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Based on a startling true incident, an octogenarian Vietnamese-American taxi driver finds himself commandeered by three jail-breakers on the neon-drenched streets of Orange County. At its core, this isn’t merely a crime caper where the aged and the outlaw collide—what begins as a gritty thriller (think Collateral meets Little Saigon) morphs unexpectedly into a study of displacement, memory, and emergent kinship.

Director and co-writer Sing J. Lee—best known for his kinetic music videos—opts for a “slow-burn noir” approach, favoring long takes and negative space over rapid cuts. His collaborator Christopher Chen, adapting Paul Kix’s GQ dispatch, anchors the narrative in documentary-style realism, gently tipping the scales from suspense to soulful drama.

Hiệp Trần Nghĩa inhabits Long with an almost metaphysical stillness (call it “quietism acting”), wordless at times yet loaded with interior history. Opposite him, Dustin Nguyen’s Tây oscillates between menace and mentor, a...

The Accidental Getaway Driver skillfully blurs the lines between gritty crime noir and a deeply personal human drama. Based on the article by Paul Kix, an elderly Vietnamese taxi driver is taken hostage after accepting a late-night job. He's thrust into a dangerous situation, but soon establishes a connection with one of his captors that transforms them both. The situation becomes increasingly dubious as everyone involved knows there can be no witnesses. The journey undertaken requires significant patience, but speaks stark truths about the burdens of past sins and confronting our failures with superb cinematography.

In Orange County, California's Little Saigon, Long Mã (Hiệp Trân Nghĩa) sits alone in his small apartment as night falls. He stares out the window as his neighbors play cards before rummaging through an empty fridge. Long decides to get a snack at a nearby supermarket in his striped pajamas. The old man ignores his cell phone,...

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Utopia releases “The Accidental Getaway Driver” in theaters on Friday, February 28, 2025.

In the first third of “The Accidental Getaway Driver” you might think you’re in for the film of the festival at Sundance 2023. The setup is simple and suspenseful: Long (Hiệp Trần Nghĩa), an elderly Vietnamese immigrant who works as a driver is paid double for a late night assignment that turns out to be about keeping three escaped prisoners ahead of the law. When Tây (Dustin Nguyen), one of the convicts, points a gun at him to prevent him from bailing when he wants to get out, the tension ratchets up to the breaking point.

But “The Accidental Getaway Driver” is not the film of the festival. And though the tension ratchets up there near the beginning, that’s as high as it goes for the whole movie.

"I don't know who to trust anymore." "You have to trust yourself." Utopia has revealed an official trailer for an indie drama titled The Accidental Getaway Driver, from filmmaker Sing J. Lee. This one originally debuted at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival a few years ago - it didn't make much of an impact and has been stuck in release limbo ever since. During a routine pickup, an elderly Vietnamese cab driver is taken hostage at gunpoint by three recently escaped Orange County convicts. After being taken hostage by the three bank robbers, Long begins to revisit his own past, marred by war, re-education camp, and estrangement from his family. Actor Hiệp Trần Nghĩa stars as Long. When he starts to develop a friendly relationship with one of the convicts, Tây (starring Dustin Nguyen), tension builds between the group, and Long is left wondering about his fate. The cast also includes Dali Benssalah,...

It’s been exactly two years since Sing J. Lee’s directorial debut wowed at Sundance, and now, audiences can finally appreciate the award-winning drama on the big screen.

Lee’s “The Accidental Getaway Driver” premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where Lee won the Director award. The film centers on elderly Vietnamese immigrant cab driver Long (Hiệp Trần Nghĩa), who is enlisted by a trio of escaped convicts to shuttle them across Orange County for the night. Dustin Nguyen, Dali Benssalah, and Phi Vũ play the three criminals who take Long hostage at gunpoint.

The official synopsis reads: “Long, a Vietnamese driver in Southern California answers a late-night call for a ride. He reluctantly accepts, picking up a man, Tây, and his two companions. But the men, recently escaped convicts from an Orange County jail, take Long hostage at gunpoint, thrusting him into their getaway plan. When complications arise,...

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Time Cut is a sci-fi slasher horror film directed by Hannah MacPherson who also co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Kennedy. The Netflix film follows a high school senior student and amateur inventor who accidentally finds a time machine and travels back to the year 2003 when an unknown killer killed her sister in hopes of saving her. Time Cut stars Madison Bailey, Antonia Gentry, Michael Shanks, Griffin Gluck, Megan Best, Samuel Braun, Sydney Sabiston, Kataem O’Connor, and Rachael Crawford. So, if you loved the inventive element in the slasher horror genre and the compelling characters in Time Cut here are some similar movies you should check out next.

