David Pierdomenico
The original Happy Death Day was something of a fluke. On the surface it looked like nothing more than a cheesy PG-13 slasher that ripped its premise off of Groundhog Day. And while all of this was completely true, the film was still fun, didn’t take itself too seriously, and managed to have an enjoyable charm to it. Happy Death Day 2U smartly avoids simply rehashing everything from the first, but its inconsistent tone and a few very questionable choices make it lose that charm its predecessor had.
Subverting Expectations
The film opens with Ryan (Phi Vu) the day after the first film took place as he soon realizes that he’s stuck in his own loop. Tree (Jessica Rothe) and Carter (Israel Broussard) try to help him navigate through it, but they soon realize that there’s something much more complex going on, involving a science project that Ryan and his classmates were working on. Soon, due to a glitch in the machine they’ve created, Tree finds herself back reliving her birthday every day, only the world she inhabits is quite different than the one she’s used to. Certain people who were dead are now alive and vice-versa. She soon realizes that she’s trapped in an alternate universe, and must work with Ryan and his team in order to close the loop and fix the timeline once and for all.
Much to the film’s credit, it doesn’t simply retread the first one, which would have been a very easy (but lazy) storytelling choice to make. Sure it involves Tree reliving her birthday again, but as the film points out in rather meta fashion, it’s very much like Back the Future: Part II. She’s in the same territory as the first, but there’s more at stake and she has to take what she previously learned and apply it here. It’s definitely not the type of sequel that horror fans would expect. Its biggest triumph is that it expands on the mythology of the original with a new and unique twist. However, its biggest downfall is that it takes this new direction into strange and unintentionally campy territory.
Infectious Humor (In a Bad Way)
As previously mentioned the sense of humor and fun cheesiness made Happy Death Day very fun and enjoyable. The sequel goes much further into comedy territory. Some of it works very well, especially with regards to Jessica Rothe’s performance. She hilariously captures the enraged desperation and frustration of being trapped in her birthday…again. Ryan and his classmates also make for a nice ensemble. Seeing Tree work with them while being intellectually lost is oddly reminiscent of a Big Bang Theory dynamic we see with Penny and the gang.
Where the humor doesn’t work however, are the scenes that feel like slapstick or parody. The best horror comedies either use wit to comically critique the genre itself, or they have genuinely funny characters who just happen to be in frightening situations. And aside from Tree, none of the jokes or comedy in the film fit either of these classifications. There’s one scene in particular involving a character trying fake a French accent that’s clearly trying to be funny but just comes off as cringe-worthy and awkward. It honestly reaches the same levels of campiness one might find on a Disney channel show. There’s also a mid-credit scene that feels like it could have been from a Family Guy episode.
Not Sure What Genre It Wants to Be
Amidst all the awkwardly unfunny jokes, time loops, and alternate universes, Happy Death Day 2U occasionally remembers that it’s supposed to be a slasher film as well. Because Tree is in a different reality, the killer and victims are different from before. Whereas the first focused a great deal on the whodunit aspect, it’s really more of an afterthought here. And when the killer is revealed, their motivation seems pretty farfetched and they go about their murderous plan with cartoonish villainy.
It’s as if the film wanted to focus more on the science fiction aspect, but realized that it also needed to have a killer just because the first one did. It also has much deeper emotional moments the original, but all this does is clash even more with the ridiculous sense of humor. When looking at several different scenes throughout, it’s hard to believe they all coexist in the same narrative. In a strange way, perhaps it would have worked better had it dropped either the science fiction, horror, or comedy elements and doubled down with the other two. Because having all three just feels jarring.
Overall, it’s not a terrible film by any means. While it may lack the charm of the original, it still has fun performances and not all the humor falls flat. It has some interesting ideas that would have benefitted from being expanded upon even more, but for a popcorn PG-13 slasher sequel, it certainly could have been much worse.
