Discuss Happy Death Day
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The nod to Groudhog Day... (mild spoiler)
posted by Daddie0STAFFMOD on October 30, 2017 at 3:42 PM
...was a smart move. It's funny that they waited until the very end (I kept expecting a side-reference earlier given all the other hints about the film's own self-awareness throughout), but when they did address it directly I thought it was brilliant. Had they not done so there would have been so many "it's just Ground Hog Day" comments and criticisms. In fact, having chosen to directly address the issue allows us (OK, me) to assess not the similarities but the differences in this film. All in all, a good time and well done.
Reply by Innovator
on October 30, 2017 at 5:48 PM
The Babysitter made the same nod to Home Alone. Do you think Hollywood is starting a new trend of making horror adaptations of 80s and 90s comedies?
Reply by Daddie0
on October 30, 2017 at 10:11 PM
Well, with all the reboots it's easy to say Hollywood is out of ideas.
There, I said it. See how easy that was?
Reply by Daddie0
on October 30, 2017 at 10:11 PM
BTW, I didn't catch the nod to Home Alone...but I saw someone reference it.
Reply by Innovator
on October 30, 2017 at 10:50 PM
It was when Cole was being chased by Max. Max said something like this ain't Home Alone. Except, it pretty much was.
Reply by Innovator
on October 30, 2017 at 11:46 PM
Low budget Horror Films have the biggest ROI of any movie genre (I did the math, and calculated that they can return up to 30x their budgets), and Hollywood is starting to catch on that Blumehouse has been printing money all year because of them. So expect more low budget horror/comedies to come from other studios in the future. Genre bending to satisfy more audiences is a no-brainer. So I wouldn't say running out of ideas, but more banking on sure things.
There's 56 low budget horror films this year alone. I wonder why no one has started complaining that's all Hollywood makes these days? There, I said it. See how easy that was?
Reply by cpheonix
on January 11, 2018 at 6:24 PM
Having just seen The Babysitter...it is not really similar at all to Home Alone.
I can't recall anyone saying this ain't Home Alone either but if that was a nod, it was nowhere near as directly referenced as Happy Death Day's to Groundhog Day.
Reply by gspgreases
on March 26, 2018 at 8:01 AM
I thought it was pretty cool to mention GHD in the end. The movie was really fun and that reference was the icing on the cake.
Reply by Renovatio
on March 26, 2018 at 9:20 AM
I think the reason horror doesn't receive that criticism is twofold... First, horror movies aren't advertised and marketed as heavily as the big comicbook movies. So people don't feel it's in their faces as much. This is because horror filmgoing is a habit and horror fans aren't precious about seeking their thrills and watch loads of horror movies per year so it's easy for these low budget movies to hit their revenue targets through word of mouth as we've discussed in detail before (your analysis was solid if i recall correctly).
The second reason is that they aren't distributed as heavily, per movie. So when you go to the theatre, any individual horror movie is less likely to dominate the number of screens and showtimes the way the big comicbook, video game and CGi cartoon movies do. My local multiplex has 4 screens dedicated to Pacific Rim this week, but is also showing 2 horror movies with one screen each. Next week Pacific Rim will still show on two screens, at least, but there will be two completely different horror movies with one screen each 😉
Black Panther still has two screens, even though it's been out for 6 weeks or so.
So, non-fans of the genre, or people who have already seen the movie aren't going to resent horror movies the way they do the big kids, comicbook and video game movies...
If only other genres could emulate horror movie's model in some way. Develop an audience that is willing to give movies a chance and develop filmmaking that is solid and with a high level of craft and enjoyment.
Reply by Daddie0
on March 26, 2018 at 3:27 PM
Agreed. That said, I'm not a horror movie guy, I just happened to catch this one because it was in the buzz. I like to think great films find an audience, but with movies ultimately being a profit-generating business (it is what it is) I'm not sure there's a passion or tolerance to risk it. Or at least not often.