A pop diva on the verge of her big comeback tour goes through an intense mental breakdown in the form of a grinning demonic parasite in Smile 2, a sequel to the 2022 surprise hit that releases in Prague and cinemas worldwide this weekend. Like the first Smile, this sequel uses its central horror premise as a direct metaphor for mental illness, and delivers a scary-good ride on multiple levels.
Returning writer-director Parker Finn, in just his second feature, displays an even stronger grasp on both narrative and visual elements in Smile 2, and a go-for-broke performance from lead Naomi Scott mesmerizes through the chilling final scene. Just in time for Halloween, don’t pass this up as another quick cash-grab sequel; you’re unlikely to see a better horror movie this year.
Smile 2 kicks off with a real bang, as New Jersey cop Joel (Kyle Gallner), the lone returning character from the previous film, attempts to pass on his curse: a demonic parasite that infects hosts who have witnessed traumatic incidents, and drives them crazy through visions of people sporting devilish grins until they cause a traumatic event and pass on the curse.
Gallner, who has become an indie horror darling in recent years through a string of solid genre efforts leading up to this summer’s Strange Darling, isn’t around for long in Smile 2 but he makes a huge impact in the film’s opening scene, a masterfully-choreographed one-shot sequence that ends with a shocking amount of bloody carnage that exceeds anything in the first movie.
But Smile 2 belongs to Scott as pop diva Skye Riley, who is about to embark on her big comeback tour following a year of rehab after a tragic car accident left her with serious injuries and resulted in the death of her boyfriend, actor Paul Hudson (played by Ray Nicholson, who channels father Jack in The Shining when he comes back as a grinning demon).
Skye’s oppressively attentive mother-manager Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt) and her assistant Jordan (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) take care of her every need, but lacking a true friend, she reaches out to Gemma (Dylan Gelula), who she hasn’t spoken to in a year.
She needs a friend because she has just witnessed a tragic event: in another bravura sequence of graphic horror, dealer Lewis (Lukas Gage) smashes in his own face with a dumbbell weight when she sneaks out to his place for some Vicodin. Fearing another scandal, she leaves Lewis dead in his apartment, but has unknowingly become the host for a demon parasite that manifests itself through mental health breakdowns.
Like the first Smile, this sequel is a clear metaphor for emotional pain, and the smile we put on our face to show the world we’re all better when deep down, we’ll never be the same. But while first movie was very much about trauma, with its protagonist confronting childhood memories, Smile 2 is all about grief; Skye still feels guilty about the car accident that left her partner dead, and that guilt is exacerbated when she doesn’t report Lewis’ death out of a sense of self-preservation.
Horror films in general are a way for audiences to confront emotional distress. Fear, pain, violence, and death are fundamental aspects of the human experience that we (hopefully) don’t need to confront every day, and instead process them through stories such as horror movies. That these two Smile films explicitly address mental health conditions, and still function as nerve-wracking horror films, is a unique achievement.
Smile 2 surpasses the original in terms of grotesque violence, but it may not match it scare-for-scare. The novelty of the smiling demons has worn off, and this one relies on them much less, though an otherwise benign meet & greet turns unnerving thanks to the presence of smiling fans alone. A choreographed scene of smiling dancers, however, feels more campy than creepy, and there’s a greater reliance on jump scares here compared to the original.
Star Scott has been a Power Ranger and a Charlie’s Angel, but Smile 2 is her big breakout: this is a no-holds-barred portrait of a complete mental breakdown that recalls Isabelle Adjani in Possession. The film hinges not on its scenes of graphic horror but on its central analogy of grief and guilt, writ large and very public due to Skye’s fame, and Scott’s spellbinding performance helps sell the deeper thematic material. Performers don’t win awards for roles in horror films, but she earns one here.
Smile wasn’t a film that called out for a sequel, but one was required due to its financial success. Smile 2 represents a best-case scenario, with writer-director Finn expanding on the concepts he established in the first movie while showcasing some real growth as a filmmaker; whether or not he returns for the inevitable Smile 3, whatever he has next in store comes with some high expectations.
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scariest movie I ever seen in the cinema