A great yet underrated horror sequel is dominating Netflix today. Just as the streaming platform debuts one horror sequel in the form of Fear Street Part 2: 1978, another is already proving incredibly popular on the site. According to Flix Patrol’s latest rankings, 2019’s Happy Death Day 2U is currently the ninth most-watched movie on Netflix worldwide.
The follow-up to 2017’s smash-hit horror-comedy Happy Death Day, HDD2U returns time-looped sorority sister Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) to Monday the 18th, her birthday, which she must relive over and over until she can figure out the identity of the masked madman who keeps killing her. Though the first film saw Tree manage to solve the mystery and escape the loop, 2U throws an extra twist into the plot. Not only is she back in the loop, she’s also trapped in an alternate universe. Meaning someone else is the culprit.
While HDD cooked up something original by putting the scripts for Groundhog Day and Scream into a blender, HDD2U adds Back to the Future Part 2 into the mix to deliver a sci-fi/horror-comedy mash-up. To be honest, the sci-fi story elements and increased humor mean the horror is somewhat toned down, though director Christopher Landon still has a lot of fun killing Tree off in increasingly high-concept ways.
Unfortunately, the sequel didn’t make as much money as the first at the box office, meaning Blumhouse was forced to halt plans for a closer to the trilogy. However, Jason Blum, Landon and Rothe are all still committed to making Happy Death Day 3 happen at some point. Landon even recently teased that he might have some exciting news to share fairly soon. In the meantime, the Freaky director is writing the screenplay for Blumhouse’s Paranormal Activity 7.
Happy Death Day 2U isn’t currently available on Netflix in the US but it is in many other territories around the globe.
