HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U – Review

(from left) Jessica Rothe as Tree Gelbman, Israel Broussard as Carter and Phi Vu as Ryan in “Happy Death Day 2U,” written and directed by Christopher Landon. Photo Credit: Michele K. Short/Universal Pictures. © 2019 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

In time for Valentine’s Day comes HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U, a sequel to the 2017 horror/comedy HAPPY DEATH DAY. College student Tree (Jessica Rothe) is back for another day of repeated deaths, but this time it is someone else stuck in the loop of a repeated day. Nonetheless, it is still fierce sorority girl Tree, who went through this before, who must solve the mystery and stop the murderous loop.

Audiences don’t really have to have seen the original to follow the story in the sequel, as HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U provides a quick little recap of the first film, as Tree explains the situation to the new guy caught in the death day time loop. Briefly, in the first film, Tree keeps waking up on her birthday, in the dorm room of a guy she met at a party the night before but does not remember. The rude, self-centered Tree makes her way back to her sorority and goes through her day, only to be killed by someone in a demon baby mask (the college’s weird sports mascot) on the way to another party. But then, like in the Bill Murray comedy GROUNDHOG DAY, she wakes up again on the morning of her birthday and relives the day. The premise, of course, is that Tree has to solve her own murder and prevent it, to get to the next day.

This time the victim is Ryan (Phi Vu), the roommate of Carter (Israel Broussard), in whose dorm room Tree kept waking up in the first film. We quickly learn Ryan is part of a trio of students working on science project that caused his troubles as well as Tree’s. Naturally, the relentless Tree sets out the solve the mystery, with the help of Carter and Ryan.

HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U is placed firmly in the long genre tradition of horror comedy films, and seems aimed mostly at a younger audience with a taste for horror films as date movies. As a sequel, it is not as inventive as the first one but it is not bad either. As genre stuff, it does not offer much for more sophisticated audiences but for those looking for basic popcorn entertainment, it works well enough.

Christopher Landon directed both films, which are from Blumhouse, the studio that gave us GLASS, THE PURGE and GET OUT. While neither HAPPY DEATH DAY films are anywhere near the same league as GET OUT by any means, the first film was a hit and it was rather clever, recycling the idea behind GROUNDHOG DAY while playing with horror film tropes. The best twist was the sorority girl character at the center of it, who, instead of being a screaming victim, is a don’t-mess-with-me hellion.

There is plenty of death and violence in both films but not a lot of blood and gore, with even less in the sequel. HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U adds a new film reference to the GROUNDHOG DAY idea, mixing it with BACK TO THE FUTURE. With the help of Ryan and his nerdy science major friends, Tree time-travels back to her own death day to try to fix the problem, needing more than one trip. The time travel means some scenes from the original are repeated, but instead of re-shooting them from a new point of view, the sequel just lifts the scenes from the first film, both a clever idea and a cost-saving one.

Jessica Rothe reprises her role, and the cast of the first film returns as well, with new characters added. Rothe again does a nice job as the relentless Tree. Like the Bill Murray character, Rothe’s character goes from a jerk to a better person in the first film, and builds on that growth in the sequel, becoming even more resourceful. Broussard is likable again as Carter, with Phi Vu fine as Ryan, as are Suraj Sharma and Sarah Yarkin as his comically nerdy friends. Rachel Matthews is even more obnoxious as sorority president Danielle, Ruby Modine remains mysterious as Tree’s mismatched roommate Lori, and Charles Aitken is even ickier as Prof. Gregory.

For those looking for a scary/funny movie for Valentine’ Day date, HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U would do nicely. HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U opens Wednesday, Feb. 13, at multiple area theaters.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars