“Smile 2”: Horror That Haunts You For Days
Director Parker Finn brings the fear to new levels with the sequel to his 2022 success.
Summary
About to start the most important tour of her career, pop star Skye Riley begins to experience a series of terrifying and inexplicable events. To figure out what’s happening, our protagonist must face the demons of her past. But the clock is ticking, and a dark entity threatens to take control of Skye’s life.
When Your Sequel Surpasses the Original
I watched the original movie when it came out, and while the diabolical expression on the actors’ faces remained in my mind ever since, the film itself was not all that memorable to me. I enjoyed it, but if I had to make a list of the 2022 productions I remember the most, Smile would not even make the top ten.
As the first one did well at the time, when I learned a sequel was coming out, I expected the usual studio cash grab. Surprisingly, Smile 2 not only does justice to the first, but also represents a huge improvement and even opens the door for Smile to become a franchise.
The Entity Attacks Again
At the end of the first film, Rose becomes possessed by the entity and kills herself in front of Joel, passing the curse to him. The second film starts a few days after the events, when a desperate Joel tries to pass the curse onto a criminal, intending to prevent innocent people from getting affected. Things take a wrong turn, and the victim ends up being Lewis Fregoli, a drug dealer.
We then move on to Skye Riley, a young pop star who is trying to make a comeback after a tragic accident that ended his boyfriend’s life and a bumpy recovery from years of substance abuse. The media pressure, as well as the physical consequences of the accident, leads her to secretly search for some pain medications in order to put up with the long hours of rehearsal and social commitments. Skye has the misfortune of recurring to Lewis precisely the night the entity takes control of him and witnesses his horrible ending.
From then on, Skye begins to experience terrifying hallucinations, causing her already fragile mental health to rapidly deteriorate. Distinguishing what is real from what is not becomes more and more difficult as the story moves forward, not just for Skye but for the audience as well. The way the director handles that balance gives the film a nightmarish atmosphere and keeps you at the edge of your seat. There is one particular scene where Skye is stalked by a crowd of smiling people inside her apartment that will forever haunt me.
I also did not remember the original Smile being so gory. They did not shy away from showing violence this time, and some deaths were disturbingly well done.
Naomi Scott as Skye Riley
The last time I saw Naomi Scott was over ten years ago, in the Disney Channel film Lemonade Mouth. How come she is no longer a teenager? I’m getting old.
Her performance in Smile 2 was brilliant, one of the most memorable of the year.
The pop-star main character is becoming a trend for some reason (I still remember M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap back in August), but this film actually knew how to make the most of it. Even without the curse, Skye’s life is a terrible mess. Her team, headed by her own mother, is pushing her to make a great comeback tour when she clearly has not physically or mentally recovered from the accident.
One cannot help but wonder if some successful actors and singers we see every day are not going through something similar. The entertainment industry seems like a perfect place to develop all kinds of traumas, so the character feels realistic.
Throughout the entire film, Skye is on the edge of a mental breakdown, and Scott’s performance is as raw and emotional as it can be. A huge part of the story’s credibility and impact rely on her.
Critical Response and Box Office Results
With a reported budget of $28.000.000, Smile 2 made $68.967.012 at the domestic box office and a slightly higher number at the international markets, achieving a cute $137.978.790 globally. A clear success.
However, when we compare it to its predecessor, the sequel stayed behind in terms of financial results. Smile made $217.038.821 worldwide back in 2022, despite counting on a much smaller production budget. On the other hand, Smile 2 is the one that had the best critical reception of the two and that moviegoers praised the most.
One way or another, it is clear that a third film is on the table, as it has been confirmed by director Parker Finn. The ending of the second installment suggests that a massive amount of people have been affected by the curse, so I’m curious to see what the director is going to do with that. Once the story gets bigger, it also becomes more unmanageable, so I hope quality doesn’t suffer a decline.
Besides some inconsistencies in the script, Smile 2 is a solid horror film, with great performances and a story with potential for more. With 2024 now over, we can certainly say it was one of the best things the genre had to offer in the whole year.
