Director: Christopher Landon.
Starring: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine.
I found this both appealing and intriguing when seeing the trailer for the first time, thinking, whilst not being wholly original with obvious influences from Groundhog Day and modern slasher movies, most notably Scream (there’s some common ground behind the scenes here too). It looked clever and somewhat a fun idea to explore. The story on paper must have looked great.
Landon who’s the writer behind majority of the Paranormal Activity franchise, director of Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse takes on the story of a college girl who’s repeatedly murdered only to wake up the same morning and relive the entire day until she’s, again murdered in a different way.
Now the key to breaking this curse, much like Groundhog Day, isn’t as obvious as some might find. And what could have remained a simple, workable story, it tries to be too smart and unpredictable which ruins a good ending and ends up wanting it to get over and done with. It becomes annoyingly lame and borderline silly which had me sympathising with the lead character, wishing this would be the final death and send her to heaven or hell, unbothered by which.
It can’t be easy for both crew and cast filming the same day repeatedly, each scene having different outcomes and consequences so the actual capture and piecing together isn’t bad. The performances from a fairly unknown cast isn’t that bad either with Rothe shining most of the film.
It’s like Scream crossed with Groundhog Day with a dashing of Butterfly Effect which sounds like a brilliant idea for a film, though sadly the messy anti-climatic conclusion just doesn’t give the idea any great justice.
Running Time: 7
The Cast: 5
Performance: 6
Direction: 7
Story: 5
Script: 5
Creativity: 6
Soundtrack: 5
Job Description: 4
The Extra Bonus Point: 4
50% 5/10