Totally Killer (Prime Video) Credit – Prime Video

Totally Killer is a slasher horror comedy film directed by Nahnatchka Khan from a screenplay co-written by David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver, and Jen D’Angelo.

Optimism remains high for a potential third film in the Happy Death Day franchise, with Jessica Rothe eager to reprise her role. Director Chris Landon has a plan for the new movie, pending decisions from Blumhouse and Universal to move forward with the project. Happy Death Day was a huge financial success, while the sequel did not perform as well, making a third film release uncertain.

Happy Death Day star Jessica Rothe remains hopeful for Tree's return in a third film in the horror franchise. During a recent conversation with ScreenGeek, while promoting her new action flick Boy Kills World, Rothe opened up about the status of a follow-up film in the Happy Death Day universe. Rothe starred in the original 2017 film and its sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, as Tree Gelbman, a college student stuck in a hellish "Groundhog Day" who keeps reliving her own murder.

"Well, I can...

Warning: Spoilers for Happy Death Day 2U

Happy Death Day 2U leads right into a potential Happy Death Day 3, here are the latest Happy Death Day 3 updates including everything that's known so far about the next installment of writer-director Christopher Landon's genre-bending, sci-fi/comedy/horror franchise. In Happy Death Day 2U, Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) learned the cause of the time loop that made her continually relive and get murdered in Happy Death Day: Ryan (Phi Vu), the science nerd roommate of Tree's boyfriend Carter (Isarel Broussard), invented a machine called the Sisyphus Quantum Cooling Reactor (Sissy for short).

Sissy then overloaded and not only trapped Tree in another time loop, but it sent her to a parallel dimension as well. Tree had to figure out a way to get home and stop a new Babyface Killer in the process. Happy Death Day 2U significantly expanded the franchise...

The Accidental Getaway Driver Review — The Accidental Getaway Driver (2023) Film Review from the 46th Annual Sundance Film Festival, a movie directed by Sing J. Lee, written by Christopher Chen and Sing J. Lee and starring Hiep Tran Nghia, Dustin Nguyen, Dali Benssalah, Phi Vu, Gabrielle Chan, Vivien Ngo, Sharon Sharth, Travon McCall, Edward [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: The Accidental Getaway Driver: Sing J. Lee’s Film is a Dark Story of Redemption with Fine Acting [Sundance 2023]...

The premise is simple; it promises a comical, stranger-than-fiction thrill-ride. Late at night, an elderly Vietnamese cab driver begrudgingly agrees to a routine pickup where he’s taken hostage at gunpoint by three recently escaped Orange County convicts. Based on Paul Kix’s similarly titled GQ story, The Accidental Getaway Driver certainly begins at a tense pace, but over the course of a few days this enervating scenario shifts into a lower gear, becoming a scattered meditation on masculinity that wrings out just enough emotional truth to appease its multi-genre approach.

Against the clock, these three outlaws––Tây (Dustin Nguyen), Aden (Dali Benssalah) and Eddie (Phi Vu)––start crossing off the items on their escape-plan checklist: they get haircuts, make calls, stop at Wal-Mart, and demand obedience from Long (Hiep Tran Nghia), their involuntary wheelman attempting to stay calm while navigating Little Saigon under extreme pressure. When Aiden and Eddie...

The title “The Accidental Getaway Driver” says it all: A down-on-his-luck driver picks up felons in his vehicle and unwittingly gets mixed up in their criminal acts. This “Collateral”-esque proposition propels renowned music video director Sing J. Lee’s minor-key and frustratingly one-note crime-drama, inspired by the true story of a Southern California driver of Vietnamese descent held hostage by three Orange County prison runaways — an incident told in a 2017 GQ article by Paul Kix.

The premise immediately screams “cinematic thriller,” and Lee’s polished, neo-noir-adjacent nighttime sequences (captured stylishly by Dp Michael Cambio Fernandez with lush neon colors and deep contrasting blacks) does right by the idea in the visual department. Unfortunately, the script — co-written by Lee and Christopher Chen — leaves a lot to be desired, squandering the old-school appeal of the true-crime drama for a dull and overlong mood piece in which nothing much happens and no...

When cabdriver Long (Hiep Tran Nghia) reluctantly sets out to pick up a fare near the start of The Accidental Getaway Driver, he has no way of knowing where the journey might take him. Even those of us in the audience, well aware of the title, might find it difficult to guess. Because although the film starts as the gritty crime thriller suggested by its core premise, it pivots, unexpectedly but effectively, into something much more tender.

