A casual browse through Netflix and Happy Death Day 2U popped up so I thought ‘Why not?'. What I didn't realise was that it was a sequel – oops! But, fear not, a few minutes into the movie the lead character, Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) gives us a handy little run down on the story so far. Basically, it was like groundhog day but only ended when she got murdered. Think Nathasha Lyonne in Russian Doll. Each day she learned more about who wanted to kill her and the only way she could make it stop was when she broke the time loop.
So fast forward a little bit of time and Tree (Rothe) is still at University and dating Carter. All is going well until his buddy, Ryan Phan, creates an experimental quantum reactor as part of a college project. When the reactor goes off, Ryan finds himself in the time loop. Reliving his own death day, Tree figures out that it is caused by the reactor. They all think they have solved the problem until she wakes up and realises she is now the one in the time loop and is back to square one with somebody trying to kill her.
The twist is that not only is she in the time loop but in a different time dimension. One where she is not dating Carter, her best friend is still alive and her life is very different. So now she must choose to stay or go back with pros and cons for both. But of course, before she can do that she must survive the person who is trying to kill her on a daily basis! And that's where Happy Death Day 2U ups the comedy. The montage of all the ways she dies is supposed to be funny and they are. As is her reaction each day when she wakes up still in the loop.
Despite what you may think, Happy Death Day 2U is not a horror/slasher movie. It's more of a sci-fi/dark comedy with slasher elements thrown in. It was way better than I thought it would be and had plenty of laughs so ended up being really entertaining. It's a bit bonkers, the science is dodgy at best but the laughs are there and it's a very easy watch if you want to turn your brain off for a bit. For a more serious time loop style short movie, check out Two Distant Strangers!
