‘We’re scientists. We solve the problem…’
Happy Death Day was quietly one of the most commercially successful horror films of the decade and also one of the most entertaining. While it didn’t boast the gravitas of Get Out or the shock value of Hereditary, Christopher Landon’s film still managed to subvert the slasher genre whilst remaining a loving homage to the time bending soft sci-fi of Groundhog Day and the knowing irony of Scream. Landon’s sequel leans more into the former than the latter and it is all the better for it.
Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) once again finds herself stuck in a time loop and once again she has to rely on the charming but bumbling Carter (Israel Broussard) to get her out of it. While this could have been a repetitive retread of the original, Landon and his cast instead dive into the time travel aspect of the story at the expense of the slasher element. This means that Happy Death Day 2U isn’t a horror film, not really. What it is though is funny, smart and entertaining.
Rothe is excellent as Tree and it is her all action performance that ensures that things never get too stale. The casting is key throughout in fact and the young cast are clearly having a blast all the way through. As with the first movie, Happy Death Day 2U wears its influences on its sleeve – this time referencing Back to the Future 2 – but as with Stranger Things, when that golden age of cinema is evoked so successfully, there can be no complaints.
Ultimately, Happy Death Day 2U is yet another welcome addition into the Blumhouse Productions roster and can also claim to be one of the better horror/sci-fi sequels released in the last decade. Sadly, there isn’t a third entry in the franchise in the works at the moment, but Christopher Landon has left us with two of the more inventive horror films of recent years to enjoy.