COVID-19 has dramatically changed everyday life on a global scale and people have been forced to adapt in ways they had not anticipated, including how to celebrate the fall and Halloween season. Fortunately, returning to Happy Death Day and its sequel Happy Death Day 2U is an excellent choice for the Halloween season during a global pandemic and the resulting quarantine. TheseBlumhouse films are surprisingly relevant to the current world and are entertaining and engaging movies separate from that newfound cultural significance.

Happy Death Day is a 2017 horror film about a college student named Theresa "Tree" Gelbman, who is murdered on her birthday and gets stuck in a time loop reliving that day until she solves her own murder. Tree relives her birthday over and over again with each day ending in her murder despite her best efforts to live and find her killer. The stakes for her could not be higher, they are literally life and death. However, the more times she dies, the less emotional and traumatic the event is for her when she awakes the next day. Eventually, she grows tired of the monotony of the repetition of her day.

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Happy Death Day Tree

Tree's frustration from the repetitious nature of her time loop is relevant to the current way of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus is deadly and ruthless, with the stakes for the state of the world at large being very high. However, there has been mandatory social distancing and quarantining practices in place for approximately six months now. The new routines set in place by these restrictions have become the new normal, and therefore, have taken on a monotonous feeling. The life and death situation of protecting individuals and communities has become boring, just like Tree's murder.

Also, Tree feels very isolated and alone thanks to her time loop situation. She has knowledge and understanding of the world and her developing relationships that others do not share. She is alone in the very nature of her situation. That helpless loneliness is also unfortunately relevant to the increasingly distant way people now have to live their lives. Despite that reminder of that lonely and isolated feeling, Happy Death Day reminds viewers that while some hurdles may need to be overcome alone, there are people around to offer support and encouragement. Tree repairs her relationship with her father and opens her heart up to a boy, Carter, whom she would not have been so open with prior to her journey in the time loop. Therefore the movie becomes not only relatable to the current situation but also offers some hope and joy.

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2019's Happy Death Day 2U is also relevant to the struggles of a COVID-19 pandemic lifestyle, and therefore is it not only a worthy sequel to the original film, but it offers new insight and relevance to the current world that makes it perfect viewing for Halloween season during a pandemic. Happy Death Day 2U becomes more of a science-fiction thriller than a traditional slasher, with Tree getting trapped in a time loop of her murder again, but this time, she ends up in an alternate reality. That leaves her and her friends to create a machine with a specific scientific algorithm in order to stop the loop for good.

This film places a higher significance on the science and explanations of Tree's time loop than on the mystery of her murderer. It also beefs up the roles of the supporting characters, including Carter's roommate Ryan and their friends Samar and Dre, and puts more emphasis on the importance of teamwork and leaning on the support and knowledge of others to achieve a common goal. Yes, in the first film Tree learns to lean on others and open her heart to them, but the sequel is where this concept is really put into practice.

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The theme of working together, specifically in the scientific community, is massively relevant in the current world. There is still no vaccine or express cure for the COVID-19 virus, so the scientific community around the world is working towards this common goal. Not only do Tree and her friends have a common goal of scientific discovery, but this scientific discovery is designed to help the general quality of life for one of their peers. Obviously, the science is important, but the compassion that fuels that pursuit is what is significant.

2020's Halloween season is going to look much different than in previous years. However, there is still plenty of classic activities that will be available for people to celebrate the season. Rewatching the Blumhouse films Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2U is a great way to spend a quarantined Halloween season, as both films are relevant to the current reality, yet also bring a sense of hope.

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