Happy Death Day director Chris Landon already has plans for a sequel. A slasher film with a Groundhog Day-style time loop twist, Happy Death Day looks poised to become the latest hit horror flick to come out of Blumhouse Productions. Blumhouse has become known for producing low-budget horror films that manage to catch on well with audiences, leading to profit margins that many other companies are likely jealous of.

Happy Death Day stars relative unknown Jessica Rothe, who up until now has found herself being mostly relegated to small supporting roles in films, or one-off guest spots on TV. Rothe plays Tree Gelbman, a college student who gets murdered on her birthday. Then gets murdered again, and again, and again, as the day keeps resetting itself. The only Tree way can escape is by solving her own murder, and ultimately preventing it from happening. Many critics have praised Rothe’s performance in the lead, and deemed it a star-making role for the actress.

With the latest box office estimates suggesting that Happy Death Day will easily knock Blade Runner 2049 off of the top spot, it seems likely that Blumhouse might want to continue the story with a sequel. While Landon has by no means been banking on the idea that a sequel would happen, he tells Cinema Blend that he already has a plan in place for a potential Happy Death Day 2, just in case.

While Happy Death Day makes use of the aforementioned time loop plot device in its bid to craft something a bit more intriguing than the average slasher affair, the film doesn’t reveal anything concrete about why exactly this scenario happens to Tree, or what force is causing the reality-bending phenomena. It turns out that part of the reason for that lack of explanation is Landon’s desire to make answering those questions the basis for a sequel. Landon also didn’t want to bog the initial film down with lots of exposition, feeling that it was more interesting to focus specifically on Tree’s attempts to save herself from the loop.

It’s still too early to be certain that Blumhouse will order a Happy Death Day sequel, but if they do, it’s good to know that Landon already has a fully-formed plan for where he wants to take the story. Many horror franchises fall prey to the temptation of simply recreating the first film’s plot, but with more kills and more characters. If Landon’s idea of diving into the mechanics of the time loop comes to fruition, that would effectively ensure that Happy Death Day 2 wouldn’t be yet another horror sequel to do nothing more than retread the same ground as the original.

More: Happy Death Day’s Ending Explained

Source: Cinema Blend

  • Half to Death Release Date: 2017-10-13 Happy Death Day Release Date: 2017-10-13