In recent years, no other production company working in Hollywood has been able to reach massive critical and financial success like Blumhouse Productions. Regardless of whether they’re aiming to produce an Oscar nominee that successfully touches on a controversial topic within mainstream America (Jordan Peele’s “Get Out”), or even a film that simply wants to scare the hell out of you (James Wan’s “Insidious”), CEO Jason Blum has managed to bring various horror projects to life for (usually) dirt cheap. One of those projects was Christopher Landon’s “Happy Death Day” (2017), which ultimately took the central idea from Harold Ramis’ “Groundhog Day” (1993), and turned it from a straight-up comedy into a slightly comedic slasher film. With a production budget only costing around $4.8 million, “Death Day” was generally enjoyed by critics and audiences, and grossed around $125 million worldwide, causing Blum to greenlight a sequel as quickly as possible. Thus, we have “Happy Death Day 2U,” with Landon and crew returning to continue this story, once again using a low-cost budget ($9 million) to do so. The first “Death Day” ended with college student Theresa/“Tree” (Jessica Rothe) successfully breaking her time loop by discovering the identity of the Babyface killer that hunted her down, while also beginning a romantic relationship with Carter (Israel Broussard), who had helped her track down the killer. “2U” begins immediately where the first film left off, now with Carter’s roommate, Ryan (Phi Vu), stuck reliving the same day over and over again, with a new Babyface killer out to get him. However, these time loops, as we quickly find out, were the result of a quantum device built by Ryan and his friends known as the “Sissy,” and that the killer that was going after him was actually a Ryan from another dimension. Believing that this would kill his doppelganger, Ryan activates the Sissy, which causes Tree to become stuck not only in another time loop, but in a parallel dimension where Carter is dating Tree’s sorority leader Danielle (Rachel Matthews), and her mother (Missy Yager), unlike in Tree’s own dimension, are actually still alive. Now, Tree must break her time loop once again, as well as decide whether she wants to return to her dimension, or remain in this one. It’s official: The “Happy Death Day” franchise has turned away from the slasher genre and towards the science fiction/dimensional travel sub-genre, with a heavy emphasis on comedy and self-aware absurdity above all else. While there are certainly elements similar to that of the average slasher film, generally speaking, “2U” aims for an almost completely different tone and direction. But even with that said, those slasher elements, which are heavily prevalent within the first act, is what causes “2U” to slow down more than it should. More often than not, most of what we witnessed in the first film is simply being repeated here, particularly during the first and second act. When Landon decides to have some fun with a downright ridiculous concept like the “multiverse theory” as opposed to just adhering to genre conventions, that’s when “2U” becomes the most entertaining, and a large part of that comes from the fact that this is a strange, albeit believable direction to take this franchise. With that ridiculousness comes comedic writing that benefits from that concept, and thanks to Rothe’s on-screen charm and charisma, effective comedy is able to successfully carry through. But that comedy, however, doesn’t always land the way Landon intended it to. The first film’s humor was arguably scattershot as well, but at least it was generally concentrated on the narrative and Tree’s overall goal to find out who her killer was before it was too late. When a joke is written within the context of the concept, as opposed to simply being a joke for the sake of quick laugh or chuckle, that’s when the screenplay shines. With “Happy Death Day 2U,” Landon knew that there was potential to bring the story that started with the first film to the next level of intentional absurdity, and in a market saturated with horror films of various sub-genres, this certainly tries something drastically new for a change. There are flaws that should not be left unnoticed, but “2U” isn’t trying hard enough for enough people to care, and yet Landon, the crew and Blumhouse are very much aware of that. It’s a sequel that was purposefully made for next-to-nothing, and for what it could have been – a generic slasher film that lacks a clever narrative and defined personality – I’ll take what I can get. 3 stars kstoll3@ramapo.edu<doc-sep>It’s all trying, in its way, to be quite clever and all very knowing/videogame/meta. But if you go back to the first two “Scream” films, which hovered over “Happy Death Day” as much as “Groundhog Day” did, they managed to bracket their own reality without sacrificing that essential slasher impulse. They were nerve-jangling thrillers that goosed you, even as they kept pulling the rug out from under your propensity to get goosed.