Smile 2 (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – About to embark on a world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her past.

My Take – Two years ago, aspiring filmmaker Parker Finn was provided an opportunity to adapt his own short film Laura Hasn’t Slept (2020) to mark his feature debut ‘Smile’. A smartly marketed effective trauma based tense horror that was anchored by its iconic unsettling smirks, atmospheric score and a strong central performance from Sosie Bacon.

Unsurprisingly, the compelling and creepy film became a box office success, earning $217.4 million on a $17 million budget.

Fast forward to two days ago, the much awaited follow-up finally arrived in the form of a very rare sequel that manages to be arguably better than its predecessor. Adopting a louder, larger and more ambitious treatment of the first film’s captivating premise, the sequel succeeds on all front by ramping up the grisly, face-mashing violence, the jump scares and the running time, all wrapped up in critique of the entertainment machine.

Sure, the last element certainly could have been whittled down a little, but the film is undeniably a compelling and unpredictable ride, as director Finn, making excellent use of both visual and audio jump-scares, taking one into the grinning heart of the terror. From the brilliantly frenetic opening to the killer of an ending, the film fires on all cylinders, delivering a terrifying, anxiety-inducing experience that will have you gripping the edge of your seat.

Picking up six days after the original’s ending, the story heads into a breathlessly effective single-shot prologue linking the two films, and then follows Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), a troubled pop sensation trying to piece together her career after a catastrophic fall-off. Fresh off a tragic car crash that killed her actor boyfriend, Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson), left her bearing scars inside and out, and sent her spiraling into addiction, Skye is poised for a grand comeback tour.

But after witnessing a spectacularly gory suicide-by-free-weight of her drug dealer Lewis (Lukas Gage), Skye finds herself hounded by malevolent smiles everywhere she turns. Soon finding herself in a series of delusions, visitations, and gruesome encounters that test the limits of her sanity as she begins unraveling publicly.

Here, writer-director Finn takes the foundation of its predecessor and just runs with it, offering a premise that lends itself to endless possibilities. Much like his first film, the sequel mines the intersection of mental health and horror, though this time with a sharp focus on the pressures of fame. This creative decision keeps the narrative compelling, fully capturing the unraveling of the character’s mind on screen.

We see how throughout the entire film, Skye and those around her begin to doubt her sanity, which makes sense from an outward perspective. As the audience, we can see the creature and the demented people around her, revealing the truth of what is going on. However, those in her life see a star who has struggled before with her mental health slowly start to spiral.

At first, she’s able to fake normalcy rather well, but as the hauntings increase, she descends deeper into an apparent psychosis. To make matters worse, those who work for her, especially her mother, Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt), continue to push Skye to continue her duties. They insist on her appearing with fans and rehearsing for the upcoming tour, worrying more about what would

They insist on her appearing with fans and rehearsing for the upcoming tour, worrying more about what would happen to her career and the tour if she were to take a break from the fame and industry. This aspect made the film incredibly enjoyable and essential because of the spotlight on a typically overlooked topic.

On the horror side, the tension never truly lets up, which keeps you on edge from start to finish. The gore is another highlight, the special effects are bracingly revolting, and the malevolent smiles as creepy as ever. And the film has the added bonus of some killer choreography, in every sense of the word.

Director Finn’s knack for staging set pieces also shines through, particularly in a sequence where Skye’s backup dancers contort and crawl through her apartment. It’s a deliriously entertaining moment that exemplifies his ability to meld camp with genuine unease.

The soundtrack too is gloomy and accentuates the suspense in several scenes. If there’s a flaw in this sequel, it’s that the scares start to feel a bit repetitive after a while. After all how many times can an encounter with the same, devious grin land before it loses impact?

Nevertheless, what pushes the impact of the film further is Naomi Scott‘s lead performance that is truly compelling and powerful. She brings a nuanced turn that balances both the humor and horror perfectly. Her singing too, that appears quite a few times throughout the film, is also quite impressive.

In supporting turns, Rosemarie DeWitt and Dylan Gelula do stellar work, while Raul Castillo, Lukas Gage and Ray Nicholson are impressive. Kyle Gallner too briefly reprises his role from the first film, and does a good job as always. On the whole, ‘Smile 2’ is a solid horror sequel that along with being terrifyingly fun improves over its predecessor in nearly every regard.