What do you get when you combine the Halloween series, Trick r’ Treat (2007), and Friday the 13th, then sprinkle a bit of Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream on top? You get a modern indie horror that wears its influences proudly on its sleeve, and isn’t afraid to show it.
Writer/Director Brittney Greer comes from a background in television production, but is clearly more interested in horror film, as you will surmise from her debut feature length writing/directing debut Happy Halloween.
In this indie horror slasher drama, high school student Hadley Briggs (Emma Reinagel) returns to school a year after surviving a Halloween night prank-gone-wrong involving her ex-boyfriend Kurt (Seth Sims). The town was founded on October 31st / Halloween, and is just days away from their huge 300th annual Halloween birthday celebration. A wrench gets thrown into the town’s plans when kids start getting turned into Halloween decorations. Could Hadley’s ex-boyfriend be out of the mental hospital and back for the attack?
After a requisite opening slasher scene, we get a short credits sequence that’s highly reminiscent of Halloween 4 (1988), comprised of multiple shots of Autumn and Halloween decor in the yards and on the homes of a small mid-western town drenched in Fall foliage. But more surprisingly, what we hear over the top is soundtrack music that’s clearly based directly on “Laurie’s Theme” from Halloween (1978).
“…high school student Hadley returns to school a year after surviving a Halloween night prank-gone-wrong involving her ex-boyfriend.”
Further, the decor on the homes seems highly influenced by the unique decor from Trick r’ Treat (2007). That decor style continues throughout the movie, and with one house in particular, it looks like they decided to take the overabundance of Jack-O-Lanterns to a comical level. If you thought there were a lot in Trick r’ Treat, this will seem almost like a parody. Although I can’t judge anybody – I’ve been highly influenced by the Halloween decor from Trick r’ Treat myself, and you will always find dozens of pumpkins around my house in the Fall. To quote the coroner (Curtis Stout) at the end of the film, “Some people just love Halloween a little too much.”
Lead actress Emma Reinagel delivers a bulletproof performance as our main character and final girl. She has the attitude and expressiveness to portray exactly what we need out of this character’s arc. I could see a big future for her in horror.
But wait, that’s not all! Emma also co-wrote and performed one of the two vocal songs that appear in the movie, “Coming Back For You”. I dare say this song is the highlight of the entire film. It appears both over the closing credits, and in Emma’s ear buds as she’s walking from the car to her school in the beginning of the movie. I could see this song on the soundtrack for Return of the Living Dead (1985).
Just a warning… Don’t turn the movie off until you see the mid-credits scene on the river.
"…Some people just love Halloween a little too much."