<doc-sep>“Alita: Battle Angel” is holding a slim lead ahead of “Lego Movie 2’s” second frame with an estimated four-day take of $29.1 million from 3,790 North American locations. “Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” meanwhile, is heading for about $25 million for a domestic tally of around $66 million. The two films lead the pack for a relatively sluggish President’s Day weekend, with the top 12 films totaling significantly below last year’s revenues, which were given a massive boost from the $242 million (four-day) premiere of “Black Panther.” Robert Rodriguez’s cyberpunk action film starring Christoph Waltz and Rosa Salazar scored $7.53 million on Friday. James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis adapted the script from Yukito Kishiro’s manga series “Gunnm,” and the Fox sci-fier holds a 59% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. “Alita” marks a risk for the studio, with a costly $170 million production budget. Warner Bros.’ “Lego Movie 2,” starring Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks, has taken in $64 million worldwide since its debut last weekend. Rebel Wilson’s “Isn’t It Romantic” is opening at 3,444 theaters for a four-day estimate of $14 million. Warner Bros. and New Line’s anti-rom-com took in $4.18 million on Friday. Liam Hemsworth also stars in the send-up, with Wilson playing a woman who finds herself trapped in a romantic comedy despite believing in their inherent sexism and lack of realism. Todd Strauss-Schulson directed from a script by Erin Cardillo, Dana Fox, and Katie Silberman. The film has a 68% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The second weekend of Paramount’s “What Men Want,” starring Taraji P. Henson, should land in fourth with about $11 million, though the debut of Universal-Blumhouse’s “Happy Death Day 2U” could pick up the slot with an estimated $10.54 million. The “Happy Death Day” sequel, which hit theaters Wednesday, should have pocketed $26.25 million globally through Sunday, somewhat below earlier forecasts. “What Men Want” has earned $28 million in its first eight days. Star Jessica Rothe reprised her role for “Happy Death Day 2U,” with director Christopher Landon also returning to helm and taking over writing duties from Scott Lobdell. Israel Broussard, Phi Vu, Rachel Matthews, Suraj Sharma, and Ruby Modine also star. Though the horror pic is pacing well behind its predecessor, which opened to $26 million over three days on its way to a $125 million global tally, it has a quick route to profitability, with just a $9 million budget. Also premiering this weekend is MGM’s “Fighting With My Family” at four locations, along with Sony Pictures Classics’ “Ruben Brandt, Collector” at two sites and IFC’s “Donnybrook” at 80 theaters.<doc-sep>
PG-13, 1h 40m – Horror, Mystery, Thriller Now Playing “Happy Death Day 2 U,” the sequel to 2017’s “Happy Death Day,” is a “Scream” meets “Back To the Future” meets “Groundhog Day” attempt at the slasher-genre, only not nearly as good as any of those films. In this film our heroine from the first movie, Tree Gelbman (played with surprising range by Jessica Rothe), discovers that dying over and over in the first film was surprisingly easier than the dangers that lie ahead. If only it was easier for the filmmakers to take advantage of such a clever premise the second time around. Writer/director Christopher Landon (writer on a whole bunch of “Paranormal Activity” films) adds the element of dimensional time travel into what was essentially a lightweight (PG-13) horror film in part one and ups the comedy, but the audience is left with the ingredients to a recipe that don’t quite mix together. The look of the cake is better than the taste. The pic is chock-full of pop-culture and movie references (mostly Universal Studios properties, who’s distributed both films) which leads me to wonder why they didn’t use the “Evil Dead” template while turning the film’s previous genre on its head. After the 1983 horror film, Director Sam Raimi returned to the franchise that launched his career with 1987’s “Evil Dead 2,” and with it brought a ton of comedy. I would venture the film is considered more of a comedy than a horror film. It wasn’t afraid to go all the way with the laughs. “Happy Death Day 2 U” seems hesitant to make that change. The first half of the film plays like the horror/thriller the original film was, but this sequel turns into more of a comedy by the halfway point. If you are going to commit, commit from page one. Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free Still, after a rocky first act, I found myself being slowly won over by the change and enjoyed the last 30 minutes of the movie. If only it could have been that way from the start. — “Happy Death Day 2 U” arrives in theaters this Friday. You can follow this movie on Facebook and Twitter. —