Happy Death Day, The First Purge and Doomsday (movie reviews)

How do Happy Death Day (2017), Doomsday (2008) and The First Purge (2018) measure up in the jam-packed horror genre?

The horror genre of today covers a vast array of movies, from the silly teen comedies of scantily clad females running UP the stairs instead of out of the house, to the psychological horrors like The Babadook (review here), the killer clowns (see Terrifier in previous link also) to the hack and slash horrors like (Jig) Saw and gothic horror like The Lodgers - filmed in Wexford of course. Gone are the days of the classic Hitchcock horror, suggesting more than it shows with the likes of The Birds or Psycho. 

Anyway, to get to the reviews, let’s start with Happy Death Day.

The plot is simple and un-original, basically it’s a teen comedy-horror based on the Groundhog Day classic. It follows a college student – played by Jessica Rothe who is murdered on her birthday and begins reliving the day over and over again, at which point she sets out to find the killer and stop her death. It had huge success in movie theatres, so much so a sequel has been announced for February 2019 Happy Death Day 2U.

Whilst unoriginal, it’s still a great premise and the lunacy of trying to avoid the same mistakes brings a laugh each time. The imaginative ways in which Theresa "Tree" Gelbman is killed each time is sometimes gruesome but always entertaining. It’s a well written screenplay that keeps you guessing all the way through. On several occasions we think she has solved the situation to be hurtled back into the scenario again. Eventually she solves who is trying to murder her – or does she???

The comedy is very good making the movie a hit with teens – similar to the style used in the Scream movies, starting all the way back in 1996 – and lightens the mood. An old Shakespearean trick that still works today. The sound track by Bear McCreary is also really good and makes the movie for me. McCreary stated that he wanted "a schizophrenic, dual personality, with light-hearted comedic scoring on one end, and genuinely terrifying soundscapes on the other" and it definitely works. Bear is also the creator of the soundtracks for the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica and the Walking Dead.

In summary, it’s a fun horror movie, not too gruesome (e.g. Saw) written well with a good soundtrack. I give Happy Death Day an 8 out of 10 planets.

The First Purge.

I’ve always loved the premise of The Purge movies, a small glimpse into a World without law and order. What would the great U … S … of A be like without civilisation and rule of law? It’s a stark picture we are presented with and from an anthropological point of view an interesting one. There have been many conversations about the premise on line. 

So, the plot. In previous movies The Purge (2013), The Purge Anarchy (2014) & The Purge Election Year (2016) we follow a 12 hour period where all law is suspended and crime up to and including murder is allowed. A huge business has sprung up around Purge Day with, of course, the wealthy being able to afford to barricade their homes and by any means necessary keep their families safe. This has the knock on effect that the poorer neighbourhoods suffer the most, with the most crime, damage to property and horrible acts of violence being experienced by the people in these areas. It’s a different concept of the rich get richer and the poor get poorer except it’s a social experiment of the rich living and the poorer dying.

So, let’s get into the First Purge. We get to see the genesis of this great social experiment. America's third political party, the New Founding Fathers of America, comes to power and conducts an experiment: no laws for 12 hours on Staten Island. No one has to stay on the island, but $5,000 is given to anyone who does. So, straight away we see this is aimed at the poorest in society. Help us with our experiment (you might die, be raped, mutilated etc) and we will pay you. The participants are fitted out with cameras and GPS locators.

Different groups band together to help each other. The local drug dealers stay also, some to Purge the competition and others end up helping some of their friends and family in the community. NFFA members Arlo Sabian and Dr. May Updale are heading up the project. Half way through the experiment, the statistics and viewing isn’t going as planned so Sabian orders trained mercenaries (very well equipped) to start killing. Dr. May realises what’s happening and seals her own demise. (thus laying the foundation for the government’s heavy handed involvement in future movies). 

The nitty-gritty! My favourite part about this movie (strangely enough) is the story - how the Purge came into existence so most viewers don’t really care about that. It relies on lots of killing by people wearing masks. Nothing original there. It also employs the cheap tactic of characters jumping out of nowhere but it’s done well enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. The soundtrack is completely forgettable.  The stand out character is Skeletor – a drug crazed lunatic who is interviewed at the start of the experiment and plans on “Purging” his demons. He pays a pivotal role in the story. If you liked the other Purge movies you will like it but I give it a lack lustre 6 out of 10 planets.

Finally, my favourite of all three – an oldie but a goodie – Doomsday (2008) 

Anytime there is a British production of a horror / post-apocalypse / dystopian theme this is enough to get me interested. Think of Children of Men or ITV’s The Last Train (1999) or BBC’s Survivors (2008) and you know what I’m talking about.

Take note - this movie is rated R and it well deserves this label. It’s violent, bloody and gruesome with bad language, torture, cannibalism and sexual content, so it runs the whole gauntlet. Don’t watch it if you’re not into it. Be Warned !!!.

The plot - The film takes place in the future in Scotland, which has been quarantined because of a deadly virus. When the virus is found, 27 years later in London, political leaders send a team led by Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) to Scotland to find a possible cure. This is a great creation both written and directed by Neil Marshall,who has had a massive career directing other great movies like Dog Soldiers and The Descent and to top it all he is also an episodic director for Game of Thrones. Watching Doomsday you get a similar feeling you do watching 28 Days Later – an eeriness in recognising the locations and the feel of a British production but this is no Coronation Street.

The team, instead of finding a cure find a huge gang of cannibals with awesome fighting skills, and a viciousness to match the zombies in Train to Busan. Most of the team are killed with the couple remaining being tortured for information to help the cannibals break the quarantine. The movie then segways into Sol – the leader of the cannibals, played by Craig Conway who was also the main crawler in The Descent, is an extremely violent and hardcore character – changing tack from his information gathering torture to attending a party/BBQ where one of the captured team is the main course. 

This part of the movie is not for that feint-hearted but the music, special effects and visceral displays are fantastic. A much better example of what happens when the rule of law is suspended (Purge take note). The costumes are amazing, the make-up is brilliant and the staging is huge. This isn’t a pretty movie and is unapologetic in it’s mish-mash of genre’s but if you can get over that I think you will enjoy it. “It’s a wild, bloody ride at its core and it’s incredibly easy to enjoy the film” (source).  

The acting is solid (Rhona Mitra, Craig Conway & Andy McDowell take a bow) all the way through and the special effects and especially the car chase at the end is brilliant. As the movie is a little predictable and it’s a bit of a mish-mash, I still give Doomsday a solid 8 out of  10 planets.

Fini For Now.

John The Captain Ryan