Horror Movie Review: Happy Death Day 2U (2019)

Happy Death Day 2U is a 2019 American science fiction comedy slasher film written and directed by Christopher Landon. It stars Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Suraj Sharma, and Steve Zissis. The film is a sequel to 2017’s Happy Death Day.

College student Ryan wakes up in his car on Tuesday, September 19. Returning to his dorm room, he walks in on his roommate Carter and Carter’s girlfriend, Tree. He resumes work on an experimental quantum reactor with fellow students Samar and Dre. After Bronson, the school dean, shuts down the project for triggering several power outages. Ryan is murdered by someone dressed as Babyface and wakes up again on Tuesday the 19th. Tree explains her experience reliving Monday the 18th, and she and Carter agree to help Ryan. They learn the reactor was responsible for creating the loop. The new Babyface tracks Ryan down, but Tree unmasks him to reveal another Ryan. The second Ryan warns that the original must die for the loop to close. Terrified, Ryan activates the reactor, releasing a powerful energy pulse that knocks everyone unconscious.

Tree wakes up in Carter’s room on Monday the 18th, and relives her original time loop. But she soon realizes things are different after finding out that Carter is now dating a nicer Danielle. Ryan theorizes that the reactor caused Tree to drift into another dimension. When Tree learns her mother is still alive in this new reality, she decides to stay.

That night, Tree goes to the hospital to intercept serial killer John Tombs before he escapes but is confronted by a police officer. Babyface kills the officer, and Tree runs into Lori at the elevator, realizing she isn’t the killer in this reality. Lori tells Tree that Babyface cannot be Tombs because she just took him in for surgery. Babyface stabs Lori, then chases Tree to the roof, where she accidentally falls to her death. She wakes at the beginning of her loop and demands that Ryan and his team help her escape it, requiring they test dozens of algorithms. At Carter’s suggestion, Tree serves as the group’s recorder, killing herself at the end of each day so they can start again.

Can Tree escape this endlessly nightmare once again or is she truly going to be stuck this time?

If you ever wanted to feel as if you yourself were stuck in Groundhog Day then watch this movie franchise back to back, truly Happy Death 2U is the same thing again. I was actually intrigued during the opening, we start off with watching Ryan experience the same day again and you think, huh, maybe it’s something different. But, no, fuck that, let’s just do the same movie twice.

Happy Death Day 2U is at least a good time, it has heart in there and the main storyline is well told and continued over from the first film. Fortunately, Jessica Rothe (Tree) is a great actor and performs her role believably. Although for a sequel you would expect her to take her performance to another level but she never does. Just like Happy Death Day, the sequel lacks gore and its deaths are presented in a fun and silly way. This makes it not much of a horror film.

I actually feel dumber for having watched this movie to be honest, although it was a fun time its post credit scene was just ridiculous. A third movie has been announced and I’m curious to watch it even though it looks like a load of trash. Additionally, Happy Death 2U is just constantly extended. There’s a nice little moment where it’s going to end and everything is all good, I’m satisfied but then they extended it by another 10 minutes with pointless shenanigans. Did they need to add extra time or something?

Overall, Happy Death 2U plays it safe. It uses the same locations, characters, even the same day. Adding another dimension doesn’t make it more interesting when it’s almost identical to the original one. For a mindless chick flick, it’s decent but not a great horror. I would say this franchise is primarily a comedy and I’m not sure the original even needed this sequel, in any dimension.