It’s hard to find fresh ground for a horror movie. A terrifying murderer can only terrifyingly murder in so many ways, a fact that’s been lampooned to an inch of its life in the Scream franchise. So when you find a gimmick that works, you stick with it, no matter how challenging it gets.
There’s no better example than Happy Death Day, Christopher Landon’s time-loop thriller that followed Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) as she relived the day of her murder over and over again, looking for a way to escape her own demise. Its sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, found a way to double down on the premise by delving further into sci-fi with quantum mechanics, but it’s taken six years to finally get word on a third instalment.
