10 Smartest Decisions In Slasher Horror Movie History

3. Learning From Your Mistakes #2 - Happy Death Day

Happy Death Day Jessica Rothe
Universal

From director Christopher Landon, 2017's Happy Death was a breath of fresh air for the horror genre.

With Jessica Rothe as Theresa Gelbman, the picture centres on the absolute worst sort of Groundhog Dog experience possible - a Groundhog Dog where you are killed time and time again.

Clever, humourous, and with a nice splash of gore, Happy Death Day found Rothe's Tree having to avoid history repeating itself each and every time she awakens, with Tree using her smarts to avoid dying in the same way as the previous day. Of course, the catch here is that a new death ultimately awaits Tree each day.

Not to pinpoint one particular idea, per se, but the smartest decision that Tree makes in Happy Death Day was to constantly learn from her mistakes. I'm not talking about Sidney Prescott unloading an extra bullet into someone's skull here, but more how Tree approaches each new day with a fresh perspective as she looks to implement a new plan of attack based on how she was killed the day prior.

Eventually, all of these different roads and rationales lead Tree to the lightbulb moment where she finally realises that it's her roommate Lori who has been behind all of this trauma.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.