From the minute we meet Long, it’s obvious what kind of existence he’s leading. He’s first seen alone in a shabby apartment, listening to an old CD so banged-up it hardly plays anymore. His neighbors can be seen and heard playing chess outside his window, but this elderly, worn-down soul seems to have no place among them. When he’s called for a job late at night, he grumbles but finally gives in.

Tears and Asian pride flowed on stage after the Sundance premiere of Accidental Getaway Driver, the feature debut of longtime commercials and music video director Sing J. Lee.

Based on true events in which a Vietnamese driver is kidnapped by three convicts and used to ferry them in their escape, the story seems ready-made for an “action thriller” adaptation. But Lee had other plans when he first read the 2017 GQ article on which it’s based.

“It seemed like it could be a certain kind of film,” said Lee at the movie’s post-screening Q&a. “But I immediately saw four human beings in this story that could embody so many part of my own family and life experiences or [be] seen in the life of my parents. I saw something so tender and fragile that I haven’t seen so much in the West. And I just felt this drive to...

For the last few years, Sundance has had a strong record for premiering Asian titles that would overtake the film festival circuit. Asian diaspora and titles from Asia alike dominated the slate last year, with Indian documentary “All That Breathes” taking home the Grand Jury Prize in World Cinema Documentary; Christine Choy-starring “The Exiles” walking away with the Grand Jury Prize in US Documentary; and Kogonada’s quiet sci-fi “After Yang” winning the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. Other productions have made a splash on the circuit as well, like the Martika Ramirez Escobar’s stunning debut “Leonor Will Never Die” and Julie Ha and Eugene Yi’s well-researched documentary “Free Chol Soo Lee.” The successes of the previous years have ramped up our own excitement for what is to come in 2023 — which will be, for the first time in the last 2 years, premiere in-person,...

The Sundance Institute has released its lineup for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The annual festival will take place January 19-29 in Park City, Utah and will feature the “upcoming year’s most impactful independent stories.”

To kick off the event, IMDb will present “Opening Night: A Taste of Sundance” to raise funds for the organization, in addition to “Day One Features” which will show 11 features and a short film program. Over the course of the festival, the Institute will show 101 feature films which were selected from over 15,000 submissions, both from the U.S. and internationally. The films fall into a number of categories.

Tickets for the festival can be purchased here.

Here is the lineup for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, as announced by The Sundance Institute:

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Presenting 12 world premieres of fiction feature films, the Dramatic Competition offers audiences a first look at groundbreaking new voices in American independent film.

The 2023 Sundance Film Festival’s lineup of 101 feature films includes contributions from 23 countries. The Sundance Institute notes 28 of the festival’s slate comes from first-time feature filmmakers, and 94 of the films will be making their world premieres at the 2023 festival.

More than 4,0000 feature films were submitted for consideration.

“Maintaining an essential place for artists to express themselves, take risks, and for visionary stories to endure and entertain is distinctly Sundance,” said Robert Redford, Sundance Institute Founder and President. “The Festival continues to foster these values and connections through independent storytelling. We are honored to share the compelling selection of work at this year’s Festival from distinct perspectives and unique voices.”

The 2023 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 19-29th. 2022’s festival was canceled due to a surge in Covid-19, but barring any setbacks, the 2023 event will once again return to in-person screenings. Some films will also be available online...

Setting the stage for the year in cinema, the 2023 Sundance Film Festival will take place January 19-29, both in person in Utah as well as virtual viewings kicking off five days into the festival. Ahead of next month’s festivities, the festival has now unveiled its features lineup, which features 99 films.

Initial highlights of the lineup include Ira Sachs’ Passages, starring Franz Rogowski, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Ben Whishaw, William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth follow-up Eileen, Raven Jackson’s All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, produced by Barry Jenkins, Bad Behaviour, the directorial debut of Jane Campion’s daughter Alice Englert, Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool, starring Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Goth, Nicole Holofcener’s’ You Hurt My Feelings starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and more.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

The 12 films in this section are all world premieres. All 12 will be available to stream online.

The Accidental Getaway Driver (Director and Screenwriter: Sing J. Lee,...

Click here to read the full article.

Take two.

After last year’s in-person festival was canceled at the last minute because of the winter Covid-19 surge due to the Omicron variant, the Sundance Film Festival is returning to Park City for the first time since 2020 with a line-up of 101 feature-length films, representing 23 countries, that was annoucned today.

The U.S. Dramatic Competition section features thirteen titles. The Jonathan Majors-fronted Magazine Dreams, Randall Park’s directorial debut Shortcomings, and the latest from Will Ferrell and Jessica Elbaum’s Gloria Sanchez, Theater Camp, are among those vying for the top festival prize.

