10 Great Horrors with TERRIBLE Premises

5. Happy Death Day

This Groundhog Day rip-off follows a college student called Tree who's caught in a time-loop where she's killed again and again by a masked maniac.

It goes without saying that unabashedly copying the premise of a classic comedy isn't a smart move.

But not only is Happy Death Day cleverer than it has any right to be, it has a surprising amount of character development. At first, it's hard to root for Tree since she comes across as an obnoxious trainwreck from the get-go. After recognising her circumstances are her own doing throughout her many killings, Tree slowly grows into a decent person who cares about others.

Rather than playing out like a generic slasher, Happy Death Day functions more like a detective story, with Tree spending each day building intel and memorising her suspects' movements. Since the film wouldn't have much tension if the time-loop continued indefinitely, it was a wise decision to mention Tree can only die a certain amount of times before she's dead for good. Also, there's a clever red herring which is sure to fool almost anyone on a first viewing. 

On the surface, Happy Death Day looks like another gimmicky slasher. In reality, it's among the most creative horror-comedies over the last decade.