Happy Death Day 2U, sequel to the 2017 mystery/slasher film Happy Death Day, sent the audience back through the same — or an eerily similar — plot line, but this time, with varied characters and more of a science fiction aspect to it.

The film begins with a character named Ryan, a recurring character from the first movie, waking up and knowing something is wrong, as if he has already lived through the day. One thing leads to another, and he is murdered — just like what happened to Collegian in the last film.

Collegian — a college student who goes by ‘Tree’ — almost immediately recognizes the problem because she was in the same situation a year prior. From this point on, the entire plot gets a little bit more patchy and confusing. Tree quickly discovers that a machine Ryan and his friends created restarted the conflict — one where she relives the same day over and over until she dies at the hands of a masked figure.

The curse moves to center around Tree, who restarts the process of dying every night and waking up again until they figure out who the murderer behind the mask is.

The concept of the movie is incredibly similar to the first movie. The repetitive nature of the plot quickly grew old. It was almost identical like the last movie — except this time, they added in the idea of Tree ‘resetting her own day’ by ending her own life for some variation. In some instances, her methods of death — jumping out of a plane in a bikini or running into a wood-chipper — were used as comical relief.

In general, Happy Death Day was a good movie with an original plot and a very intriguing slasher aspect that has not been very popular in modern media. In both movies, the character development is poor for everyone but the protagonist. I would say even Tree’s development was repetitive despite the two varying conflicts.

In general, Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2U were incredibly similar movies — just with different villains, conflict instigators, and their own happy endings. Only watching the sequel and not the first would actually work out since there is no carry-over between movies. The films do not have a lot of connection to each other, which can be nice for people who haven’t seen the first movie, but who do get the opportunity to see the second.

Happy Death Day 2U is also a great mystery/slasher movie for those who are not the biggest fans of horror. Besides a few tasteful jump-scares and ominous methods of death, there is not a lot about this movie that could be considered scary or frightening.

This movie is definitely not a spine-tingling chiller. However, if you are looking for a decent mystery with copious amounts of comic relief and intriguing dramatic buildup, Happy Death Day 2U fits those standards perfectly.