As for non-fiction, several bio-docs centered on big-name talent are festival bound, including Michael J. Fox (Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie), Brooke Shields (Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields), Little Richard (Little Richard: I Am Everything), and Judy Blume (Judy Blume Forever). Years past have seen docs on Taylor Swift,...

Vincent Ngo, top screenwriter and Hollywood script doctor, has set up comedy series “Early Risers” in his native Vietnam. Talent behemoth, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) represents the production company Early Risers Media Group and is handling licensing of the series’ distribution rights.

The show, about the lives of American and European expats living and working in Saigon, is set to begin filming under the direction of Zach Merck at the end of this month.

After a prolonged period of Covid restrictions, “Early Risers” is believed to be the first international television production in Vietnam in over two years. Local production is being run by Ace 1 Pictures.

“Vincent has created a series that’s incredibly smart, funny and daring,” said executive producer Peter Toumasis. “It’s a contemporary comedy set against Saigon’s rarely seen expat community, which is full of lovable first-world rejects who had somehow fallen from grace and...

Happy Death Day 3 may be sidetracked by the pandemic, but director Christopher Landon is making it abundantly clear that it’s still on his docket, and he’s itching to get back to work. Thusly, Landon has revealed the film’s actual working title, its current status and a potentially game-changing plot detail.

Happy Death Day to Us is the working title for the threequel, as returning franchise-spanning director Landon reveals in an interview with Empire. The film franchise, a horror genre hybrid of sorts that puts an irreverent self-parodying spin on the Groundhog Day-esque concept of time-looping, became a surprise hit upon the arrival of 2017’s original Happy Death Day, which grossed $125.5 million worldwide off a microscopic $4.8 million budget. Yet, 2019 sequel Happy Death Day 2U wasn’t quite as impactful with $64.6 million worldwide against an upped $9 million budget, but still proved profitable, leaving sequel prospects on the table, especially...

A few years back, Blumhouse and writer-director Christopher Landon proved that a PG-13 slasher movie could work with their teen-friendly masked killer movie Happy Death Day. In fact, that teen-slasher flick was so popular that it spawned a sequel earlier this year with the silly-titled follow-up Happy Death Day 2U. And today we're hearing that Blumhouse has begun developing a third (and final?) entry in the teen slasher series, Happy Death Day 3.

Truth be told, I'm not sure I'm excited for Happy Death Day 3. I mean don't get me wrong, I was all kinds of ready to check out Happy Death Day 2U when it hit earlier this year. But then that sequel was far too silly for my liking. In fact, I think it'd be hard to label the follow-up as a horror-comedy as it seemed like it was a straight-up comedy to this guy. Boring. Anyhow, I'd say...

"Death made a killer comeback" in theaters earlier this year with the theatrical release of Happy Death Day 2U, and soon Tree's lethal time loop will make its way to Blu-ray, DVD, and digital as well.

Blu-ray.com reports that Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will release Happy Death Day 2U on a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital combo pack beginning May 14th.

You can view the cover art and full list of special features below, and in case you missed it, listen to Heather Wixson talk with director Christopher Landon and star Jessica Rothe on a special Happy Death Day 2U episode of Corpse Club!

Written and directed by Christopher Landon, Happy Death Day 2U stars Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Phi Vu, Rachel Matthews, and Ruby Modine.

Synopsis and Special Features (via Blu-ray.com): "It's déjà vu all over again for Tree Gelbman, the snarky sorority sister who solved her own...

Warning: Massive spoilers for all of Happy Death Day 2U lay below!

Now that Happy Death Day 2U has finally arrived, we have full license to tell you everything you're dying to know about the movie. And, well, there's a lot to go over! Even after the first film dazzled audiences, it left one big mystery hanging over our heads: why does Tree get stuck living the same day over and over again? Director Chris Landon promised there was a logical answer for all the insanity, which eventually went on to become the premise for the sequel.

Months passed, and then we finally got the trailer for HDD2U, wherein we learned that there isn't just one mystery but many. Tree is stuck in the same cycle again? There's a different killer?! What the hell is going on?

Luckily for you, I've seen the movie and I know at least...

“Happy Death Day” has officially turned its slasher movie crossed with “Groundhog Day” premise into a franchise with “Happy Death Day 2U,” a sequel that revives the original film’s premise with a new science fiction twist.

Lead actress Jessica Rothe returns along with pretty much all of the original cast. Israel Broussard, Phi Vu, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews and Charles Aitken are all back, along with writer/director Christopher Landon. “Happy Death Day” is now officially a horror franchise.

