Happy Death Day 2U review – slasher sequel isn’t worth celebrating
An inevitable yet staggeringly unnecessary follow-up to the surprise horror hit turns a nifty concept into an exhaustingly convoluted mess
While there were indisputable flaws in 2017’s gimmicky slasher revival Happy Death Day, it was hard to knock the film’s puppyish energy, earnestly zipping along with such speed that one almost forgot just how ramshackle its foundation was. The central premise, which saw a cynical college student trapped in a Groundhog Day-esque time loop of death, was spiky enough to lure its target demographic back to a subgenre they’d been ignoring for a solid decade, carving up an impressive $125m worldwide from a budget of less than $5m, and making a sequel seem like an instant inevitability.
Related: Isn’t It Romantic review – romcom parody mostly hits its target