*light spoilers ahead*
Happy Death Day 2 U, this year’s follow up to the 2017 thriller Happy Death Day, somehow manages to be the sequel we didn’t see coming. The original, dubbed the “Groundhog Day of Horror” by some fans, was better than it both could have and should have been. This time around, Writer and Director, Christopher Landon, raises the bar with a sequel so surprisingly decent, it makes me think the story could keep going. And I’d gladly continue watching, as long as one element stays the same: the star.
Jessica Rothe is fucking magical in her returning role as Theresa “Tree” Gelbman. She’s the final girl we’ve all been waiting for, whose charisma and badassery would make Sidney Prescott proud. The girl could make a tampon commercial engaging. There’s a turning point in the beginning of the film, where we, along with Tree, realize this is, once again, about her. Up to that moment, I was slowly starting to lose faith in the film and could feel myself trying to convince myself it was going to be ok. “Hey, it’s a final Boy this time. How Nightmare 2 of them…” but something is just lacking without the charismatic energy from Rothe. So when the tables turned, and we started seeing the familiar events from the last movie, I was in. And if you think that sounds like overkill, just wait till you see what the heightened stakes do for Rothe’s performance.
The genre of the film tends to shape shift, as one minute your anxiously watching Tree dodge the baby face killer while stuck in handcuffs, the next, a montage of her killing herself in hilariously creative ways, and finally choosing between going back to a dimension where she’s from, or staying in one where her mother still exists. (Tip: bring Kleenex).
The rest of the cast is as good as they need to be, the script is well written, with a (mostly) good balance of humor and suspense, and the plot does an excellent job of staying true to the first film while explaining the follow up. Overall, it’s delightful deja vu, bringing the first film back from the dead and reanimating it from a stand alone film. Bravo, Blumhouse.
Til next time,
🔪Madame of Horror
Madame of Horror 
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