The question is, then, does “Happy Death Day 2U” follow in the footsteps of so many franchise films, including some horror flicks, in including a bonus scene after or during the credits? Does “Happy Death Day 2U” get into the post-credits scene game to tease a future movie in the series?

Also Read: 'Happy Death Day 2U' Film Review: Frightfully Clever Slasher Sequel is 2 Cool 2 B Forgotten

To answer your question directly: Yes,...

Stars: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews, Charles Aitken, Jason Bayle, Phi Vu, Donna Duplantier, GiGi Erneta | Written and Directed by Christopher Landon

Director Christopher Landon, along with stars Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard as Tree Gelbman and Carter Davis, respectively return to the Blumhouse produced sequel of 2017′s surprise underground horror hit Happy Death Day with Happy Death Day 2U. An absurdly extravagant and absurdly evolved sequel and a film that manages to dial up an already bizarre concept to eleven and still manages to reap the benefits of a fun, entertaining venture that manages to hold its head above an overly convoluted sea of insanity and narrative confusion but only just.

Leading lady Jessica Rothe has undoubtedly cemented herself as an action horror heroine. Rothe has such splendid emotional range and depth. Crafting significant layers to a character tormented in burning agony by both past and...

Take a moment and think of every great movie sequel you have ever seen. Now that you are done listing all the subpar sequels, how many are left on the list that are excellent? The craft of constructing a sequel is a difficult undertaking, especially if the first film is something special.

Happy Death Day was a surprise upon its release in 2017; a film that took the concept of the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day and turned it into a clever and unique horror film that delivered some really fun surprises. The turnaround for the sequel happened rather quickly, which is always a little concerning, but Happy Death Day 2U takes a route less traveled for movie sequels by twisting the narrative, including the genre, into something completely different.

Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) lived the same day over and over, dying at the hands of a masked killer every day until she...

“Alita: Battle Angel” is holding a slim lead ahead of “Lego Movie 2’s” second frame with an estimated four-day take of $29.1 million from 3,790 North American locations.

“Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” meanwhile, is heading for about $25 million for a domestic tally of around $66 million. The two films lead the pack for a relatively sluggish President’s Day weekend, with the top 12 films totaling significantly below last year’s revenues, which were given a massive boost from the $242 million (four-day) premiere of “Black Panther.”

Robert Rodriguez’s cyberpunk action film starring Christoph Waltz and Rosa Salazar scored $7.53 million on Friday. James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis adapted the script from Yukito Kishiro’s manga series “Gunnm,” and the Fox sci-fier holds a 59% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. “Alita” marks a risk for the studio, with a costly $170 million production budget.

Warner Bros.’ “Lego Movie 2,” starring Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks, has taken...

(Major spoilers ahead for all of “Happy Death Day 2U”)

“Happy Death Day 2U” is a fascinating sequel, and surprisingly ambitious for a horror follow-up. Not content simply to do another death-based time loop, it wants to try new things and delve into science fiction for real. But it’s also frustrating because it doesn’t really commit to this new direction.

When it comes to putting things like quantum mechanics and time travel in your movie, all that really matters is that they be internally coherent. Like, it doesn’t matter how I think time travel or dimension hopping works, because those things are not actually real. What matters is that the movie sets some rules and then lives by them. Otherwise your story just won’t work.

Take “Back to the Future,” for example. That series has rules that are sorta silly (specifically the idea that you can...

Chicago – At some point, we’ve all experienced deja vu. Sure, it could just be because we lead a monotonous, predictable life, but I’d personally welcome the idea of something supernatural at play over the more practical explanation. That’s exactly what “Happy Death Day” introduced, and it was a hilarious slasher take on “Groundhog Day”, and luckily the sequel, “Happy Death Day 2U”, adds to the experience.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

The first “Happy Death Day” is a hard film to forget, especially since it the main character is stuck in a repeating loop of waking up, getting murdered, and starting the day over again. This sort of time loop scenario isn’t new to us, especially with iconic films like “Groundhogs Day” and “Live. Die. Repeat.” (formerly known as “Edge of Tomorrow”). There is an inherent comedy to this scenario that is impossible to deny, which is something the film embraces fully and unabashedly.

Stars: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews, Charles Aitken, Jason Bayle, Phi Vu, Donna Duplantier, GiGi Erneta | Written and Directed by Christopher Landon

Happy Death Day‘s inspired slasher-version-of-Groundhog-Day premise proved a surprise hit for Blumhouse Productions back in October 2017, so it’s no surprise that a sequel has followed less than two years later. With the entire cast and director Christopher Landon back on board, the sequel finds increasingly clever ways to build on the first film without just resorting to more of the same (even if “more of the same” is the entire point of a time loop movie).

