Happy Death Day 2U

Rating: 8.5/10
Genre: Thriller/Slasher
Related Titles: Happy Death Day, Groundhog Day, Scary Movie
By Leanne Harragan

Tree wakes up to find herself stuck in a murder time loop all over again. She soon realises that she has to die over and over again to save not just herself but her friends too.

After bringing in over 125 million, Happy Death Day was always destined to have a sequel or perhaps even two if you check out the bonus end credits scene! Happy Death Day was one of my favourite films of 2017, a slasher take on the classic Groundhog Day, while this sequel doesn't match up to my love for the first, it stands well as a sequel and opens the idea up to a bigger scale! 

If you haven't seen Happy Death Day, then it's super important that you see it before watching this. While it doesn't include a very fast recap of the basic premise of the first (which was pretty funny) it doesn't cover everything and you'll definitely be confused without seeing the first because so much of this sequel is reliant on people that are already well developed characters. There are also plenty of things you can spot from the first one: costumes, locations and scenes that are identical. 

The basics of this film is the loop that Tree Gelbman is stuck in opens up into a multidimensional universe thanks to her friends messing with some crazy science experiments. In this universe Tree's life is all subtlety different, her relationships are different, her major is different, her friends and family are different. Beyond that, the loop seems the same, everyday she is hunted down by someone in a baby mask trying to murder her. While she traverses this new dimension she has to make some tough decisions. 

One of the best things about this franchise is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. It doesn't try and make anything seem deep or clever. One of my absolute favourites scenes is the montage of Tree killing herself in some real inventive ways to avoid her murderer played out the great tune Hard Times by Paramore. I love as well that there are a few fourth wall breaks, perfectly timed for a comedic break. It also includes on of my favourite film tropes, fighting with everyday objects like a keyboard and a wall phone, to mention a couple. One of the biggest things that shows me that it doesn't take itself too seriously is the final credits playing out to Stayin' Alive - very funny! I love the consistency too, the idea that Tree hasn't seen any of the films that apply to her situation Groundhog Day or Back to the Future 2 is consistent across the films and if you look closely you can catch the matching movie posters in the dorm room! 

Both Jessica Rothe (Tree) and Israel Broussard  returned for this sequel and it's a good job they did, they both give great performances. Special mention needs to go to costume designer Whitney Anne Adams, I loved pretty much every outfit that Tree wore, focusing on a pastel wardrobe for the most part with the occasional slogan-ed tee and denim jacket thrown in to tie it altogether. 

While it does have some cliches of this genre: creepy masks, convenient construction work, power cuts and the occasional loud noise or jump scare. Despite it's cliches, it's not your everyday slasher movie as it brings something slightly different to the market and it's worth catching!

Rating: 8/10

By Rebecca Mannick 

I was a little skeptical going into the second instalment of 'Happy Death Day', mostly because I didn't love the first movie. It's only because it got too repetitive too fast, however my initial feelings towards 'Happy Death Day 2U' were washed away pretty quickly. It starts off in a very similar nature to the first one, in the groundhog day sequence but for a different character. That sequence was disrupted and a full and entertaining storyline panned out. For me, this was a brilliant sequel, in that it kept a lot of the same characters and kept a similar storyline but yet in the same respect the story was different enough to keep the audience on their toes. I think if the audience accepts that it is never going to be an Oscar winning movie they can enjoy it for what it is. 

The premise of the film was that Tree was stuck in a 'Back to the Future' -esque time loop which was caused by fellow student Ryan. The time loop somehow transferred Tree to a different dimension where important factors in her life had changed. This is where she had to make the decision of which dimension she wanted to stay in while the 'Babyface' killer was on the loose. The movie was going pretty well until they did a montage scene which was played over the top of Paramore's first single off of fifth studio album 'After Laughter', 'Hard Times' - I mean if you're going to play a full Paramore song you have got my absolute full attention. 

What I wanted to get across is that I actually slightly loved the movie. I won't say it too loudly but I would definitely recommend watching it. However you will have to watch the first film first because I feel in some areas you might be a bit lost because it is picking up the story where it left off. As I said I enjoyed this one and I liked pretty much all the characters which is quite a rarity in recent times.