I hated the first Smile. So, why am I watching Smile 2?  Objectively, I can recognize that timing may have played a large part in my reaction to the movie.  The fact that the messaging centered on the contagious and cyclical nature of trauma that leaves death as the only escape didn’t sit well with me, in large part because of exterior factors in my life.  2022 was a year of recovery.  It’s also an interesting case for me, because there is no bad filmmaking here. This is specifically an instance where it is just not to my personal taste. 

I’m in a different place now, and ready to see how the themes of franchise hit me this time around.  Also, the trailer was really good. As an eternal optimist, It sucked me in.  Plus, I like Naomi Scott.

The History of Smile

Based off Parker Finn’s short film Laura Hasn’t Slept, Smile is about an entity that infects people who witness the traumatic death of someone also infected by the creature.  The first movie was a breakout hit, with a worldwide box office of $217 million off a budget of $17 million. 

Smile 2 was released on October 18, 2024, and was positively reviewed by critics who saw it as a step up from the first film. However, it did end up with a lower box office, making $138 million. Which is a shame, because as we will get into, it is a much better movie than the first.

• Directed by: Parker Finn
• Written by: Parker Finn
• Starring: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt

Recap and Review, Spoilers Ahead!

The movie is off to a great start after an opening where Joel, the only survivor from the first movie, dies trying to pass the curse on to drug dealers who clearly deserve it more than he does. This plan goes horribly wrong when they both end up dead and Lewis, a random dealer, witnesses the whole thing.  More dealers show up, and Joel is forced to escape out a window, where he is hit by a truck. 

Skye Riley, a disgraced pop star attempting a comeback, is introduced via the Drew Barrymore Show.  After the show, we get the first glimpses of the pressure she is under and how uncaring her team is. Afterwards, she tries to get some Vicodin from her dealer, Lewis.  While most of the movie is well written enough, to move the plot along, Skye really has to make some bad decisions here.

Bad Decisions

I understand her going to buy pain pills. I don’t understand her sticking around after the first bat shit crazy thing the cursed Lewis does. Or after watching reports of herself getting busted for drugs on the news, while sitting in front of a pile of cocaine.  Girl, you are famous and rich; there are easier ways to get drugs.

After witnessing the possessed Lewis smash his face in with a weight plate, Skye is now cursed.  She’s too busy getting ready for the tour, and worrying about being identified at the scene of a crime to really focus on this. Until she starts seeing Dead Lewis in mirrors. 

Skye is an amazing character. She’s flawed, but in a way we understand. Even if we can’t relate to a fallen pop star it’s a story we know. We’ve seen this play out in the news and tabloids before.  So much so, that it was an interesting choice to have Drew Barrymore, another troubled young star, as the talk show host Skye visits in her introduction.  We love rooting for underdogs, and we love watching successful people fall.  Skye captures elements of this love/hate relationship, and the movie makes the wise decision to spend a lot of time alone with her.

Unreliable Narrators

The other reason I was left feeling so “meh” on Smile is the over-reliance on hallucinations.  Half this movie is going to end up being in Skye’s head. I know that, because much of the last movie was a hallucination too. When the mom doesn’t acknowledge Gemma, Skye’s estranged best friend, after insisting Skye reconnect with her, I started to get the feeling that we were at the “doubt everything you see” phase. That makes it hard to connect emotionally with anything else that happens.

Seeing Things and Going Places

Skye is starting to lose it, and Naomi plays it brilliantly alternating, between wild-eyed terror and heartbreaking vulnerability.  After melting down during rehearsal when she hallucinates her leg breaking again, she argues with her mom in the dressing room about going to a charity event.  Due to the established hallucinogenic nature of the entity, we don’t know if this is real or not. If it is real, her mother is a terrible person for ignoring her daughter’s obvious distress and imminent breakdown.  It’s also helping make a valuable point about the lack of empathy people have for mental illness. If it’s a hallucination, then it’s the evil entity preying on her preexisting mental condition.

After blowing it at the charity event, Skye goes to a bar and meets with Morris, a stranger who has been texting her about being in Lewis’ apartment. He gives her the info dump on the entity. He has a plan to kill her, technically to defeat it. Hearing this she freaks out and is recognized in the bar. She flees back to her apartment, where she packs to run away.

No Escape from the Entity

After she has a breakdown in her apartment and destroys her bathroom, the Entity appears as her backup dancers. They chase Skye around her apartment in a scene that would be creepy if everyone committed 100% to the smile.  They don’t.

Skye blacks out and flashes back to the night of her accident: after a fight where Skye and her ex, both high out of their minds, insult each other until Skye pulls the wheel and crashes the car.