Initially, Happy Death Day 2U begins by focusing on a different character, namely science student Ryan (Phi Vu) – the roommate of heroine Tree’s (Jessica Rothe) now-boyfriend Carter (Israel Broussard) – who only had variations on a one-line cameo last time round. Here it’s Ryan who finds...

Don Kaye Feb 13, 2019

The cast and filmmakers of Happy Death Day 2U get us all caught up on the franchise and its future(s).

The original Happy Death Day in 2017 was a fresh twist on the slasher movie, a kind of cross between Happy Birthday to Me and Groundhog Day in which a troubled college student named Tree (Jessica Rothe) finds herself reliving her birthday over and over again, each time ending with her death at the hands of a masked killer. It’s only through her own realizations about her behavior and the way she evolves into a better person that Tree can solve the mystery and (literally) get her life back on track.

The comedic horror thriller was such a surprise success that Blumhouse Productions, the company behind this and many other genre hits, immediately fast-tracked a sequel called Happy Death Day 2U. Directed again by Christopher Landon...

(from left) Jessica Rothe as Tree Gelbman, Israel Broussard as Carter and Phi Vu as Ryan in “Happy Death Day 2U,” written and directed by Christopher Landon. Photo Credit: Michele K. Short/Universal Pictures. © 2019 Universal Studios

In time for Valentine’s Day comes Happy Death Day 2U, a sequel to the 2017 horror/comedy Happy Death Day. College student Tree (Jessica Rothe) is back for another day of repeated deaths, but this time it is someone else stuck in the loop of a repeated day. Nonetheless, it is still fierce sorority girl Tree, who went through this before, who must solve the mystery and stop the murderous loop.

Audiences don’t really have to have seen the original to follow the story in the sequel, as Happy Death Day 2U provides a quick little recap of the first film, as Tree explains the situation to the new guy caught in the death day time loop.

Title: ‘Happy Death Day 2U’ Director: Christopher Landon (‘Happy Death Day,’ ‘Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse,‘ ‘Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones’ Starring: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Phi Vu, Suraj Sharma, Sarah Yarkin, Ruby Modine and Rachel Matthews Dying over and over can sometimes be surprisingly easier to contend with than the dangers that lie […]

The post Happy Death Day 2U Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

How do you make a sequel out of a film which, by design, was already repetitive? “Happy Death Day” was the best original slasher film in recent memory, and following up its “Groundhog Day meets Graduation Day” premise with another simple time loop would have been easy, and probably even fun. But returning director Christopher Landon has more ambitious ideas in “Happy Death Day 2U,” transforming the original high-concept slasher into a ambitious and witty sci-fi treatise on alternate realities and the cinematic significance of personal growth in sequels, which frequently forces protagonists to unlearn valuable lessons of the past, just so they can take the same cinematic journey over and over again.

The smart, funny “Happy Death Day” starred Jessica Rothe (“La La Land”) as a stuck-up college student who relived the same day over and over again, because at the end of it she always got killed by...

As a lifelong devotee of the slasher subgenre, Christopher Landon’s Happy Death Day was one of my favorite horror films of 2017, as its infectious charms and clever approach to mixing up the formula we’ve come to expect engrained itself deeply into my genre-loving soul. When a sequel was announced, I was thrilled and excited—naturally—but part of me wondered if the follow-up would succumb to sequelitis and give us fans just more of the same, especially considering how much this concept of looping time was a part of Happy Death Day’s story. But leave it to writer/director Christopher Landon to come up with a brilliant approach to figuring out how you give fans more of what they loved about the original, but still drastically change things up with Happy Death Day 2U, making it one of the most innovative and surprising sequels to come out in years.

Two years ago, “Happy Death Day” was built around a stunt so gimmicky but surefire — a masked-killer horror scenario that repeats over and over again, with variations, like a slasher-film version of “Groundhog Day” — that it seemed almost remarkable no one had ever tried it before. The feisty sorority-girl heroine, named Tree, woke up in a stranger’s dorm room on the morning of her birthday and then proceeded to hurtle through a series of random encounters that led, inevitably, to her death at the hands of a psycho in a baby mask. In the movie, she was killed 11 times. Each time, though, she woke up again in that same room, ready to relive the day once more and maybe, this time, make it right.

All of which raises the question: What does a thriller that is rooted in the very structure of repetition do for an encore? More of the same?...

