With the basic pitch of “What if Groundhog Day but scary?,” 2017’s Happy Death Day is far from a perfect film. But with a solid pair of leads in Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard, and a sufficient amount visual and narrative snap from director Christopher Landon and screenwriter Scott Lobdell, the Blumhouse release hit the spot in a way that smartly blended mild, entry-level scares and some overtly comedic moments.
If you’re wondering how Landon and producer Jason Blum managed to squeeze a sequel out of what appeared to be a standalone film, Happy Death Day 2U makes it very clear – they pretty much say it out loud – what kind of sequel it intends to be in its opening moments. This is an explicit riff on Back to the Future Part II, where parallel universes, time travel, and strange devices collide to retroactively change everything you thought you knew about the original film.
Fun idea, right? Not so fast.
Happy Death Day 2U is like watching a million ideas hit the screen at the same time, progressively moving itself to shakier ground before losing any sense of tonal comprehension or narrative necessity. The original was already a hybrid of the college rom-com and the classic slasher, but this messy and headache – inducing sequel spans nearly every genre in the Hollywood playbook – it’s a tear-jerker, a sci-fi movie, a heist flick, a horror saga, and a comedy, often at the same time. After a while, it’s difficult to know why any of it needed to happen in the first place.
Stuck in Another Loop
The film displays its willingness to throw curveballs from the very start, picking up with Ryan (Phi Vu), a friend of original protagonists Tree (Rothe) and Carter (Broussard). Ryan’s day starts out like another normal journey in the life of a college student, but by the time the day is done, Ryan has met the shiny blade of a killer in a baby mask.
And then, of course, he wakes up at the start of the day again.
Puzzled by his newfound sense of deja vu, Ryan haphazardly stumbles into Tree and Carter’s room in a total daze. When he reveals that he feels like he lived through this day already, Tree goes into a panic and comes to one conclusion – the loop has started again. Tree and Carter quickly jump into action, learning that the loop was actually set in motion because of an elaborate machine created by Ryan and his hyper intelligent colleagues, a machine that resides in the labs of their college. Oh, and the killer trying to eliminate Ryan is a version of himself from another dimension.
Just as they try to set things right once and for all, an explosion in the lab creates the worst scenario possible, sending Tree back to where things all began: in Carter’s bed, passed out after a long night of drinking. It’s the same day, but something about this feels…. different. Tree is in a completely different universe – Carter is dating sorority president Danielle (Rachel Matthews), former roommate/bitter rival Lori (Ruby Modine) is alive and decidedly less bitter, and most important of all, someone Tree thought she lost is still here. Should Tree return to her own dimension? Or are things better in this new world?
Solid Concept Gives Way to Tonal Confusion
In theory, this is not a bad foundation for a sequel to an entertaining, mostly forgettable horror movie (there’s so little faith audiences will remember the original that Landon even includes a montage recap). Happy Death Day 2U is a fundamentally unnecessary project, but there are much worse avenues than all-out anarchy and absurdity (although a bland sort of familiarity does end up coming into play eventually). Concrete explanations for illogical madness, alternate universes, time machines (??) – how can you not love it?
Nonetheless, the caffeine high of watching Landon and his cast come up with new ideas by the minute gets exhausting fast, with the film quickly appearing lost in a sea of tones. I’ve already mentioned an assortment of influences here, but the number of genres is less important than the film’s total lack of consistency, the inability to elicit any kind of meaningful response from the viewer. It’s a hodgepodge of seven different films that never coalesces into anything resembling a tonally stable product, marked by flat scares, moderate rumblings of humor, and worst of all, an emotional core rooted in a manipulative footnote from the original.
Happy Death Day was comfortable in its status as a horror comedy. This tries and fails to be so much more; it’s downright undefinable – and not in a good way.
A Film That Loses Its Way
But how exactly does Happy Death Day 2U end up in such murky waters? It’s quite simple: the film never takes the time to settle into any sort of groove. Landon and company get the ball rolling right at the starting gun, but there’s a sense of rocky unpredictability to the entire affair, and not the kind that results in a pleasant viewing experience. Instead, it’s like the film has no trajectory, no sense of a carefully plotted narrative or well-developed twists. There’s a whole lot of running, followed by a lot of repetition, leading to a conclusion that is scattered across the board. The film doesn’t even allot enough time for an initial title card.
To put it bluntly, it feels like a very rough sketch of a more polished and technically accomplished horror film. It’s always a positive when you can create a sense of energy and pacing to your project, but at what cost? Once you come to the realization that Happy Death Day 2U is not going to slow down and situate its story in any kind of explicit character or narrative purpose, the puzzle of twists and insanity collapses in on itself.
And in that moment, the ridiculous nature of everything that came before proves to be a facade, masking the fact that this is a fairly empty sequel built to expand on a minor footnote in the narrative progression of the original film. It’s absurd, yes. But it’s hard to escape the feeling that Landon is explaining things and creating new time loops just to justify a universe that changes little for its characters.
Happy Death Day 2U: Conclusion
Of course, with the original film becoming a solid success upon its release, it doesn’t appear that Blumhouse will be slowing down. In what could be read as a sly jab at franchise films (if the film had actually managed to fully commit to a mode of parody), Happy Death Day 2U includes an end credits scene that closely resembles the government interventions of Iron Man and the recent Predator reboot, indicating that the saga of Tree Gelbman and the time loops is far from over.
It’s a funny scene, but it’s also difficult not to roll your eyes a bit. Should Happy 3rd Death Day (or whatever they end up calling it) find its way to production, I’m sure we’ll get more of the same – amusing gags, some bonkers twists, and a whole lot of baby masks. But after such a sturdy introduction in 2017, this sequel, as occasionally entertaining as it can be, annihilates some of the goodwill that was fostered from that clever revision of Groundhog Day. After a messy installment with no rhyme or reason, this is now a franchise without an identity.
What did you think of Happy Death Day 2U? What’s your favorite recent Blumhouse movie? Let us know in the comments below!
Happy Death Day 2U was released in US and UK theaters on February 13. For full international release information, click here.
Does content like this matter to you?
Become a Member and support film journalism. Unlock access to all of Film Inquiry`s great articles. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about cinema - get access to our private members Network, give back to independent filmmakers, and more.