Our own Eric Walkuski wasn't a fan of Blumhouse's "GROUNDHOG'S DAY as a slasher" movie HAPPY DEATH DAY (you can read his 4/10 review HERE), but I had a whole lot of fun watching that flick and thought actress Jessica Rothe did a great job in the lead role. So I'm very glad that Rothe and HAPPY DEATH DAY director Christopher Landon have re-teamed on a sequel and am looking forward to checking it out when it's released. Now distributor Universal Pictures has let us know when that will be.
Titled HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U, the sequel is scheduled to reach theatres on Valentine's Day. February 14, 2019.
In the first HAPPY DEATH DAY, Rothe played
college student named Tree who is repeatedly murdered by a masked figure — only to continually wake up, alive again, on the morning of the fatal day. In Happy Death Day 2U, Tree discovers that dying over and over (on her birthday, no less) was surprisingly easier than the dangers that lie ahead.
Yeah, they're keeping the details of this one under wraps for now. Rothe has previously compared the sequel to BACK TO THE FUTURE, saying that
Chris has done this incredible thing where the sequel, the way he described it to me, elevates the movie from being a horror movie – and I wouldn’t even say it’s just a horror movie because it’s a horror, comedy, rom-com drama – into a Back to the Future type of genre film where the sequel joins us right from where we left off, it explains a lot of things in the first one that didn’t get explained, and it elevates everything.
Rothe is joined in the cast of HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U by Israel Broussard, reprising the role of Tree's boyfriend Carter; Ruby Modine, back as Tree's roommate; and new additions Suraj Sharma and Sarah Yarkin. Sharmer is playing the character Samar Ghosh, "a science enthusiast and geek who enjoys coding in his spare time", with Yarkin as Dre Morgan, "a science geek and tom-boy with a sleepy feline gaze who is Samar’s partner-in-crime."
Producer Jason Blum told Entertainment Weekly that he is
extremely proud of the second movie. It’s better than the first movie, it takes it further. Chris Landon got the tone right, and you’re going to love it."
I'll be there to see HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U in February, hoping it's as entertaining as the first one was.