Turning out to be yet another hit for producer Jason Blum and Blumhouse Productions, Happy Death Day received generally positive reviews and soon became a fan favourite everywhere.
Released in October 2017, the teen horror/comedy follows self centred student, Theresa “Tree” Gelbman who is murdered on the night of her birthday and begins relieving the day over and over, caught up in a time loop until she can figure out who the killer is/was. It’s interesting concept, entertaining feel, well timed comedy punctuated by moments of slasher-style horror, along with an outstanding performance from Jessica Rothe as Tree led to it’s success so a sequel was inevitable really and early 2019 sees it’s anticipated release.
Christopher Landon is back in the directors chair, as well writing duties on this one–the first film being written by comic book writer, Scott Lobdell–for Happy Death Day 2U. After the mind-bending events of the first film, Tree Gelbman unexpectedly re-enters the time loop only this time her friends are now involved. So yet again it becomes Trees job to find out who the killer is and face them in order to attempt to break the time loop once and for all.
On first glance, it seems Happy Death Day 2U will follow a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach which is fine as the first film worked so well and was a box office hit and with some of the original cast back alongside Jessica Rothe, including Israel Broussard as boyfriend, Carter Davis. Phi Vu as Carter’s roommate, Ryan, Rachel Matthews as bitchy Danielle Bouseman and Rudy Modine as Lori Spengler, it seems that the sequel will hope to garner the “gang back together” feel that the likes of the Scream sequels had.
The familiarity of these characters giving a welcoming vibe to proceedings which will hopefully bear well in terms of our relationships with these characters and what happens to them as the film goes on. And furthermore, a watch of the trailer reveals that Happy Death Day 2U will follow that familiar but dependable and effective blend of comedy and horror that proved so entertaining for film fans in 2017.
Also worth noting is that BAFTA nominated actor Suraj Sharma has joined the cast. Toby Oliver once again provides cinematography while Bear McCreary again provides the musical score which hopefully means that Happy Death Day 2U will contain the same kind of seamless time-loop scenes punctuated by the kind of exciting score that helped make the first movie work so well. So it really is a case of the gang getting back together in that respect which means that with Happy Death Day 2U, Blumhouse Productions could indeed have yet another hit on their hands and we, the audience, could be in for another fun, exciting, brutal and entertaining piece of cinema.
Happy Death Day 2U is scheduled to be released on February 14th, 2019.