HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U
Hack to the future…
Dying again and again (and again) is a real scream.
stop us if this sounds familiar: a college kid stalked by a baby-faced killer is forced to relive the day she died until she can figure out who the killer is. That was the knife-sharp premise of Happy Death Day, the entertaining (if relatively bloodless) slasher comedy that became a surprise sleeper hit for Blumhouse Productions in 2017.
In a natty twist, it’s also the premise of this equally amusing sequel, which gives the set-up a wacky rinse and repeat as college student Tree (Jessica Rothe) is forced to relive the same day she time-looped in the first film, only with even more complications – namely a quantum shift courtesy of scientist Ryan (Phi Vu), the dye-job roommate to Carter (Israel Broussard) we glimpsed in Happy Death Day.
With an opening act that puts Ryan in the driving seat, plus talk of multiverse theory, the ensuing alt-dimension hijinks divert the franchise even further away from horror territory – the stalk ’n’ slash element is almost entirely ditched here. Instead, we’re treated to a Scooby-Doo-esque romp that frequently feels like
The Big Bang Theory via Back To The Future Part II (another film Tree, hilariously, hasn’t seen).
While writer/director Christopher Landon occasionally overindulges the OTT comedy (see brilliantly un-PC scenestealer Rachel Matthews), he also refuses to play it safe, whether gifting Rothe even bigger emotional material via the return of a previously dead character, or orchestrating a suicide montage as barmy as that sounds. Which – like Tree’s never-ending birthday – is definitely worth celebrating. Josh Winning
THe VeRDIcT
Déjà vu… again. A gleefully daft time-turner that ditches horror for off-the-wall humour.