Happy Death Day 2U

I previously had reviewed the very first Happy Death Day when it came out a while ago, before I ever made this blog. I enjoyed the first film quite a bit, despite it not being really scary or frightening. It had a good storyline and got a few laughs out of me.

When I first saw the trailer for Happy Death Day 2U my initial reaction was "Oh no. Is this real." I thought the first film ended nicely and I was confused on how they would continue on from that. It seemed absurd. And quite frankly, this movie is absurd. But is it bad?

This review does get into detail on the direction this film takes but there are no plot specific spoilers.

Style

This movie had the same filming technique as the first, though they did mess around with several scenes and it doesn't come off as too tacky or "artsy". (Though that one slow-mo shot felt cheesy, but it was likely done for comedy, more on that later.) I overall enjoyed what they did here. 

Sound

Annnd the the jumpscares return! I'm not exactly complaining, the first was like this and jumpscares are what I expect of this type of teenage aimed horror film. However, they weren't overly obnoxious and there weren't too many either.  Nor was the theater ever ridiculously loud with dramatic music. I also liked the soundtrack weirdly enough. They used good music that wasn't all super popular hits, which I always appreciate. 

Writing

I'm just gonna say it now. This movie...is hilarious. The plot sounds ridiculous to many people and I'm sure the writers knew this, so they decided to just have fun with it. Some of the lines are absurd ("Why'd you hit my peeeniss?") and many people who are science-y will likely find lots of plot holes, but the movie still worked really well for me. There are some unexplained loose ends when you look back after watching, but I wasn't bothered when watching so I don't mind too much.

The weirdest part about this film? Is that while the writing is corny with some parts, it was still GOOD. Happy Death Day 2U was the last film I expected to feel emotional over, but they actually did it. I won't get into spoilers, but the character Tree has some tough decisions to make. Jessica Rothe actually does an amazing job with the acting for the emotional scenes. 

And without giving spoilers, the after-credits scene is a pretty cool reference as well.

SP00KS

This section could honestly be renamed to sci-fi. While this was advertised as a horror film, I'm not really sure if it fully fits the category. Lots of sci-fi elements are involved here, and the killer actually doesn't have as big of a role. Yes, there's a few murders but most of the films conflict comes from Tree, the other characters, and a science professor who wants to shut down Ryan's science project. (I'll just say it's important to the plot.)

Overall

While I wouldn't consider this a full on horror movie, I enjoyed it a lot. A weirdly engaging plot, despite it being ridiculous. But if you don't nitpick movies, it's likely that you'd enjoy this. I think of the Happy Death Day films are unique and original when compared to all the ghost and possession movies that are popular as of right now.

Also, I want my friend who I saw it with to get the babyface mask.