For real. Yeah. That's how I saw it, which is what pissed me off even more. Yeah. Because I could have been okay with her fixing the loop one more time. Yeah. But, and not

Steve:

dying for not dying for real. Yeah. But final thoughts on the real ending and

Stephen:

the movie in general. I love it. I think it's f. Bravo. It was such a delight. It's another one of those movies like Megan and Violent Night and those movies that are exactly what it says it's going to be, and there is absolutely a place in cinema. For movies that are just

Steve:

fun. Yes, agreed. And this was a lot of fun and I love it very much. Yep. You know what else I love very much. Me? Yes. And our listeners. Oh, we'd love to hear what you think of Happy Death Day as well as this episode. You can do that by emailing us at happy life pod gmail.com. Or you

Stephen:

can get in touch with us on all the socials, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok at Happy Life

Steve:

Pod. And until next time, everybody stay happy.