Film Review: Happy Death Day 2 U

"Oh, My God. Everything Is Different. This Time It’s Coming After All Of Us..."

Whilst it is never surprising within the contemporary world of cinema to see sequels, prequels and spin-offs when any feature ticks the financial boxes by surpassing box office expectations, it's fair to say that no one really expected a sequel to 2017's, Happy Death Day, the highly entertaining, knowingly camp, Blumhouse slasher flick featuring a starring lead performance from Jessica Rothe as Tree who, just for recap purposes, becomes stuck in a Groundhog Day influenced death loop as she is followed and subsequently murdered countless times by a creepy, baby-face masked killer on the campus of her flashy, up-market college. But with the dollar signs stamped on a very well-worn narrative which took almost thirty times its' production budget across the globe, here we go again with Happy Death Day 2 U, the rather awkwardly titled follow up which sees Rothe once again face battle with continued death as she attempts to save not only herself, but her newly formed and overly geeky acquaintances, from an endless cycle of murderous rampaging. Whilst it comes at no surprise that Death Day part two knowingly treads over highly familiar and already well-worn ground, the cheesy demeanor and likable sensibility the film evokes results in a sequel which fails to be classed as anything resembling memorable, but is undoubtedly a moderately enjoyable B-movie flick nonetheless. 

With the original taking large leafs out of the book of Scream and every other slasher flick both before and after, Happy Death Day 2 U chooses to revert to an almost different genre entirely, where amidst the numerous expected murderous set pieces is an underlying narrative which seems to fit more into the science fiction genre rather than horror. With characters outright asking each other whether they have seen Back to Future in one particular scene, the nods to the notion of time travel results in a more interesting sequel than one might have expected, with the brave choice of reverting the assumed genre actually quite rewarding as we move from one outrageous set piece to the next in a sequel which easily could have been called Happy Death Day: Into the Murderverse. With storytelling plot holes saved by the good graces of some flashy editing, the epileptic tone not entirely sitting comfortably in one particular zone, and an overriding sense that maybe one film may have been more than enough, Death Day is of course flaky and overly flawed, but a movie which on the other hand surprisingly never becomes dull or dis-interesting, largely thanks to an assortment of likable characters and a continual hit rate of laugh out loud comedic one-liners and slapstick arrangements, but with a post-credits scene which hints at even more chapters to come, Happy Death Day 2 U is indeed throwaway fun, but that's all it is. 

Overall Score: 6/10 

Film Review: Halloween

"He Killed My Friends, And Now He's Back To Finish What He Started, With Me. The One Person Who's Ready To Stop Him..."

Acting as a direct sequel to John Carpenter's influential 1978 horror classic and thus disregarding and retconning the many, many franchise films which followed, Halloween circa 2018 sees the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode for a reunion with the iconic figure of the knife wielding Michael Myers forty years after the infamous Haddonfield Murders in which a handful of teenagers were brutally murdered by the hand of the ghostly masked serial stalker on Halloween night. Brought back to the big screen by Stronger director David Gordon Green, Halloween acts as both a respectful and intelligent ode to the Carpenter classic whilst offering enough fresh and interesting levels of substance which puts it above and beyond the many failed attempts to reignite particular horror franchises in an age when studios constantly feel the need to regurgitate old ideas for the sake of a quick and meaningless buck. With a barnstorming central performance from Curtis and a brutal, terrifying central antagonist in the form of Myers, Green's attempt at resurrecting one of horror's most iconic franchises is a resounding success, mixing classic genre undertones with ferocious slasher violence within a movie which indeed treads over very well worn ground but does so with an element of style and outrageous levels of joyous fun.

Kicking off by introducing to the audience a Myers securely kept within the confines of a particularly creepy asylum for the insane, the opening quarter of the movie takes its' time in developing characters both old and new, particularly that of the now expanded Strode family, where an isolated and aged Laurie channels her best Sarah Connor impression by having used the majority of her life to prepare for the return of her own personal "boogeyman" at the cost of rejecting the chance to be both a mother and grandmother to both Judy Greer (Ant-Man) and Andi Matichak's (Orange Is The New Black) Karen and Allyson. Whilst the majority of the audience are astutely aware that particular characters are undoubtedly headed for the chopping block when the inevitability of death is sprung upon the town of Haddonfield once again, it is to the film's credit that once Myers begins his murderous ascent, the brutal and bone crushing violence is genuinely horrifying and knowingly contrasting to Carpenter's original in which on-screen gore is sparse and heavily implied, and with genuinely shocking characters deaths and an array of tense set pieces, Green fully embraces and understands the essence of what made Carpenter's film so powerful and simply updates it for a contemporary audience with alarming success. With enough clever odes to the franchise to keep the hordes of horror fans dancing with glee, including very familiar yet inverted camera shots and knowing dialogue which brings to light particular plot threads throughout the Halloween series, Green's movie is made all the better by the enigmatic presence of the wispy haired Curtis, whose outspoken perception of the film acting as metaphor for the #MeToo generation also adding an extra layer of substance to a movie which managed to hit all the right notes, particularly from the point of view of slasher fans who will lap Green's movie up like Michael Myers in a knife shop. 

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Happy Death Day

"I've Already Lived Through This Day. Someone Is Going To Kill Me Tonight..."

For a film which even come the concluding act references Groundhog Day, Happy Death Day, the latest from the indie-horror sensation filmmakers at Blumhouse Productions, at least doesn't attempt to shy away from the fundamental similarities between it's own narrative and the Bill Murray comedy classic, and whilst this time the titular groundhog is replaced with an ice cold, rampaging murderer with a penchant for baby-faced, plastic masks in the ilk of famous slashers of the past, Happy Death Day is still a highly entertaining black comedy which although undeniably lacks completely in originality, makes up for in pristine execution. Helmed by the rather unknown low-key figure of Jessica Rothe as the stuck-up, air-headed student, Theresa, Happy Death Day follows a narrative in which although is overly predictable in a paint-by-numbers kind of fashion, mixes together well a blackly comic violent streak with a life-affirming redemption tale without seeping too far into overkill or saccharin silliness, and with the chance to witness again and again the death of the movie's leading character, director Christopher B. Landon plays around with the comical elements almost too much at times that if it weren't for moments of shock-inducing violence, Happy Death Day could pass itself as a late-turn edition of Scooby-Doo, and whilst such a notion sounds fundamentally ridiculous, the turnaround of the film's leading character results in the movie ultimately coming across too charming to dismiss as just overly ripe silliness. 

With moments which include nicely orchestrated jump scares and a brilliant supporting performance from Israel Broussard as the non stereotypical stereotypical fresher student and exposition handler, Carter, Happy Death Day understands the joyous nature of films which on the one hand balance traditional horror tropes and on the other, light hearted comedy, and whilst a few scenes throughout the course of the film's 90 minutes don't entirely work, including a compilation of our heroine's attempts to locate her own killer and a final twist which is the definition of obviousness, Landon's movie works on a level of popcorn-fuelled escapism of which I went into the screening particularly yearning for. Whilst Blumhouse Productions have undoubtedly crafted much more impressive and long-lasting horror releases, Happy Death Day passess the time effectively enough to warrant its' existence, even when half way through I couldn't get the image of Bill Murray out of my mind.

Overall Score: 7/10