HAPPY DEATHDAY 2 U
US, 2019, 100 minutes, Colour.
Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Phi Vu, Suaj Sharma, Sarah Yakin, Rachel Matthews, Ruby Modine, Steve Zissis, Charles Aitken, Missy Yager, Jason Bayle.
Directed by Christopher Landon.
Christopher Landon, who directed the first film, Happy Deathday, has written the screenplay here. He really must have enjoyed doing the original and let his imagination run while writing (he had lots of horror-touch speculation with the Paranormal Activity series). And what about his use of the Flower song from Lakme as background to the central characters being hurled through the air in slow motion and the jauntiness of the Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive for the final credits as the heroine of both films, Tree, finally stayed alive!
Technically, Happy Deathday 2 is described as a sequel. However, with all the déjà vu and with all the déjà vu all over again, it is more of what we might call at a meal, seconds, a second helping, the same course but with extra garnishings. Again, it could be called an exercise in recycling, all the key plot elements, the central characters, the murder mystery and the ever-suffering and often-dying heroine. One of the jokes was that in the first film she had never heard of Groundhog Day and this time is bewildered when Back to the Future is quoted!
At first, it seemed that we were going to have an alternate character having the nightmares and being continually killed, quite an entertaining lead-on. But, after getting interested in Ryan, the scientist and inventor, we discover that he was part of Tree’s recurring nightmares. She again was the target. It is entertaining déjà vu, seeing her initial birthday scene from the first film as she walked through the university grounds, our being reminded of those characters she met. And then, there she was of waking up in Carter’s room, same dialogue, the enjoyable repetitions.
One enjoyable aspect was the whole tongue-in-cheek approach to the dialogue, sometimes very corny, at other times witty, the cast playing it for laughs as well as fright, the creative variations on the being murdered every day theme.
There is also a good twist in the plot, the murderer in the first film still alive and not guilty, nor the criminally insane man – but an enjoyable shooting denouement.
And, for the young audience, the creation of the time machine with all its logarithms (and the device of having Tree memorise what she learned every day and communicate that to the inventors who are getting it every day for the first time, cumulative effect for a solution). As regards the multiverse possibilities, we can enjoy the quick demonstration of folding a serviette, poking a pen through it, opening it up and finding six identical pieces with holes. There were other explanations which we wouldn’t try to understand!
This all added up to a pleasing re-visit, enjoyment of the twists in the plot, something akin to those ways of storytelling where the audience has the option of pressing one button, a “what if…? and going in that direction or pressing alternate button and finding a different plot development, a different “what if…?�. So, some sentiment with Tree meeting her mother again, some romance with Carter who was involved with the insufferable Danielle; but the screenplay did capitalise ironically on the character, pretentious pontificating, but utilising her practising acting as a blind person so to distract the Dean with his knitting as an antidote to smoking, get the Dean’s keys to steal back their machine which he had angrily confiscated many times at the zero moment.
A warning for exiters who must leap up to leave soon as the first credit appears, there is a very entertaining episode during the credits.
1. The popularity of the original? In terms of plot, twists, the Groundhog Days scenario, Tree and her deaths, waking up, the other characters? The resolution?
2. The second helping with this sequel? Recycling? Audiences enjoying it? The expansion of the plot, themes, characters? Science and the multiple dimensions?
3. The University campus, the rooms, socials, science laboratory, hospitals? The musical score?
4. The initial focus on Ryan, his nodding off, waking, going across the campus, the encounters, his friend, the work on the Time Machine, the Dean’s arrival, wanting to confiscate, the murderous presence in the cupboard, the same mask? His waking up, audiences expecting him to be the subject of the film? His discussions, retracing his steps, and Tree waking up, her being the centre of the recurring dreams?
5. Tree, the first film, her love for her father and mother, the dead mother, her birthday, the repetitions, her going to the restaurant, the delight in finding her mother alive, their talks?
6. Her waking up, her relationship with Carter, his not being aware of it, his relationship with Danielle and Tree’s reaction? Ryan, his associates, their work on the experiment, his thesis? The Dean and his hostility?
7. The audience seeing Tree walk across the campus – déjà vu from the first film? Her relationship with Danielle? Not attending the sorority meetings? Danielle and her pretensions? Relationship with Carter? Lori as her roommate, memories of the first film, the birthday cake, the murder? Lori as innocent? Her work at the hospital, the relationship with the doctor? The insane man at the hospital? The same policeman on guard?
8. Tree’s Groundhog Day experiences, always waking up the same, Carter and his same words, getting dressed…? Her discussions with Ryan and the others? Time dimensions, multi-verse? The illustration with the serviette and the pen through it, the different time areas? Tree wanting to go back? Where she related well with Carter? But where her mother was dead?
9. Her method, her memories, working with the group each day, testing out the logarithms, seeing which ones worked? Beginning again each day, giving information to the group, their continuing to work? The Dean and his hostility?
10. Tree, her dilemma, as to which era she wanted to belong? The various visits to the hospital, the confrontation with the insane man, the attack on the policeman, the doctor and his presence, Lori and the relationship? The irony of the murderer being the doctor, his wife shooting Tree, shooting Lori, but their getting her and her recovery? The irony of the doctor killing his wife because he wanted a divorce?
11. The buildup to the climax, Tree and her decision, the farewell to her mother? The Dean confiscating the machine, Danielle and her practising to act as a blind woman, their drawing on this, her impersonation with the Dean, the farcical aspects of her blindness and getting the keys, giving them to the group, their getting the machine? Her being unmasked? The Dean and his hurrying to the machine? The split-second timing? Tree returning to the other dimension?
12. Everybody happy? Tree saved? The sequence during the credits, the group being summoned, their being congratulated on the machine? Their needing somebody to be a test case – and Tree contacting Danielle!
