Christopher Landon's Happy Death Day was a lot of fun. It took old concepts and mashed them together into something that was surprisingly enjoyable. The sequel was a bit of a convoluted mess that already insisted in retreading the same ground, only the charm was cut in half in favor of weird sci-fi vibes that didn't really do it for me. This time, he took the old body swap concept and applied it slashers, and somehow he managed to get Vince Vaughn to step into the shoes of a slasher
The mood is very similar to the aforementioned films. The plot and victims are entirely predictable, but what are we expecting? Aren't slasher films supposed to be that way? We're watching a bunch of recycled plot devices after all, full of all the cliches you can think of. Dumb jocks, gay best friends, high school bullies and bitches, etc. We're not watching this for them though. We're watching it because we want to see Vince Vaughn as a masked serial killer. For a few minutes anyway. Then we're watching it because we want to see him act like a teenage girl. And unlike the other films, this one is actually rated R, so we get a few decent kills in there, but being that it's so mainstream, they opted out of any nudity or true grit, but oh well. There's enough suggestive content to make up for it.
I wont go into much more detail, but you can tell Vince had a lot of fun with the movie. I think I might have liked the movie better if there weren't any supernatural twists and he was just killing people as himself. How often do you get A-listers to step off of their high horse to play a slasher villain? Basically never, so this is a treat.
There are a few laughs, but some of the scenes are cringe-worthy. Like the awkward drawn-out dressing room scene where people are far too candid with "strangers". Also, the movie features Alan Ruck as an irritable shop teacher who simply hates our shy and meek protagonist. Like really, he fucking hates her guts for some reason and wants to see her fail at life. Hmm... okay?
And one last question... why do high school athletics need a cryo freezer? Is that a thing now? And why is it a thing?
#Review