Written by Steven Allison
With Russian Doll and Happy Death Day 2U released within weeks of each other, there’s an obvious trend right now for Groundhog Day-style plots hung on the whole time-loop premise. I didn’t have the pleasure of seeing Christopher Landon’s Happy Death Day back in 2017 – or at least I can’t remember if I did, which probably says something? If you’re in the same boat, then fear not; its memorably-named sequel fills in the audience with a handy recap.
Brought to a cinema near you by the same writer-director, this ridiculously entertaining teen slasher – wearing this season’s science fiction with style – picks up right after the events of the first film.
Jessica Rothe reprises her role as sorority gal Tree – presumably short for Teresa – Gelbman, fresh out of a death-dealing time-loop that ceased only when she discovered the identity of her killer. Her beloved mum is dead and she’s with the affable Carter (Israel Broussard), but sadly the time-travelling baton has been passed to his nerdy roommate Ryan (Phi Vu) – now stuck in his own time-loop nightmare. The culprit turns out to be Ryan’s hyper-advanced science project, an experimental quantum reactor gone haywire.
Along with his adorkable lab buddies, Samar (Suraj Sharma) and Dre (Sarah Yarkin), Ryan gets the machine juiced up to solve his problem. Sadly, it just lands Tree in temporal hot water once again, only this time in a different dimension. Trapped in a fresh existence of time-loopery, her mum is alive, her boyfriend and housemate Danielle (Rachel Matthews) are together, and evil finds itself in a new masked killer. In a repeatedly frenzied race against time, the mismatched bunch work together to close Tree’s loop, with a whole load of self-immolation, mathematics, and soul-searching along the way. If you look hard enough, you’ll find a few cannily-placed Easter eggs too.
Let’s get one thing straight. You can’t take Happy Death Day 2U seriously. It is what it is: a hilariously madcap, pedal-to-the-metal ride on the multiverse theory that careers through all sorts of slasher, sci-fi, and comedy territory. This high-concept, self-referential film feels a bit like what would happen if Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett Brown somehow found themselves smack-bang in the middle of a Scary Movie plot.
While enjoyably eccentric, the film’s willful lack of focus on one genre can be dizzying at times, with some slapstick that disappointingly lacks the downright klutziness we expect of it. And it’s completely jaw-dropping, head-scratching abandon of logic in places feels a shave lazy. But hey, it’s not like we came for Inception or Shutter Island, is it?
Happy Death Day 2U is teeming with the sort of intentionally piled-on performances that give a film like this the hammy edge it needs to succeed. The cast seems fully on board with this concept, but it’s a pity they didn’t completely relinquish themselves to it. Rothe stands out from the others, in a role that pulls her in several different directions simultaneously. She manages to add compelling moments of tenderness into the bonkers mix, grounding the film in an unforeseen emotional reality.
If you’re looking for a true horror movie, then you’re in the wrong place with Happy Death Day 2U. If you’re on the hunt for a daft, multi-genre romp through time-bending farcicality, pull up a chair and welcome to the circus. It might not be the sequel fans of its predecessor hoped for but hats off to Landon for not just painting by numbers.