Now, we are in a movie about an already troubled young woman who was thrust into the limelight of fame and fortune without any support. Oh, and then she got cursed by an entity. All the ways Smile 2 succeeds revolve around this element.

Is This Reality?

Skye wakes up in a facility with her mom. She’s been admitted, and her mom will be watching over her until the tour. The entity possesses her mother and kills her, while Skye runs for the door. Only by the time Skye gets there, she realizes that she is holding the murder weapon, and she’s the one who killed her mother. She stages a breakout from the facility and runs into Gemma on the way. Gemma drives her out of there to meet up with Morris, but on the way, the real Gemma calls. Skye’s been with the Entity the entire time. Skye regains control and drives to meet Morris herself.

The plan is to stop Skye’s heart while freezing her to drive the entity out of her.  But this is all meaningless, since none of this is real anyway.  This is where Smile 2 loses steam, tension, and ultimately, interest. Skye is doomed, but because we are now thinking about what is real and what isn’t, the impact is gone.  Skye fights against the Entity, who has appeared as the younger version of herself, but she can’t win. The Entity tells her, “You’ve never been in control”.

Nope.

Because all of this was a hallucination, and Skye is onstage in front of her cheering audience, where she is about to kill herself and spread this thing to thousands. Including her mother, who is still alive, because who knows what parts of Smile 2 were real and what were hallucinations. There are probably very specific indications that I didn’t pick on, that will be clearer on rewatch.

The Entity appears as Skye to taunt her, before the skinless monster version crawls out and possesses her.  The audience just sees her collapse, then get up and stab herself in the eye with her mic, and now everyone is cursed.

The End.

And now a few words about “less is more” creature effects, or how not to end your movie. Smile 2 has one of the worst-designed creatures I’ve ever seen.  It’s not scary, just out of place in a film that relies on mostly subtle effects to demonstrate Skye’s descent into madness

So, Was Smile 2 any Good?

It was better than Smile. It’s expertly filmed, and I enjoyed a lot of the direction and cinematography.  Parts of Smile 2 are well done; all the lyrics of Skye’s songs have double meanings, and can be applied to her current situation.  The acting is top notch, and Naomi carries the film. 

Where it loses me is really in my inability to fully invest in Skye’s journey because it’s ultimately not real.  Where I struggle is that it’s clearly real to the character; regardless of if these things are happening in real life or not, she feels like she’s experiencing them. Which is meaningful in its own way. However, if the Entity is in control of her, then what does that do to the aspect of breaking down in the public eye? 

For centering on such a public figure, Smile 2 still feels like a small personal story. Which makes sense; trauma is a personal subject. But, it also feels very similar narratively to the first movie. We don’t expand the lore, or move forward in any significant way. The main character has a different trauma, but much of that is unresolved, and ultimately underexplored since she can’t win.  Joel’s story in the beginning, where he is searching for people who deserve the Smile entity to infect them in order to save himself, was a so much more interesting take on trauma.  Part of the issue may be that the rules of the Entity are so specific, while giving the creature the “I win” card of causing hallucinations.

End Major Spoilers

Why Lore Matters

There is a longer discussion here about the ability of some horror IPs to become franchises. I’ll try to keep it short (heh): it’s about the ability to tell different types of stories, all revolving around the central icon.  Successful slashers like, oh say, Halloween, have constantly changed the themes of movies surrounding Michael’s murder spree, including but not limited to generational trauma and mob violence. More recently, Terrifier has tackled stories about dysfunctional family dynamics and then PTSD and survivors’ guilt as the backdrops for Art’s killing spree. They can do this because their killers are so open-ended. The Entity however is not; it has specific rules, wants, and needs. These movies will always be about trauma and our response to it. The challenge will be coming up with a new approach to further separate itself from similar fatalistic franchises like Final Destination and The Ring.

Smile 2 may have opened up a world of possibilities by the end, but despite the pop-star setting, the story it tells is still a personal one about trauma. We also don’t learn much more about the Entity. We may not need to, but at some point, the spread of the curse or possession would become an issue.  Go with me on this one: it’s the classic vampire problem. If they turn everyone to vampires, who will they eat? Similarly, if the entity infects too many people, everyone will end up dead; then what? It’s unsustainable growth for a creature that needs to feed off trauma to survive.

But maybe I’m thinking too much about it.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for a tense emotional thriller, with great acting and high production value, Smile 2 has plenty to offer.  All my criticisms are a matter of personal preference, and things I would have rather seen, which can be an unfair way to judge a film.  If you are looking for more of a bigger expansion on the Smile universe, or greater lore on the Entity, you may be left a little disappointed, but there will be a Smile 3. So, there’s always that.

Smile 2 is available on streaming.

Check out my other horror reviews:

• Terrifier 3
• Friday the 13th: Jason Lives