happy death day | Screaming Soup!

Howdy there, Scream Freaks, and Happy Valentine’s from all of us here at your favorite waterin’ hole for animated horror hostin’! While normal folks packed out fancy restaurants and fell out in diabetic comas from an overdose of sweet gestures, we spent our romantic evenin’ over bags of popcorn and smuggled red champagne in a dark movie theater. Yup, with our seats reclined all the way back in the last cineplex without assigned seatin’ in our parts, we enjoyed each other’s company and our own private screenin’ of Happy Death Day 2U!

If ya been keepin’ up with our R-Rated Review Blog these past few years, then you know we love the first Happy Death Day which is basically the horror version of Groundhog Day with a time limit for how many times a sorority bitch turned loveable last girl Tree can reboot her day before solvin’ her own murder. In Happy Death Day 2U, Tree learns a student’s science project is to blame for her temporal problems, and the doo-hickey throws her back into the same repeatin’ day all over again, but the twist this time is it’s now happenin’ in an alternate dimension with a different killer and outcomes. For an unprecedented sequel to a typical one and done kind of movie, this is just as fun to watch as the original, but is apples to oranges in comparison.

Understandably the filmmakers are ridin’ a fine line to keep such a familiar story fresh given the repetitive theme and end up steerin’ Happy Death Day 2U away from horror and closer to a sci-fi comedy. We’ve got no problem with that, of course, and are reminded of the twist and turns movies like the Evil Dead trilogy took from its hardcore horror beginnin’s to the fantasy adventure Army of Darkness endin’ up bein’. In fact, the characters even reference their situation to Back to the Future 2 which explains this Robert Zemeckis kind-of tonal shift, and echoes of Back to the Future’s theme in Happy Death Day 2U’s score.

The biggest reason why this ain’t as much of a horror as the first movie, however, is mainly ‘cause Tree’s not even the baby face killer’s target in this thing which robs the movie of that whole who-dunnit mystery thrill that was so engagin’ before. And what little murder mystery is revealed by the end is so bafflin’, we were shoutin’ in the theater for the filmmakers to take their asses back to the drawin’ board! So, without Tree needin’ to fight to stay alive, she spends the majority of the flick figurin’ out ways to close the time loop and stressin’ over which dimension she prefers to stay in which offers its own kind of tension, but not as much as someone avoidin’ an inevitable death sentence.

And without the killer sendin’ her back in time with every murder, it’s up to Tree to reset her own days with a music video montage of laughable suicides which raises its own questions. With every fatal reset, Tree’s body undergoes a form of trauma that diminishes her chances for respawnin’. She had no choice but to accept this toll on her life force when the killer was always catchin’ her in the first movie, but now that she’s not a predestined victim, why doesn’t she simply ride the day out instead of puttin’ herself at risk with all these needless suicides? We get she’s impatient to end the never endin’ day and laugh at every outrageous expiration she comes up with, but it just doesn’t make any sense when you think it through.

Despite these couple of forgivable sours, this is still a sweet follow-up to the first Happy Death Day we highly recommend fans of the first one see. It ain’t as scary or thrillin’, but it makes up for it with laughs and suspense with a amazin’ tour de France performance by Jessica Rothe as Tree that made us fall in love with her for the first time again.

Other than that, be sure to catch up on all past Screaming Soup! Seasons, check out this week’s Howl’n Hottie, read recent reviews for the newer horror films and comics we’re checkin’ out in our blogs, R-Rated Reviews and Sequential Slime, and help us get the word out about the web’s #1 animated horror host show! Please use our social buttons in the upper right corner of the site and follow our tweets, subscribe to our video channels, like our Facebook, watch and share all our vids, and keep that fan mail comin’. You can also warm up some Screaming Soup! leftovers with reruns currently playin’ on Beta Max TV and Sluggo’s The Vortexx!

For all you fearmakers out there workin’ on your next scary feature, remember to shoot it our way as an entry in our Scream Freak Film Contest! Three winners will be reviewed in our 50th episode and promoted to all the Scream Freaks lookin’ for the next big thing Hollywood’s too scared to capitalize on. The deadline is open ’til we publish our 49th episode!

And remember to deface your calendars for Screaming Soup!’s first official convention appearance at Mad Monster Party Carolina Feb. 22-24 2019 where you can meet and greet the talents behind your favorite animated horror host show for free autographs!

See ya later, Scream Freaks!

Howdy there, Scream Freaks! Have y’all stopped to notice just how many horror sequels are comin’ out this Halloween season? Like a flashback to the late ’80s, several of our favorite slashers and monsters are knockin’ at Halloween’s door this year, and we’re happier than vamps on a hemophiliac! We always wondered why so many horror movies seem to avoid October releases, so this has been one of the best for us as far as new movie releases go.

While it came a week before October, the Creeper’s third movie still premiered close enough to kind of kick off the holiday with Chucky not too far behind with Cult of Chucky. Here’s what we had to say about those in our R-Rated Reviews:

JEEPERS CREEPERS 3 (2017)

Pickin’ back up with the Creeper’s last 23 day killin’ spree with a story that takes place between parts one and two, a boonies lynch mob guns for the backroads slasher while racin’ him to a farm hidin’ one of his old body parts with secrets to his past. This weakest entry in the Creeper series leaves me happy and pissed at the same time. I can forgive low-budget short comin’s like TV quality effects and most the movie takin’ place durin’ the day, but the story killed me with its weak characters, build-ups with no pay offs, laughable action sequences, and the Creeper’s grab bag of powers that remind me of the randomness in Christopher Reeves’ Superman movies. Suckiest thing about the movie is how two people learn the secrets of the Creeper, but we’re never told any of it! Booby-trap Creepermobiles, impalements, Olympic javelin throwin’, eye-poppin’ gore, dirt bike punks, telekinetic weapons, teen-wolf car surfin’, axes to the face, magical Creeper meat mitts, car flippin’, ricochet road rage, spear fishin’, gattlin’ gun Humvees, haunted arguments, impervious rides, and car-seekin’ road bombs! 3/5!

