Tree Gelbman discovers that dying over and over was surprisingly easier than the dangers that lie ahead.
I thoroughly enjoyed “Happy Death Day” upon its release in 2017. It took a page out of Wes Craven’s “Scream” and turned a horror film on its head by adding copious amounts of humor. Add to that a likable cast and a sense of déja vu from “Groundhog Day” and “Edge of Tomorrow,” and you have a slasher flick where our central protagonist, Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), keeps reliving the same day over and over, thanks to a masked killer who is hellbent on ending her life. Every time she dies, the day resets and she is the only one who can remember the previous day’s events so she executes a plan to determine who the killer is and why they want her dead. The movie eventually unmasks the killer, allowing Tree to turn the tables on them and finally dispatches them and as a result, things go back to normal.
As “Happy Death Day 2U” begins, Ryan (Phi Vu), the roommate of Carter (Israel Broussard), Tree’s boyfriend, makes his way to his college quantum mechanics lab where he and a small group of friends have been working on a scientific experiment, a quantum reactor they hope will be able to slow down time utilizing photon lasers. When the college dean informs them that he will be shutting down their experiment as the reactor has caused multiple rolling blackouts on the campus and that the electricity bill is through the roof, Ryan becomes upset and storms off but when he hears a noise coming from a back hallway, he goes to investigate. No sooner than he opens a closet door, a masked killer grabs him and stabs him to death. The next moment he wakes up in his car, just like he did the previous day, and as he makes his way back to school, he encounters the exact same people and circumstances he formerly experienced. When he makes it to his dorm room, where Tree and Carter are together, he tells them what happened and immediately, they become concerned.
They meet at the lab where Ryan proceeds to tell them about their experiment and Tree states that when they tried to run their first test a few nights earlier, culminating in what they thought was a failure, she tells them about her experience of having to relive the same day over and over the very same day of their test. The group quickly comprehend that their experiment did indeed work, just not in the way they were hoping. Realizing that this new killer is now after Ryan, they decide to go to a basketball game with lots of people around but when the game is cut short because of a fire alarm, Ryan gets separated from the rest of the group and is then chased into the basement by the masked killer. Before he has time to kill Ryan, Tree knocks him out from behind. When they unmask the assailant, they are shocked to discover it is Ryan, or another version of him. They bring him back to the lab and he informs them that their experiment spawned a multiverse, where different versions of themselves live and that two of the same people cannot exist in the same dimension. He tells them to kill the other Ryan but that Ryan insists on running the quantum reactor in the hopes it will send killer Ryan back to where he came from but instead, after the reactor successfully activates, while killer Ryan disappears and everything seems to be back to normal, upon closer inspection, Tree realizes that things are different. In this dimension, her mother is still alive and instead of her and Carter being together, he is going out with her sorority sister Danielle (Rachel Matthews).
When Tree is attacked and subsequently murdered, she wakes up, just like before, on the exact same day and believing that the killer is the same person from the first movie, she shockingly discovers that they are not one and the same and that she is being hunted by a new masked assassin altogether. Stuck in a new time loop, Tree must make the eventual decision, to stay in this new dimension, where she can be with her mother again or go back to her old dimension, where her mother is dead. With the clock ticking and a new killer on the loose, Ryan and his friends must try to figure out how to get the reactor to work properly and send Tree back to the right dimension, once and for all.
It all sounds very convoluted but believe you me, onscreen, it makes much more sense. At one point in the movie, after Tree has explained her dilemma to Carter and Ryan, they liken her events to those in “Back to the Future Part II,” and director Christopher Landon even adds some aspects from that film herein, including some musical beats which borrow heavily from Alan Silvestri’s iconic score. I would never have thought that “Happy Death Day” could warrant a sequel but when I saw the trailer a few months back, it reminded me of Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” movies, with the original being very somber and Part II more tongue in cheek and that is exactly what has happened here. Watching Tree have to go through everything all over again and her constant state of frustration is a joy to behold. She is a true heroine, she knows what she needs to do and this time around is much more confident in her abilities to get the job done. Jessica Rothe is charismatic, charming, and when needed, a kick-ass, take-no-nonsense leading lady that can give as good as she takes. Her performance alone is worth the price of admission but to be fair, the entire cast delivers admirably and work well together as an ensemble. Director Christopher Landon keeps the atmosphere throughout lighthearted and puts more emphasis on humor but also the importance of family and the decisions we make in our lives every day that we can sometimes take for granted. Naturally, the ending leaves it wide open for another chapter in the franchise but if parts one and two are anything to go by, I will be waiting with bated breath. And you might want to stay in your seats for a mid-credits scene.
In theaters Wednesday, February 13th
