SMILE 2: An Ambitious Sequel That Shows That Sometimes Less is More

The first Smile movie, premiering in 2022, was based on a short film from writer/director Parker Finn. Benefitting from a viral marketing campaign in which actors stood beneath the film’s promotional posters and imitated the now iconic demonic smile, in addition to word of mouth, it was a sleeper hit. Of course, a sequel was inevitable. And now, with more of a budget, the film is grander, with a larger cast, more advanced special effects, and excessive amounts of gore.

It’s a bit too much at times, with the film’s tendency to dial things up to 11 instead of letting its eerie atmosphere creep you out on its own. Still, for any fan of the original, and for over-the-top horror in general, this is a must-see.

A Bigger Sequel

Smile 2 continues the trend from the original film. There is a demonic presence that passes from person to person; to receive it, one has to witness the previous person commit suicide right in front of them. After the chain continues from the original Smile, eventually Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is infected. Skye is a huge pop star who is just returning to the spotlight after a devastating car crash from a year earlier that severely injured her and also killed her boyfriend. She’s filled with plenty of trauma and insecurities as a result, and the entity is more than willing to feed off of it.

From even the film’s opening scene, before we get to Skye, it’s clear that this is a sequel with a wider scope and ambition than the original. The film’s ripe use of gore and amped-up sound effects are clear, and we witness some truly brutal murders in the first few minutes. Once we get to Skye’s story, the horror starts up almost immediately. Whereas some films will turn away when you see a character’s brutal death, Smile 2 has no such desire; it forces you to witness them in all their sickening detail. This movie is not for the faint of heart.

Smile 2 is also unsettling in its way of subverting events through the eyes of our protagonist. It’s clear there’s a monster haunting her after she witnesses a suicide, but what else exactly is real? Even more so than the original, you can’t trust the film’s narrative or even your own eyes, leading to a sometimes chaotic story, which sometimes disrupts the film’s character development. Still, this chaos does add to the experience.

Horror Tone

The original Smile, while not lacking in its own scares, mostly succeeded on its eerie ambient tone and dark lighting, creating a moody atmosphere. Smile 2 may be unsettling in its own right, but it’s because you don’t know when something is going to jump out at you. Unfortunately, like a lot of modern horror films, Smile 2 wants nothing more than to make you yelp and leap out of your seat (which I admittedly did on several occasions). If that’s the type of experience you’re looking for, then you’ve come to the right place, but I personally yearned for the quieter, more atmospheric-driven style of the first movie.

An example of the effectiveness of the less-is-more style sometimes present in this film is when Skye is confronted by dozens of eerily smiling fans who have suddenly appeared in her bedroom. The film lets you feel her fear simply through Naomi Scott‘s performance, and the creepily still expressions of the apparations around her, who look like they are about to jump her at any moment. It eventually becomes comical as you watch these characters pirouette through her apartment, but it’s still a far more effective moment than repeatedly having things jump out at you throughout the film.

Visual Style and Music

A successful attribute of the Smile franchise is the unique style in which they are filmed and edited. The films embellish the use of long tracking shots, whether to establish a location or to show action. An example can be seen in the opening scene of Smile 2, where there is an ambitious one-take shot. When showing dialogue between characters, the camera will sometimes swoop between them, or otherwise show extreme closeups to bring you right into the midst of their interactions. For a film that easily could’ve been both shot and edited in the jumpy, more conventional manner of most horrors, this is an admirable feature by director of photography Charlie Saroff and editor Eliot Greenberg.

Focusing on a musician, Smile 2 also has its own soundtrack of original songs, sung by talented singer Scott herself. There are several music videos within the film, often with impressive choreography and visual effects, including one with neon pink lights shining on a multitude of backup dancers. The pop-inspired hits of the film are quite catchy on their own as well, and overall their silly lyrics provide an excellent juxtaposition with the otherwise darker tone of the film.

The Cast

Smile 2 would not have succeeded nearly as well were it not for the core central performance of Naomi Scott. Already proving her talent in both singing and acting in 2019’s live-action Aladdin, she shows her dramatic chops as well. Scott succeeds as a necessary Scream Queen in the film, but she soon shows even more. Playing an overworked pop star plagued with past trauma and a diminished sense of self-worth, she exudes her character’s inner trauma at every available moment. It’s one of the finer horror performances I have seen in some time.

An additional standout is Rosemarie DeWitt as Skye’s mother. As her overbearing business manager, she clearly cares for her daughter, but she seems to play the part of her boss even more, often lecturing Skye extensively and stressing her out in the process. DeWitt plays the suffocating mother figure extremely well, so I’m sure some audience members can see their own upbringing reflected in her performance.

Final Takeaway

The demonic presence or “entity” as it’s often called in the Smile films, is seen as more than just a supernatural creature. It stands as a metaphor for mental illness, trauma, anxiety, depression, and more. In the case of Smile 2, Skye’s trauma is a mix of her PTSD from her major accident a year prior, her anxiety from being overbooked by fan events and everything else that goes with being a popstar, and her own dark feelings about her self-worth. The creature feeds off of this, forcing her to see herself as the monster she already believes herself to be.

Not every audience member can relate to being a popstar, obviously, but Smile 2 still touches on universal themes that we all have felt at some point: the feeling that we are frauds even if we are successful in our careers, or being hounded by the people around us to do with they expect us to do, or undealt-with trauma from a major event in our past. These are all relatable ideas, and if the Smile monster were real, I’m sure he’d be able to feed off all of us. That, on its own, is a terrifying concept.

Conclusion

To conclude, Smile 2 is an ambitious successor to the original surprise hit. It may occasionally overdo it with its over-the-top approach, and it contains a scattershot plot, but its strength lies in its presentation: whether Naomi Scott‘s emotive performance, the stylish cinematography and music, and its relatable thematic takeway. It depends on the success of this film, but it’s my hope that there will be others to follow. Especially with that ending!

What are your thoughts on Smile 2? Are you a fan of the original movie?

Smile 2 is now playing in theaters.