Happy Death Day 2U

Director - Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, Freaky)

Starring - Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day, Valley Girl), Israel Broussard (Extinction, Fear the Walking Dead), and Phi Vu (Logan, Preacher)

Release Date - 2019

Genre - Horror/Sci-Fi

Tagline - "Death makes a killer comeback"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     Back in October Blumhouse sent over their new blu release which was a box set of 10 of their most memorable horror titles.  I had seen a few of them but most of them were new watches for me.  The set was surprisingly fun and I found myself enjoying most of the titles I slept on.  One that really stood out to me was the horror comedy Happy Death Day directed by Christopher Landon and starring Jessica Rothe.  A few days after watching it I decided to order the sequel on blu to check out when I had time.  Well, I forgot about it until I decided to watch Yummy.  When I grabbed the blu I saw that HDD2U was sitting under it and decided to have a double feature.  This follow up was not as good as the original but it was still fun in it's own way.

      The film picks up after the first one with Tree (Rothe) in bed with Carter (Broussard) when Carter's roommate Ryan (Vu) comes in.  Carter makes him leave and that's when his day gets strange.  He finds out that his science experiment is banned by the dean and then he is stalked and murdered by someone wearing a baby mask.  He awakens in his car with serious deja vu.  he goes back through his morning again and tells Carter about what happened.  Tree tells him about what happened to her and they discover that it was Ryan's project that caused the events of the first film.  While trying to fix what he started he accidentally sends Tree to a parrallell universe where she has to work with Ryan there to fix it and set everything back in motion while dying over and over.

     I had heard a lot of great things about HDD2U and most that loved the first film talked about how fun this follow up was so I had high hopes for it.  The film was fun and I enjoyed it but it just wasn't on the same level as the first film.  The film took a dive from horror comedy to sci-fi and did not have the same atmosphere as the first.  The acting in this one is more of the same from the first film.  It takes some time for you to warm up to the characters.  When the film begins you find yourself not liking the characters at all so you don't give a fuck about them living or dying.  However, you start to like them as the film progresses.  The cast does a decent enough job with their characters but I feel like the writing does affect the acting in this film.  The story for this one is a more expanded look at the first film.  The first was a fun horror comedy with a time loop that was a lot of fun.  The tone and atmosphere really worked for that film.  However, with the expansion of that story we leave what feels like a horror comedy behind and move into a more sci-fi focused film with less horror and laughs.  It is a bit of a repeat of the first film but expanding it does make it fun.  It also leaves it open to the possibilities of future installments.  Finally, the film has several death scenes but the deaths are very underwhelming.  Most are stabbings with a little blood and very little practical effects but there is a few decent looking gun wounds.  Overall, Happy Death Day 2U is a fun follow up to a surprise hit from Blumhouse.  It's not as entertaining as the original but it is a worthy follow up.  Fans of the first should really check this one out.