Content warning: This review contains discussions of suicide.

Spoiler warning: This review contains spoilers.

In an age where it seems that every horror trope has been done, there’s always a new movie to prove you wrong. Now, anything can be haunted — even a smile. Two years after the success of the first “Smile” film, the highly-anticipated sequel gives the cinematic universe more original plotlines that are so absurd that they entertain.

The story follows a demonic curse presenting itself in a creepy smile that drives its victims to insanity and an eventual self-inflicted death. When someone watches the infected person commit suicide, the curse passes to them. 

In the film, pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) attempts to restart her career after dealing with addiction and the loss of her past boyfriend. Things take a turn for the worse when she witnesses the gory suicide of her high school friend and drug dealer Lewis Fregoli (Lukas Gage), therefore inheriting the curse. From then on, the movie deals with Skye grappling with the smile, all while preparing for her highly anticipated world tour. Despite attempts to control or stop the curse, Skye finally reaches her breaking point at the end of the film by gruesomely ending her life on stage during the opening night of her world tour.

The scares of “Smile 2” are noticeably more vivid and fearsome than the first installment, with the perfect amount of tension built up to catch the audience at the right time. The jump scares weren’t exactly unpredictable but were still impactful because of the audio editing, which worked brilliantly through the surround-sound atmosphere of the theater. There are silent sequences, such as when Skye anxiously checks her apartment for intruders or when the audience sees the final video left on Lewis’ phone, that left the audience in a state of discomfort that was perfectly interrupted with the blaring jump scares that followed.

The gore in the film is ridiculously more intense compared to the first movie, with scenes showing the full blood of Skye brutally murdering her mother or Lewis smashing his head in with a weight plate being in full bloody detail. The excessive gore seemed to be a product of the film’s bigger budget, which nearly doubled, but it did not add any substance to the film. However, the graphic nature of the movie will serve well to anyone merely itching for a good scare. 

While the first movie dives into the intricacies of mental illness and grief, “Smile 2” takes a thrilling turn by diving into the double-edged sword of fame. The unraveling of Skye’s psyche is not just credited to the supernatural aspect of the movie, but also the harsh realities of being in the spotlight. Scott undoubtedly stood out in the film, perfectly mixing her panic-struck breakdowns with her pop star persona, down to original songs and high-quality choreography.

In the third act, the audience discovers that a significant portion of the film was not reality, but Skye’s haunted hallucinations. Skye appeared to almost go under a life-ending medical procedure to remove the curse from her body, with the plan to be resuscitated after. This could have been exciting, but the plot line was cut short as Skye suddenly stopped hallucinating and appeared on stage for her opening night of tour.

With the concert acting as a sort of “super-spreader” event for the smile curse when Skye ends her life on stage, the story truly shifts for the first time as thousands of people became infected with the curse instead of just one. The silver lining is that the ending sets up a whole new direction for the franchise.

Contact Amelia Knust at [email protected].