Happy Death Day 2U

2017’s Happy Death Day was a stealth hit, and one I’m ashamed to say I missed first time around.  This sequel has just as much black comedy as the first film, but tones down some of the slasher-horror elements to bring in more sci-fi themes.  The result is a sequel that’s just as original and entertaining, but in no way a re-tread of the first film.

Premise:  Having successfully survived the events of Monday 18th and broken the time loop she was trapped in, Tree (Jessica Rothe) looks forward to spending some time with her new boyfriend Carter (Israel Broussard).  But soon Ryan (Phi Vu) finds himself stalked by another Babyface killer, and suddenly Tree has a lot more to worry about than a simple time loop…

Review:

I completely missed Happy Death Day when it came out on 2017, and only actually discovered it very recently.  If you’ve not seen it, I highly recommend you do – it’s an incredibly creative and fresh spin on the slasher-horror genre, combined with a blackly comic college comedy, built around the central concept of a girl (Tree, played by Jessica Rothe in her breakthrough role) who has to relive a horror film day-after-day after becoming trapped in a time loop.  It’s effectively Clueless meets Scream meets Groundhog Day, and if you’ve not seen it, you probably should do so before you read any further (and certainly before you see Happy Death Day 2U, because the sequel will make no sense to you if you’ve not seen the first film).

I really enjoyed Happy Death Day’s blend of black comedy and horror thrills, but when they announced they were making a sequel, I did wonder whether what started as a fresh and original concept would soon become endlessly rehashed into monotony.  I mean, as fun as the first film was, you could imagine the concept wearing thin very quickly if it was just another girl-dies-repeatedly-in-time-loop-until-she-solves-murder plot.

“…returning director Christopher Landon decides to go big or go home…”

Thankfully, returning director Christopher Landon (who also takes over solo writing duties this time around) seems to have been fully aware of the dangers of simply regurgitating the plot from the first film, and so instead decides to go big or go home.  As a result, although there are still slasher-horror elements to Happy Death Day 2U, they start to take a backseat to some bigger concepts, as the film series begins to delve into what caused Tree to become trapped in a time loop in the first film.

Christopher Landon said in interviews back in 2017 that he had an explanation for what caused the time loop, but he was saving it for a potential sequel, and with hindsight, I think that was a really smart decision.  Because the first film was much more of a slasher-horror film, the audience’s enjoyment of that film wasn’t lessened by not knowing the cause of the time loop (and after all, time loops often are left unexplained, just like in the grandfather of all time loop films, Groundhog Day).  By keeping the explanation for the second film, it meant that the first film could concentrate on delivering slasher-horror thrills, while the sequel goes in a far more sci-fi focused direction.

“…doubles down on the sci-fi concepts & comedy elements…”

And in that respect, Happy Death Day 2U really swings for the fences, bringing in all sorts of sci-fi concepts like divergent time lines, quantum physics and parallel universes.  Just as the first film proudly highlighted the similarities between its events and Groundhog Day in actual dialogue, the sequel is equally open about taking inspiration from films like Back to the Future Part 2, where events from the first film are revisited in a very different way than before.

Happy Death Day 2U also doubles down on the comedy elements.  Just like the first film, it still retains its slick sense of black comedy and its acerbic dialogue, but this time it also brings in some more traditional college-campus-style comedy, including a scheme to distract the college dean which incorporates elements of slapstick and farce.

“…Jessica Rothe remains a revelation & once again carries the film…”

As before, the young cast of largely unknown actors do a great job.  Jessica Rothe remains a revelation as the main protagonist Tree, who continues to grow and develop even following her 180-degree character turn in the first film.  Rothe manages to convince in both the comedy and the dramatic/emotional moments, and once again carries the film.  Israel Broussard continues to give an earnest performance as Tree’s nascent boyfriend Carter, but for me, the comedic highlight outside of Rothe is still Rachel Matthews as queen bee sorority sister Danielle.  Because of the various time-bending shenanigans involved, a number of characters from the first film also make welcome reappearances, although some of the new characters introduced in this second film don’t really have enough to do to make a huge impact.

Overall, this is the kind of film that is likely to only have niche appeal.  If you’re a fan of “proper” horror films, you’ll probably be disappointed that Happy Death Day 2U starts to move focus away from the slasher-horror elements (although they are still there).  That said, if you are a fan of “proper” horror films, you probably thought the first Happy Death Day was too watered down anyway.  The truth is, these films have always been something that falls a little bit outside a neat pigeonhole – the first was a horror-comedy with a time loop spin, and the second is a sci-fi-comedy with horror elements – but, perhaps most importantly, both are inventive, original, and a lot of fun.