Everyone knows that Christopher Landon’s 2017 surprise hit “Happy Death Day” — a funny, fresh “Groundhog Day” for the horror set — chronicled the fallout of a screwy timeline loop that impacted just one person, but what “Happy Death Day 2U” presupposes is, what if that’s not true? At least, that’s how Landon’s sequel starts, approaching the repeating-day trope that drove the first film, imagining that another student of Bayfield University is stuck in a loop that restarts only after they befall a gruesome death. It’s a fine enough idea, but from the start, Landon’s own script is at odds with its aims, understanding too late that it detracts from what’s always been the best part of the newly minted franchise: star Jessica Rothe.

While the film’s opening scenes make it appear as if this iteration will focus on Carter’s (Israel Broussard) spacey roommate...

Back in 2017, Blumhouse and Christopher Landon’s Groudhog Day style comedy horror Happy Death Day came just at the right time to fill a void left by late 90s to early 2000s teenage slashers in the Scream and Final Destiny series vein. The film went on to delight horror fans with its inspired premise and cleverly executed plot.

In Happy Death Day 2U, Landon is back in the directing seat with a sequel which sadly leaves a lot to be desired in the originality stakes. Playing around with the same ideas as its predecessor, this new instalment remains hugely watchable even if it brings nothing new to the slasher comedy genre.

After a blissful couple of weeks spent getting to know her new boyfriend Carter (Israel Broussard), Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) unexpectedly re-enters the time loop which turned her last birthday into a living hell. This time, Tree learns that...

Christopher Landon’s Happy Death Day 2U is a fascinating deviation from his 2017 Groundhog Day slasher riff that first laughed in death’s face. Landon and co-scribe Scott Lobdell distance themselves even further from hardcore horror treatments – almost entirely ditching Happy Death Day’s tepid subgenre commitment – and head into blackened Weird Science territory. Dare I say it’s more a quantum physics time paradox laugh like something from a futuristic Scooby Doo episode? Happy Death Day 2U almost outright abandons terror to design a more emotionally-driven teen comedy that just so happens to feature an early death sequence montage.

Oddly enough though – coming from someone who wasn’t overly keen on Happy Death Day – the switcheroo actually works.

Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) has a new lease on life after the events of the first film. She’s dating nice-guy Carter (Israel Broussard), has got rid of psycho killer Lori...

Happy Death Day 2U is a genre crossing sequel that's clever and funny at times, but registers zero scares. It continues the Groundhog Day premise of reliving the same day after being repeatedly murdered by a killer wearing a babyface mask. It spreads the deja vu wealth to other characters, then incorporates science fiction and romantic comedy elements. The primary leads return to investigate the new twists. The problem is that it fails as a slasher flick. Happy Death Day 2U is light on blood, gore, and utterly lacking in terror.

HDD2U, the twitter handle I'll use as an acronym, opens with nerdy Ryan (Phi Vu) having slept overnight in his car. We find out that Ryan is the roommate of Carter (Israel Broussard), who has Tree (Jessica Rothe) in his bed from the first film. Ryan is quickly dispatched by the babyface killer after checking on his science project.

Happy Death Day 2U offers an unneeded explanation for its time loop to excuse a flimsy sequel...but it has spectacular dark comedy deaths.

Deja vu: It’s that queasy sensation that you’ve seen this all before. In real life, it can be disquieting; in Hollywood it’s lucrative. The greater the sequel number, the greater the interest in revisiting the familiar. Still, this financial philosophy has never been taken to quite so literal an extreme as with Happy Death Day 2U, the go-for-broke and overeager to please sequel to one of 2017’s happiest surprises.

Its predecessor was in that rare breed of genre reinventions of Groundhog Day, the cinematic fable about a man doomed to relive the same day ad infinitum. Happy Death Day also might’ve been the most brazen about that Puxatony inspiration, proudly announcing its appropriation as a chipper slasher movie in which the genre’s prototypical victim,...

Babyface is back! Happy Death Day 2U, the Groundhog Day of the Dead Slasher from Blumhouse is back for a sequel and DaniElle DeLaite talked to Jessica Rothe (Tree Gelbman), Israel Broussard (Carter Davies), writer/director Chris Landon and producer Jason Blum about the new film.

The film also stars Phi Vu, Rachel Matthews, Ruby Modine, Suraj Sharma, Charles Aitken and Steve Zissis.

Happy Death Day 2 U is out on the 13th of February, 2019. Here’s the interview.

Plot:

Tree Gelbman discovers that dying over and over was surprisingly easier than the dangers that lie ahead.

The post Happy Death Day 2U Exclusive: Jessica Rothe, Jason Blum & more on the horror sequel appeared first on HeyUGuys.

I’m pretty excited for the upcoming Happy Death Day 2U horror thriller and today we’ve got an interesting new clip to share with you. The clip teases a very surprising twist in the mythology and as you’ll see, it completely shocks the lead characters.

