Smile 2, written and directed by Parker Finn, is a superior sequel to its origin. Following the story and timeline from the first movie, Smile 2 manages to exceed the expectations of its viewers while leaving them stunned by its twists.
The movie starts 6 days after the end of the first movie following Joel, the most recent victim of the Smile Creature. While trying to spread the curse to someone else, he finds himself running away from a gang and is run over in the process. Despite succeeding in his plan, he could not reap the benefits.
We cut to pop star Skye Riley (Played by Naomi Scott) announcing her upcoming concert after coming out of recovery from a tragic car crash and drug addiction. We are shown how she still deals with pain from the crash, a popularity and work obsessive mom, and a dangerous secret. Skye wants unprescribed drugs for her back pain, so she visits old school friend Lewis Fregoli (Played by Lukas Cage). It becomes very obvious to the view that Lewis is the current victim for the Smile Creature.
As expected, the curse is passed onto Skye through a gruesome method. Wanting to avoid involving the police because of the secrecy and illegal substances, she leaves. She however will not be able to avoid the traumatic week set up for her.
While costume fitting she sees visions of Lewis behind her in the mirror, holding her mouth open in the form of a smile. Later that day at a convention for her, she has more weird visions of smiling people and a scary encounter with a creepy fan.
Returning home, Sky calls her estranged friend Gemma (Played by Dylan Gelula) to come over as a way to make amends while getting things off her chest. Short after, Skye is chased by another illusion, rushing out the door as Gemma shows up just to turn around and see nothing was there.
After explaining her situation, Gemma stays over to comfort Skye. Being haunted by her memories, Skye wakes up from a nightmare in the middle of the night just to be called a horrible person by the entity impersonating her friend. Skye fully wakes up, realizing it’s now morning and she’s late for her rehearsal.
During a practice dance Skye is scared by a dancer suddenly in her face, smiling. After a public freakout on her dancers and assistant, she goes to give a speech about how music inspires people. During this speech she sees more illusions and accidentally knocks over an elderly woman while panicking.
Running out of options, Skye contacts an unknown number who says they can help her. When they meet up, Morris, the unknown person, reveals himself as the brother of a previous victim, trying to help Skye now get rid of the entity. But when he mentions the only way to get rid of it is to die, Skye stops listening to any other part of his plan, and storms out.
Back in her apartment Skye begins to pack her belongings but is soon greeted by her whole dance team inside her closet, smiling, before they all start chasing her in unison. Before she can escape she is grabbed and knocked unconscious by the illusions. She wakes up in the hospital, with her mom watching over her.
Skye becomes upset and says she can’t do her show, sparking a fight between her mother. Suddenly Skye’s mom begins to smile at her, before smashing a mirror and stabbing herself with one of the shards. As Skye runs to the door she realizes she’s holding the shard, covered in blood, and a trail leading to her mother’s body.
While trying to leave the hospital, Skye is spotted by her assistant who brings attention to the large amount of blood on her. Skye fakes being hurt in order to lean onto and steal the gun of a cop before scaring people away and running outside.
Immediately after stepping onto the sidewalk she sees Gemma who decides to try and help, they steal a car and Skye contacts Morris for help. Upon reaching the requested location Morris explains his plan to inject and resuscitate Skye after her death, hoping that will rid her of the creature.
Morris sets up in a large walk-in freezer to allow Skye’s brain to last longer after her death. When Morris leaves to “get something”, he leaves Skye inside the freezer, moments before she’s attacked by the entity disguised as her past self. After fighting with the creature in an attempt to run away, Skye bites off the thumbs of her past self and injects herself.
Her vision begins to blur, the creature screams at her before she comes back to reality, “this isn’t real”. Skye is forced against a wall and within seconds she’s on stage, in uniform about to perform. She looks over at the crowds cheering her on. She also sees her mother nearby, now realizing none of it was real.
Skye steps forward to see a clone of herself, staring at her. In moments the Smile Creature is ripping open and stepping out of the copy before reaching for Skye. The fans watch as she falls to the ground, suffocating on something. She quickly regains her composure, standing up before slowly turning to face her fans, with a nice, big, smile…
During an interview with Pay Or Wait on Youtube, Naomi Scott describes for her character Skye Riley and also real people that “it’s hard being like perceived, […] but for Skye in particular that is times 100. So there’s this like version of you or her that she’s projected to the world and they’re projecting that back to her, […] and this idea of you know, being like seen and perceived but not actually known”.
Blending this idea of true-self being hidden from the world into the character to enhance both her personality and the plot of the story. Adding to this in the same interview, Parker Finn the director of Smile 2 says, “I think there’s a motivation to sort of you know, have her suppress everything and be like everything’s okay”. Improving this realism that some people feel pressured to keep everything inside so much to the point that no one listens to them when they need help.
Something Smile 2 does very well is its opening scene, from the start of the movie until the title card there are no cuts, the camera glides through the scene while demonstrating how much more intense it will be compared to the first. Another great aspect of the movie is that it makes the viewer question what is real, exploring the abilities of the Smile Creature to trap its victim in their own mind and experience a false situation.
The only inconvenience within the movie is the set up for some jumpscares can be predictable. But even though the scares can be seen from a mile away, they are scary enough to make you run that far too.
The Smile Series as a whole is terrifying to watch, the first movie redefining psychological horror and the second one cranking that past 11. Delving deeper into the mental aspect but also isn’t afraid to get bloody. Smile 2 becomes a rare phenomenon that fans are glad to have, a better sequel.
