A 2010s Sci-Fi Horror Hit Is Now Streaming on HBO Max Ahead of Sequel

March 9, 2026, 2:00pm

Sci-fi and horror go hand in hand. The two genres have been intertwined ever since their literary roots in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and have converged on the big screen in movies like Ridley Scott’s masterpiece Alien and modern favorites like The Substance. As HBO Max grew its streaming catalog in March, it added a hit 2010s sci-fi horror movie just as a sequel is on the way.

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HBO Max subscribers can now stream Happy Death Day, Christopher Landon’s 2017 franchise-launching black comedy sci-fi slasher film. The movie started streaming on the platform on March 1st and stars Jessica Rothe as Tree Gelbman, a self-centered college student who is forced to relive the day of her murder over and over and must use the time loop to identify her masked killer and break the cycle. The movie was followed by a sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, in 2019. Seven years later, a third movie, Happy Death Day 3, is officially in the works.

Happy Death Day Is a Hilarious Slasher Worth Watching

Happy Death Day isn’t a slasher that will disappoint. It’s fun, fast-paced, and highly rewatchable. The best way to describe it is like Groundhog Day meets Scream, the movie’s time loop serving as a structural device for a whodunnit mystery and self-aware, witty, and darkly comedic slasher where the repetitive, low-stakes horror is fun rather than just scary. There’s no shortage of creative, low-gore kills that get wilder and wilder every time Tree tries but fails to break the cycle, and Tree herself is a great modern final girl, evolving from an unlikable character into someone you want to root for. The Babyface Killer is also a pretty fun masked, stalking antagonist.

Happy Death Day is all around just a solid slasher. The movie holds a fresh 71% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and did the next-to-impossible when it led to a just-as-good sequel. Released in 2019, Happy Death Day 2U fully embraced a sci-fi plot with a parallel dimensions element mirroring Back to the Future Part II. It delivered an even better 73% critic score. It remains to be seen if the upcoming Happy Death Day 3 can round out a near-perfect trilogy. The movie doesn’t yet have a release date, and plot details haven’t been announced, but Rothe told Collider in October that the third movie “will finish Tree’s journey” and “will take the audience to places they weren’t expecting to go and never been before.”

What’s New on HBO Max?

Happy Death Day is one of several movies freshly streaming on HBO Max. The streamer has been stocking new titles all month long, and the largest wave of arrivals washed into the library on March 1st. Subscribers specifically looking for more horror and sci-fi can now stream the Blair Witch franchise, most of the Final Destination movies, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Other new streaming titles include Crazy, Stupid, Love, Evan Almighty, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

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