“Happy Death Day 2U” is the odd sequel we didn’t know we needed until we watched it. The first film, “Happy Death Day,” came out in 2017 and is a unique movie that is hard to categorize by any one genre, but it is quirky and entertaining. The sequel is very similar to the first movie, but it was different enough to keep the me intrigued. Why change something if it still works? This movie was directed by Christopher Landon and stars Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard and Phi Vu.
The first movie follows a college girl named Tree (Rothe) who has to relive her birthday, which is also the same day that she dies, over and over again until she can discover her killer’s identity and stop them from killing her. Every time that Tree dies, the same day starts over and she wakes up in Carter’s dorm room and she has to try and survive the day. The second film is similar, but this time she is zapped back to the day where she repeatedly dies by a machine that alters time. The machine was invented by Ryan (Vu) who is Tree’s boyfriend, Carter’s (Broussard) roommate. This time around, she is reliving the same day over and over in an alternate universe that is similar but is also different. In this universe, Carter is dating Danielle, one of Tree’s sorority sisters and Tree’s mom is alive.
This movie made me experience so many emotions in just an hour and a half, and it really made me feel for the characters by making parts of the movie relatable to everyday life. The acting is well done, especially by Rothe. Rothe can express so many emotions through her acting, and she just has this presence that makes you pay attention to the scene.
The cameras move fast with the characters and shake during action scenes to make you feel like you are running with them or seeing the same thing as the characters at the same time they see it. This makes the film seem immersive and more interesting. There were even a few funny moments where they filmed it in slow motion and added overly dramatic music to make the moment last longer and get a laugh out of the audience.
While this movie is like plenty of horror films, it is not a straightforward slasher film, and there are elements of romance and comedy that make the film hard to categorize. If you haven’t watched these films, I highly recommend them for either a great love story, a comedy or a slasher film.