I'm a massive fan of the original 'Happy Death Day' film. In fact I rated it a perfect 10 on IMDb. Every aspect of that movie was executed perfectly. It was scary, funny, charming, intriguing, touching and had a killer twist ending to put the cherry on the cupcake. The announcement of a sequel was a surprise to me to be honest. When a film gets everything so right like that one did it is incredibly hard to make a follow-up to the same standard. Plus you risk ruining the reputation that the first film earned. 'Happy Death Day 2U' was a disappointing sequel that will leave a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of fans of the original.
It certainly isn't an appalling film (otherwise I would never have given it a 6 - and I verged on giving it a 7), it just didn't get the balance right this time around. It was far too light-hearted for starters. I loved the humour that first one possessed and I did in this one too, however it just took up too much of the runtime. If people asked me to choose one genre that this film was I would probably have to say comedy. I should be saying horror.
Secondly, the film was so intent on being clever (and being a homage to 'Back to the Future') that it completely forgot to have an interesting plot piece at the centre of the film. The killer angle was almost like an after-thought this time around. Whereas in the original it drove the film and everything else fed off that.
The first film was so good that I didn't want anything to change and taint what was created in that film. I left the cinema this time with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. If a sequel absolutely had to be made I would've preferred completely fresh characters (even though I love the ones that are in these two films) and for them to just do a seperate story. Maybe that wouldn't have worked either (speaking further to my point that a sequel simply wasn't needed) but at least it would have left the original intact. I hear a third addition to the series is on the way. Hopefully they get it right (whatever that means) next time around.
