Happy Death Day: How Many Times Does Tree Die?

With unexpectedly solid reviews and an impressive $105 million box office haul, it's safe to say that Happy Death Day is one of the year's most pleasant cinematic surprises.

Taking the time loop premise popularised by Bill Murray's Groundhog Day and transposing it onto the horror genre is a genius idea, one which has had the movie's fans desperate to know: just how how many times does Jessica Rothe's protagonist Tree get killed before breaking the loop?

In a similar vein to our legendary investigation of Bill Murray's time spent stuck in Groundhog Day's time loop, it's time to dig deep into Happy Death Day and figure out just how many times Tree really bites the bullet before defeating the killer.

But first, some housekeeping: this article will assume that there aren't any "off days" where Tree does nothing with her time and just waits to be killed in her bedroom, something backed up by the fact that Tree's physical condition deteriorates every time she dies, so she'd certainly want to avoid that.

It's also worth noting that, unlike Groundhog Day, the film makes virtually no implication that Tree attempts to overtly better herself or learn any time-consuming skills while trapped in the loop, so there won't be any days or deaths added on for that reason.

Breaking Tree's harrowing ordeal down into its various stages, it's time to take stock of just how many times she died before finally breaking free...