QS stands for “Quickshot”, a series of short form review/preview/opinion articles.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN, FRIENDS!
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always quite enjoyed time loop stories. Or, if you prefer, Groundhog Day stories. A story wherein, for some reason, our protagonist keeps repeating the same day, over and over again. Hopefully (as is frequently the case), the writer is skilled enough to leverage this premise for some unique character development, tension, and often a bit of humor.
Groundhog Day is, of course, the example most people’s brains go to. Another favorite of mine is an episode from the final season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It’s one of those sci-fi concepts that is both easy for audiences to grasp, and serves as a compelling tool for plot and character growth without getting bogged down in the weeds of details. Often, the ‘how is this happening‘ isn’t even important, or barely a consideration. What matters is the ‘how will our protagonist escape this looping‘.
If this preamble wasn’t enough setup, my point is that the Happy Death Day films, a horror-ish duology, follow this same pattern, to extremely enjoyable success! Uh, well, mostly, but we’ll get to that!
The first film follows college student Tree, who is genuinely not that great of a person, and she’s targeted by a masked killer and murdered. However, instead of dying (as I’d imagine you would expect), she wakes back up in the dorm room of Carter, a fellow student who let her crash at his place when she was drunk the night prior. After stumbling through a day filled with déjà vu, Tree is killed again, wakes up in Carter’s dorm, and realizes that she’s stuck in a time loop.
Over the course of loop, after loop, after loop, Tree learns to be a better person, acts more friendly to those around her, starts a relationship with Carter, and eventually unravels the motives of the masked killer stalking her, ending the killer’s threat for good. It’s a breezy 96-minute film that flies by, has a cathartic ending, and is entertaining from start-to-finish, and it’s a film I’d highly recommend to almost anyone.
See, I called the film ‘horror-ish‘ earlier, but I really want to stress the ‘ish‘ part. I won’t pretend that there isn’t some influence from the genre. About three scenes in the movie really lean into the spooky suspense (with one particular scene being quite effective at this). The emphasis isn’t really on that, though. Unlike other slasher films with masked killers, Happy Death Day doesn’t linger on that much. It’s more concerned with the time loops and the character development, containing minimal violence and shock, and being rather tame in that regard.
That’s actually what shocked me most about the movie, since I only really knew about the time loops going into it. I didn’t expect the film to be so rooted in character development as it ends up becoming. Though she starts the movie as a pretty awful person, Tree quickly becomes an insanely enjoyable and sympathetic protagonist, especially as we learn more about her and what she’s been through. Without diving too much into it, it’s a satisfying arc, and I did not expect to start getting really teary-eyed in a film like this!
It’s also quite a bit funnier than I thought it would be. Tree is the largest source of humor, of course, as she traverses the entire emotional spectrum of realizing she’s caught in a time loop. But there are also just some good bits of physical comedy and well-timed jokes on top of that, adding to the movie’s overall entertainment factor. The film isn’t just one thing from the beginning to the end, it’s a multitude that all works together for a really cohesive package.
They made a sequel, though, so how is Happy Death Day 2U…aside from its fantastic title?
Well, it’s definitely not a bad movie. It think it’s pretty solid! However, due to a combination of the sequel introducing some additional flaws, and the fact that it can’t quite reach the heights of the first one, I don’t love it anywhere near as much.
The single biggest thing contributing to my disappointment about it is the pivot from horror-adjacent to sci-fi (and almost more of a sci-fi comedy than anything else). Aside from maybe one scene earlier in the movie, the sequel entirely drops the moments of tension or suspense, and the entire angle of the masked killer doesn’t contribute much. The horror trappings of the first are set dressing to a film that, in some ways, doesn’t entirely seem to know what genre it wants to lean into.
The first film’s climax is surviving a killer in a hospital at night. The second film’s climax is a Back to the Future sort of running-out-of-time-to-fix-the-machine type of deal. It’s a notably different vibe, even if it has the same characters and setting.
Oh, I suppose I should briefly summarize the plot. Essentially, it follows Tree getting caught in another loop where events seem like they are going to play out like the first film, only to realize that the cause is different, the killer is different, and the solution to finally escape the loop is different too. It’s a clever way to use basically the entire same premise while still ensuring that it feels fresh.
My issue is just that, while the characters and moment of humor carried over from the first film and kept me anchored enough to keep watching, the very different tone and style of story almost made it seem like a film from a different series. It’s a little weird to put into words without watching it for yourself.
Now, again, I don’t think that Happy Death Day 2U is a bad movie. If you really liked the first, there’s enough here to enjoy. Tree is still a pretty fantastic protagonist, there’s funny moments, and a few glimpses of the suspense the first movie handled so well. Also, there’s a genuinely moving, heartfelt story under the sci-fi comedy shenanigans, like the first film, that again managed to almost make me cry with a really emotional scene near the end.
That’s one thing I can’t take away from this film, or the first one. They are shockingly good character-focused movies beneath their other factors, like the first film’s masked killer, or the sequel’s sci-fi crisis.
Overall, I’ll reiterate my opinion that I really think you should give the first film a watch, even if the horror genre isn’t typically your thing. It’s far more than just that. And if you enjoy the first one, it can’t hurt to give the second a watch too!
Enjoy the end of the spooky season, everyone!
9.5/10 (First Film) and 7.5/10 (Second Film)
