(Reviewed by John Glennie)
Watching the trailer it appeared as if this movie was going to be Groundhog Day on some pretty nasty, hallucinatory steroids! I was prepared for the worst but was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. There was horror, drama and even a few laughs.
The movie centres around 3 science-geek college students who are building a device that appears to keep time in a loop. Ryan Phan (Phi Vu) wakes up in his car, returns to his dorm room – to the angst of his room-mate Carter (Israel Broussard, The Bling Ring) who is in bed with his girlfriend Tree … no, wait … is it his girlfriend or is her room-mate his girlfriend? Anyway, Ryan decides to head for the science lab only to be informed that their project has been cancelled by the dean due to the power blackouts it causes. Mulling over this decision, Ryan receives text messages that draw him out of the room and to his eventual death … but then wakes up in his car again on the same day.
Returning to his dorm room (and the same scenario) he complains about the above events. This alarms Tree (Jessica Rothe, La La Land) who had the same deja-vu experiences previously where her mother was killed and she kept getting murdered. The illustrious science project has created another time loop and Tree has to find a way to determine the identity of the killer and then get the geeks to close the loop.
After her first few brutal deaths, Tree discovers that dying by her own methods over and over is surprisingly easier than the dangers associated with seeking the murderer then meeting a violent death at his/her hands. The creative ways she finds to kill herself provide the audience with some humour in the movie. The confusion over Tree or her room-mate being Carter’s girlfriend comes up in this time loop, so Tree has to decide which time period she wants to return to.
It is a similar theme to movies such as Groundhog Dayand Edge of Tomorrowwith a very predictable outcome, but it was still entertaining and worth seeing.
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