Movie review: Happy Death Day

“Happy Death Day” tells the story of Tree Gelbman, a college student who continuously relives the night of her murder. When Tree recounts her previous experiences, she attempts to discover the identity of her masked killer.

This story may draw inspiration from the 1993 comedy film, “Groundhog Day,” but similar stories have also existed since Ancient Greece.

One of these stories appears in Book XI of “The Odyssey,” when Homer retells the myth of Sisyphus, the king of Ephyra.

As the myth goes, Sisyphus narrowly escapes death by deceiving Hades, the god of the underworld. Enraged, Hades sentences Sisyphus to an eternal punishment of hard labor. Sisyphus goes on to spend his days endlessly pushing a stone up a hill, which repeatedly falls backwards under its own weight.