Brutal Sequel ’SMILE 2’ Hosts The Curse of Celebrity

Six days have passed since the chilling finale of writer-director Parker Finn’s Smile, and Joel (Kyle Gallner) is frantically trying to escape the sinister forces closing in on him. After investigating a string of interconnected victims, each of whom killed themselves in gruesome fashion, he knows the only way out of the loop is by passing the curse on—by killing someone in front of a witness. Thanks to his police access, he’s found the perfect lowlifes deserving of such a fate and is ready to dole out karmic justice, moral consequences be damned. Things don’t exactly go as planned and the curse instead lands in the lap of low-rent drug dealer Lewis, played with fiery, cracked-out intensity by Lukas Gage. He wastes no time handing the curse off to client and pop-superstar Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) on the precipice of greatness. Soon, she’s haunted by diabolical smiling faces – as well as the public. Her big comeback tour, meant to mark her recovery from addiction and personal tragedy, derails as she unravels under the grin of her supernatural oppressor. The recovering pop star’s descent into madness is exacerbated by the expectations of her fans, the relentless pressure from her team to continue performing, and the watchdog gaze of the media—all of whom seem to be waiting for her to slip up and fall apart. And they don’t even know about the whole demonic possession thing.

From go, Finn’s sequel explodes out of the gates, expanding the original’s scope while cranking up the horror quotient by once again embracing what has become this franchise’s signature relentless nasty streak. The stuff that works works very well. From the committed performances from Scott, Gage, and the supporting cast, to the effectively timed jump scares, to the take-no-prisoners barbarity of its kills, Smile 2 is a sequel that upgrades itself on nearly every level. There’s a sense of composure and scale here that eclipses his work in the first film, even while the actual mechanics of the story remain overly familiar. Though Finn’s ability as a director is one-upped across the board, his skill as a writer arguably stalls out in this second go around as he once again tackles the catch 22 of mentally unraveling – the more you protest the reality of your delusions, the more delusional you appear. Despite moving the action from a somewhat generic domestic haunting to a larger stage and honing this story into the curse of celebrity, the actual plot and mythology of the movie develops in very similar ways to its predecessor.

But when this gruesome twosome tucks into gross-out spectacle, it’s liable to (quite literally) leave jaws on the floor. Coming off the heels of Terrifier 3, Smile 2 is almost by necessity disqualified from being the most brutal horror movie of the 2024 Halloween season, and yet it goes places that few “mainstream” horror releases dare. Finn and his makeup/FX team push the boundaries of unsettling barbarity – with damage inflicted via crowbar, barbell plate, and just about any other deceptively benign household object they can think of – crafting moments of macabre carnage that is underscored by the cast’s impactful performances.Naomi Scott is simply terrific as the aggrieved popstar Skye Riley. She embodies a character whose isolation and fame is a curse unto itself. She’s surviving off Voss water and regret, and all the fame in the world cannot mask the hollowness eating away at her from the inside out. Even before facing the film’s grinning demonic force, Skye is scarred by physical and psychological wounds—all self-inflicted. Pitiable and broken though she may be, Smile 2 makes a case for her salvation, thanks to a script that heavily invests in her character journey and the complicated network of people who surround her including her self-indulgent mother (Rosemarie DeWitt) and estranged BFF Gemma (Dylan Gelula), even though this investment drives the runtime well beyond the two-hour mark.

The one element of Smile 2 that really didn’t work for me is how the movie deploys subterfuge in potentially story-breaking ways. The way that Finn’s film toys with reality—both the internal reality of the characters and the audience— prove to be more than a bit manipulative. These breaks from reality occurred in parts of the first film as well – something horrible happens but only in the mind of our POV character – but the potential impact on the story was not nearly as vast. While the final image of Smile 2 is impactful and a fitting resolution – and very much in line with the movie’s interrogation of the relationship between fans and the famous and the cost inherent to fame itself – the way that Finn gets there feels like a cheat. That we’re left wondering if anything that we watched actually happened feels not only like a missed opportunity to stick the landing but a lazy screenwriting tactic.

And yet, despite my fairly major concerns with the way that Smile 2 finds resolution, it’s still largely a very good sequel and horror movie. As should be expected of any worthwhile sequel, Smile 2 cracks open this world a bit more and takes full advantage of its increased budget in a number of wowing set pieces (including some of the best horror movie choreography this side of Black Swan and Suspiria), though it somewhat misses the chance to further mythologize. There’s definitely a franchising opportunity here; Finn and friends just need to figure out how to expand the ideas, mythology, and brutality he’s poured into these first two films and excise it from the rather particular formula he’s now set in motion.

As purely an “on theme” October/Halloween release, Smile 2 checks almost all the right boxes. While not deeply scary in the way a movie like The Conjuring, The Witch, or Hereditary manages to be, it remains wholly unsettling, viscerally disturbing, and features a number of really well-set up jump scares. As long as you don’t peer too closely at the cracks in this smile, it’s an almost excellent haunt. But for more discerning viewers, the disjointed narrative and cringy conclusion can be haunting in its own way – its glaring shortcomings frustratingly spoiling what could have been a total knockout. Thankfully, there’s enough well-executed horror elements – The gore! The performances! The scares! – to make you grin and bear it.

CONCLUSION: Despite featuring some truly grade-A kills, solid jump scares, and an electrifying scream queen in Naomi Scott, ‘Smile 2‘ can’t quite manage to land this possessed plane without cheating—leaving this viewer with a bit of a sour taste. Some major issues aside, though, this savage sequel possesses all the ingredients a great horror haunt should.