Movie Review: Happy Death Day 2U

Happy Death Day 2U *** / *****

Directed by: Christopher Landon.

Written by: Christopher Landon.

Starring: Jessica Rothe (Tree Gelbman), Israel Broussard (Carter Davis), Phi Vu (Ryan Phan), Suraj Sharma (Samar Ghosh), Sarah Yarkin (Andrea “Dre” Morgan), Rachel Matthews (Danielle Bouseman), Ruby Modine (Lori Spengler), Steve Zissis (Dean Bronson), Charles Aitken (Gregory Butler), Laura Clifton (Stephanie Butler), Missy Yager (Julie Gelbman), Jason Bayle (David Gelbman).

 

I’m not sure I realized just how much I enjoyed the first Happy Death Day from 2017 until I saw the trailer for Happy Death Day 2U, and got excited about seeing them continue the story. In a way, the fact that the original film is precisely the type of film you should not be able to make a sequel to is precisely the reason why it is the perfect film to make a sequel to. Like the original film, Happy Death Day 2U doesn’t take itself seriously – at all – it’s a goofy horror movie riff that is almost more comedy than horror. And the sequel adds in goofy sci fi to the mix as well – not real sci fi, but 1980s teen comedy sci fi to it. Like the original, the ambition of the film is almost shockingly low – and you kind of realize half way through both films that they are going to somewhat squander an ingenious premise because the filmmakers aren’t willing to push themselves too far. And yet, both films are also a surprisingly fun time at the movies. If you cannot enjoy yourself watching these films, there’s something wrong with you.

 

In the opening scenes of Happy Death Day 2U, we think the film is going to change focus from our heroine in the first film – Tree (Jessica Rothe) – and instead focus on her now boyfriend, Carter’s (Israel Broussard) roommate Ryan (Phi Vu) – as he seems to be going through the same thing she went through in the first film – basically being stalked by a knife wielding maniac in a Baby Mask – and every time that psycho baby kills him, he wakes up and starts the same day over again. But the movie quickly dispatches this premise – and launches into a different one – involving his science experiment, which created the time loop in the first place, and has now transported Tree to another part of the multi-verse, which is very similar to the one she just left, but not exactly. And once again, she keeps dying and resetting the time loop – but this time, well, I’ll just let you figure that out.

 

The movie is goofy in its depiction of the multiverse, and leaves some fairly basic questions not only unanswered, but also completely unasked (if Tree is transported to another dimension, what happened to the Tree in that dimension – and everyone else for that matter at the scene of the explosion?). In a way, I kind of wanted to see the film follow through on the beginning – because the identity of Ryan’s killer (revealed about 10 minutes into the film) opens up a wealth of possibilities that the film just kind of ignores. I get it through – Jessica Rothe is the star here – she is terrific in both films, working her ass off in a role that requires a hell of lot of emotional whiplash from her, and she makes it all look easy. She is a movie star in the making to be sure.

 

Yes, the film is goofy as hell – but it knows that, and fully embraces its goofiness. This is even less of a horror film than the first film is, but is perhaps even more fun as a result, because it really leans into being a little more than a goofy good time. Yes, the ambitions are low – but the film exceeds them.