Jessica Rothe returns to the lead role of Tree Gelbman in the sequel, and this time our hero discovers “that dying over and over was surprisingly easier than the dangers that lie ahead.” In this next chapter, she will have to die over and over again in an effort not only to save herself, but her friends as well. While the movie somewhat looks like a carbon copy of the first film, I’m sure the new story will also be filled with some surprising twists and turns.

In the new clip, we see Phi Vu's character being attacked by Babyface. He...

Happy Death Day 2U Trailers Christopher Landon‘s Happy Death Day 2U (2019) movie trailers star Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Phi Vu, Suraj Sharma, and Sarah Yarkin. Happy Death Day 2U‘s plot synopsis: “Jessica Rothe leads the returning cast of Happy Death Day 2U, the follow-up to Blumhouse’s surprise 2017 smash hit of riveting, repeating [...]

Continue reading: Happy Death Day 2U (2019) Movie Trailers: Jessica Rothe Repeatedly Dying Hasn’t Stopped the Killing Time Loop...

The tagline for Happy Death Day's sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, is "death makes a killer comeback," which is confirmed in the horror flick's first hilarious-slash-terrifying new trailer.

In it, Jessica Rothe reprises her role as Tree Gelbman, the college sorority girl who can't seem to stop living the same day over and over again. That's right - she's stuck in the same time loop as the first film. But this time, the masked killer is someone totally different and is not only trying to murder Tree but also all her friends.

Related: We're Finally Going to Solve Happy Death Day's Mystery - the Sequel Is Coming

So, will Tree finally be able to solve the mystery of why she got caught in the time loop to begin with? And if Lori (Modine) isn't the killer in the sequel, who is? Watch both trailers that have been released so far...

Death makes a killer comeback this Valentine's Day when Tree finds herself living her death all over again, and again in the hugely anticipated horror sequel Happy Death Day 2U. The first trailer has arrived, and if you loved the first Happy Death Day, you'll definitely be feeling a sense of deja vu after you get done with this one.

From the producer of Get Out and The Purge comes the time twisting sequel Happy Death Day 2U. Jessica Rothen leads the returning cast of Happy Death Day 2, the follow-up to Blumhouse's surprise 2017 smash hit of riveting, repeating twists and comic turns. This time, our hero Tree Gelbman (Rothe) discovers that dying over and over was surprisingly easier than the dangers that lie ahead.

Jason Blum once again produces and Christopher Landon returns to write and direct this next chapter, while Happy Death Day executive producers Angela Mancuso and John Baldecchi...

"I've already lived through this day! Somebody's going to kill me tonight..." Universal has unveiled the first full-length trailer for a new original horror movie titled Happy Death Day, formerly/also known as Half to Death while it was still in development. Directed by Christopher Landon, the time-loop horror story is about a college student who relives the day of her murder until she finds out who the killer is. The film stars Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews, Charles Aitken, Jason Bayle, and Phi Vu. I'm always interested in time-loop movies (and we already had one this year - Before I Fall) and this looks like a fun horror twist on the concept. I want to see how she solves her own murder. Dive in. Here's the full-length trailer for Christopher Landon's Happy Death Day, direct from YouTube: Blumhouse produces an original and inventive rewinding thriller in Happy Death Day,...

"Am I in a dorm?!" Universal has debuted a very short teaser trailer for a new original horror movie titled Happy Death Day, formerly/also known as Half to Death while it was still in development. Directed by filmmaker Christopher Landon, the time-loop horror story is about a college student who relives the day of her murder until she finds out who the killer is. The film stars Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews, Charles Aitken, Jason Bayle, and Phi Vu. I'm always quite curious about time-loop movies (and we already had one this year - Before I Fall) and this one looks like it might be fun, taking us back to the days of Scream. The full trailer drops on Wednesday, until then - check out this tease. Here's the first teaser trailer for Christopher Landon's Happy Death Day, direct from YouTube: Blumhouse produces an original...

Universal Pictures has debuted the first trailer preview for Happy Death Day, originally entitled Half to Death, which reveals the first of many deaths for a young college student named Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe). Blumhouse produces this original and inventive rewinding thriller where Tree relives the day of her murder with both its unexceptional details and terrifying end until she discovers her killer's identity. This 20-second video will get fans ready for the first full trailer that arrives on Wednesday.

Universal Pictures debuted this trailer preview on its YouTube page, which is where the full trailer will arrive on Wednesday. The trailer preview begins with Tree Gelbman waking up in a dorm room, before returning to her sorority house to get ready for her own birthday party. While the party is in full swing, Tree is seen entering a darkened room, where she is met by a masked intruder, who...