The latest project masterminded by indie-horror production company Blumhouse (Get Out, Paranormal Activity, The Purge) is a joyous, punchy throwback to the teen slasher movies of the 1990s and early 2000s. For bratty sorority girl Tree (an endlessly watchable and witty Jessica Rothe), each morning begins the same way: she wakes up in an unfamiliar boy’s dorm room, on her birthday, takes a walk of shame across campus, and goes about her day until that evening, when somebody in a creepy baby mask murders her. In Groundhog Day fashion (a cinematic reference point the movie cheekily wears on its sleeve), she relives the same day again and again, locked in a miserable loop until she can figure out who is trying to kill her and why.
An elegantly simple and unapologetically derivative plot allows our heroine to become playfully resourceful with each relived day – and for Rothe to reveal new layers of her character. Classic horror movie locations (hospital corridors, car parks and creepy, deserted underpasses all feature), a handful of red herrings and a montage set to Demi Lovato’s empowerment anthem Confident come together in one of the most breezily enjoyable teen movies of recent years.