CULT OF CHUCKY (2017)

Chucky’s back in more ways than one in what could be called his White Sequel and wants revenge on Nica, the last girl on wheels from the previous flick. Committed to a loony bin for the slaughter of her family, Nica’s almost convinced Chucky’s not real until multiple Good Guy dolls start showin’ up in her cuckoo’s nest, each possessed by serial killer Charles Lee Ray thanks to a new voodoo spell he found. While Curse of Chucky returned our favorite foul mouth slasher to his original Child’s Play roots with folks tryin’ to solve the mystery of a homicidal plaything, this sequel brings the scares and humor back to where the series was in part two and three which I think is the perfect balance for the character. Chucky’s front and center again without overshadowin’ his co-stars who successfully hold their own as entertainin’ characters, the gore’s satisfyin’, the doll effects are some of the best in the series, and past storylines are revisited while Chuck’s own story has cool new developments. Multiple personality disorders, possessions, gory gun smugglin’, mother complexes, bloody breast feedin’s, hypnotic foot fetishes, crazy cripple bangin’, head smashin’, stabbin’s, drillin’s, tortured heads, bitin’, bloody messages, silly decapitations, voodoo spells, Andy Barclay returns, and Tiffany returns in flesh and plastic! 4/5!

Next up to return is Leatherface in yet another fuckin’ remake/reboot or whatever you wanna call it, and we got mixed feelin’s about that one given how many times Hollywood wants to hit the restart button on the series. Luckily, that’s not the case with Saw’s eighth flick hot on the heels of Leatherface the followin’ week, continuin’ John Kramer’s torture porn legacy with Jigsaw. While the Saw series has certainly had its ups and downs, we’re more confident in us comin’ out of that sequel satisfied. And then last, if you’re not countin’ Boo 2! A Madea Halloween, Halloween will wrap-up with the release of Amityville: The Awakening which is the first official sequel to the original James Brolin series since Amityville: Dollhouse.

Like we said, lots of long awaited sequels packed in this monstrous month, and it only gets better with some new blood workin’ its way into the mix like Happy Death Day. We saw this howlin’ gem in the theater yesterday and came out cheerin’ for Jessica Rothe as our favorite new last girl for doin’ such an amazin’ job as a girl stuck in a day where she keeps bein’ killed over and over again.

HAPPY DEATH DAY (2017)

It’s the horror version of Groundhoung Day as a bitchy sorority birthday girl finds herself livin’ in a deja vu loop that won’t end ’til she figures out who keeps killin’ her at the end of the repeatin’ day or ’til her chances run out with each resurrection leavin’ her weaker than before. The concept sounds comical, but the filmmakers took this seriously as a horror flick and deliver a fun take on the slasher formula full of great twists and turns and an outstandin’ performance by Jessica Rothe that leaves me wantin’ more! Stabbin’s, deaths by bong, pleasure domes, plot point cupcakes, gunfire, hangin’s, car explosions, bats to the head, drownin’s, fatal freefalls, psycho escapes, and naked strolls through campus! 5/5!

Excitin’ times in the horror community, and we hope to make it even more excitin’ in time for All Hallow’s Eve with our epic season finale we’ve been buildin’ up to for the past year. There’s been lots of hurdles and sacrifices here and there to see this season through, but we made it through with sweat, determination, and unwaverin’ perseverance. We’re still workin’ on the animation for the finale and workin’ as fast as we can to get it out no later than Halloween night without sacrificin’ the quality of the episode. Every episode this season’s been a big episode, but this is the biggest yet with several fights, scenes of massive destruction, multiple scene changes, and all your favorite characters crammed in for one last cameo before we wrap up this crossover we’ve been so lucky to share with Full Moon and Charles Band.

Before then, we ‘re makin’ a special appearance tonight as guests on Alchemy Comedy’s Local Legends night and share behind the scenes stories about Screaming Soup! while a talented bunch of improv comics riff on what we talk about. We’ll be recordin’ the event and (fangs crossed) have it up for y’all to enjoy before Halloween with as little editin’ as that’ll require.

In the meantime, be sure to catch up on all past Screaming Soup! Seasons, check out this week’s Howl’n Hottie, read recent reviews for the newer horror films and comics we’re checkin’ out in our blogs, R-Rated Reviews and Sequential Slime, and help us get the word out about the web’s #1 animated horror host show! Please use our social buttons in the upper right corner of the site and follow our tweets, subscribe to our YouTube channel, like our Facebook, watch and share all our vids, and keep that fan mail coming.

Warm up some Screaming Soup! leftovers with reruns currently playin’ on Beta Max TV and Sluggo’s The Vortexx!

If you need the hook-up with instant Troma and Full Moon movies, we’d suggest watching Troma’s films for free on their Youtube channel, and you can get full access to Full Moon’s catalog of work from their movies to their Videozone clips at Full Moon Streaming and their Amazon channel.

See ya later, Scream Freaks!