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Columns : Screen Scene Last Updated: Mar 1, 2019 - 11:21:34 AM


Death Makes A Killer Comeback - Movie review by Rouén Robinson
By Rouén Robinson
Mar 1, 2019 - 11:18:04 AM

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Death Makes A Killer Comeback.

A sequel that becomes a comedic sci fi film with horror aesthetics that almost feels like a parody of its original if not for the genre bending twists.

When a formerly self absorbed student survives reliving her days she finds out that she must help someone else reliving their days. When a formerly self absorbed student survives reliving her birthday over and over again, she finds the students responsible for the freak occurrence but must help one of them to help herself live. When a formerly self absorbed student finds herself reliving the same day after replacing herself in an alternate timeline she must find a way to close her loop with the help of her slightly different friends and decide if she wishes to stay in that reality.

Theresa ‘Tree’ Gelbman finds herself helping the roommate of her boyfriend survive his own time loop but in doing this she gets thrown into the time loop of an alternate timeline her. Carter Davis is Tree’s boyfriend who helps her help his roommate to find a way to stop the looping, but his reason for helping her changes once a different version of himself is present. Ryan Phan is Carter’s roommate who has been working on a science experiment with his lab partners Samar Ghosh & Andres ‘Dre’ Morgan which seems to cause the looping of timelines. Dr. Gregory Butler is the married professor at Tree’s college who is having an affair with Tree’s roommate and sorority sister Lori Spengler, but may not have the best of intentions.

Happy Death Day 2 U is now a sci-fi comedy with horror undertones and due to the unexpected nature of the first entry, it allows the viewer to enjoy the journey into the unknown that this sequel decides to take you on. The only problem is that while the first theatrical release seemed to know where it was going and what it was showing, by the end of this ride you may feel like the journey ended because the scenic route was not as scenic as the driver thought it would be. There are more characters this time around and the new characters do add to the sense of realism within the over the top nature of the film, but it does feel like some of them get lost once the theme of the film shifts to prior events which allow Rachel Matthews & Ruby Modine's characters from the first film more screen time. Christopher Landon directs as well as writes this time around and it feels like he could have used a go writer to help rein in the tonal shifts so he could have had a more streamlined story. Bear McCreary improves on the score he delivered in the first film with musical flourishes that added to the more whimsical tone of this installment, but I am still disappointed that they did not find a way to fit 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” in the new soundtrack even if it was just the ringtone of one of the new characters. The newest entry in this budding motion picture franchise is now in the territory of films such as Back to The Future 2, Sliding Doors and Blind Chance as well as tv shows like Fringe, Counterpart and The Man in the High Castle.  This movie tries to fit a lot of ideas into its runtime and due to the mixing of genres it sacrifices the smooth tonal shifts of the first film with jarring shifts in tone with this one. I rate this movie a rating of 3 out of 5.

Pre - P. S.
Try to get there early so you can see an interesting phenomena with the Universal Logo at the beginning of the motion picture which gives a hint to the different direction the sci fi elements of this sequel take it from the original.

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