Director Christopher Landon released the sequel to Happy Death Day, titled “Happy Death Day 2U” on Feb 13. The beginning of the movie follows Tree, played by actress Jessica Rothe, who was the main character of the previous installment. She discovers that she is currently living her same nightmare but in a different universe. As she goes to fix this repetitive reality of being killed over and over, she quickly realizes that there are key details that are different compared to her past reality.
Her boyfriend named Carter, played by actor Israel Broussard, isn’t her boyfriend in this other universe, and is dating one of the “disliked” sorority leaders Danielle, played by actress Rachel Matthews. Danielle, in the past reality is portrayed as being very condescending and rude, but now she has changed into become a positive role model who is actively kind to everyone she meets.
At first, I was really confused how they would make a second installment of this movie. At the ending of the first movie, all the questions viewers end up pondering are answered, and there is no curiosity left. But Landon goes further to add to the main storyline of one of the roommate’s friends, Ryan. Being illustrated as the roommate who always comes into the room at the wrong time, turns out to be a college genius working on a machine that could slow time. Little did they know, they were altering time and parallels throughout the campus.
I was very disappointed that the horror aspect of the film was considerably absent. I felt myself jump more at the previews than the actual movie itself. There was an element of surprise and eeriness that the second movie failed to imitate from the first movie. The best way to describe Happy Death Day 2U was predictable horror sequences, which is a result of the director not putting enough emphasis of immersion. A horror movie should take people by surprise, that’s what makes that genre entertaining.
I really liked the idea of making the second movie feel like a very light dark comedy. The film seemed to spoof specific parts on the first one and added humorous one liners throughout the movie. Whether it was an off-hand comment changing the course of a conversation between a group of characters, or just embarrassing remarks being made, there was an influence of giving the audience something to laugh.
I would like to say I thoroughly enjoyed Happy Death Day 2U, but I didn’t. I went in expecting to see another thrilling and scary installment of what the director insinuated at the beginning of the series. With the director hinting at a trilogy for the series, I have more doubts than optimism going into the third movie. I would rate Happy Death Day 2U a 2/5- save your money for next month to see Jordan Peele’s “Us”.