Happy Death Day 2U

Christopher Landon’s Happy Death Day 2U has introduced many unique elements to the Plot, however often times these twists, turns and changes in story have resulted in a bit of a messy sequel to say the least.

Happy death day’s first instalment was perhaps a surprising, but welcome success. Fans really got behind this film which made £125 million out of budget Less than £5 million. So, when the sequel was announced a buzz was created amongst horror flick fans, that we may just see another clever modern day take on a classic slasher movie theme. Unfortunately, as many sequels are known to, this movie may just let the fans down. It was a bold attempt at trying to perhaps stray away from being too cliché in just repeating the same blueprint for a slasher movie that gave them success in the first films instalment. However, they may have diverted too far away from what made the first film a crowd–puller.
From a screenplay by Christopher Landon himself we saw what became a very overworked, complicated and far too long story. It begins with the same premise that started first film. Although this time Phi Vu (the best friend of the love interest Israel Broussard) is seemingly stuck in his own time loop, reliving the same day. This quickly gets shut down when after one death. He tells his roommate and Tree (played by Jessica Rothe) he thinks he’s having déjà vu. Of course, as she’s been there worn the t-shirt so to speak, Jessica Rothes character immediately picks up on what’s happening, and we then, through a messy and strangely linking concept find ourselves back to Tree waking up in the dorm room from the first movie.
Alternatively, now she is in a different version of the ‘multiverse’ and there are slight differences. For example, there is a new murdering psychopath out to kill and oh yes, her mother, who was sadly dead in the first film is now alive and very much well. This is where the movie starts to take a turn down sci fi-comedy alley.

Well, a few moral dilemmas later she then finds herself trying to get back to her own version of the multi-verse and break the time loop for good, which was in fact created by a fluke time experiment Phi Vu’s character Ryan and a few friends had created in the lab.

Aside from the debacle of a solid storyline the performance by the star Jessica Rose was just as enjoyable as her comedic performance in the first instalment. She even added emotionally versatile to her resume, as we saw some touching scenes involving her mother. Her cast mates also added some enjoyable comedy, such as Rachel Matthew’s satirical impression of a blind French woman. These performances alongside the cliff-hanger is what is most likely going to bag them a third instalment. The ending to the movie (spoiler alert) did take the film into another direction. In a post-credit's scene, some FBI-ish or CIA-like agents hopped out of big black SUV's to collect these college students. Seemingly brought to a secure facility, they were then asked for their help to figure out how to use this universe altering machine they created in their college lab.

Whether or not another instalment would be successful, or even worth going to see is another story. However, I can bet my bottom dollar this will not be the last we see of happy death day.