Film Review: ‘Smile 2’ is a Larger Scale Sequel with a Now Firmly Established Horror Template

Despite not being blown away by Smile, I recognized that the premise and execution worked. In horror, that’s as huge as with any other genre. Make the audience jump, scare them if you can, and you’re in. Now as a fully fledged franchise, Smile 2 has to figure out ways to keep it all fresh. The sequel more or less does that, with the big novelty being who is being tortured this time around. It’s alternating between annoying and inventive, but when it succeeds, it really does succeed.

Smile 2 works as an extension of the first one. It’s bigger in most ways, while being better in some. I appreciated following a famous musician, since the surrounding elements are different, even if the scares are largely the same. There’s a rhythm here that works. The film is too long by almost twenty minutes, and with a poor third act, but it ends with a final scene that’s kind of a riot.

After a brief prologue that continues the plot of the first film while setting up this one, we meet Skye Riley (Naomi Scott). Skye is a huge pop star, about to embark on a world tour, one that’s a comeback for her as well, after a recent bout with addiction and a massive trauma that took the life of her fellow celebrity partner (Ray Nicholson). Managed by her mother (Rosemarie DeWitt), Skye is doing her best, but after an unsettling encounter with Lewis (Lukas Gage), her problems are about to get pretty demonic.

Noticing these ominous smiling presences, it soon becomes clear that Skye is the latest to be infected. While looking for help from her estranged best friend (Dylan Gelula), she’s also approached by Morris (Peter Jacobson), who claims to have a way to stop the spread of this demonic infection. Of course, to even make it that far, Skye will have to survive, and as it all comes crumbling down for her, that proves to be no easy task.

Naomi Scott turns in a very nice performance, depicting a crumbling pop star in a manner that would fit an addiction drama as well as a fright flick. There are stretches where it’s just her struggling, which works better than it arguably should. She’s the real highlight, cast wise. Rosemarie DeWitt is cashing a paycheck, which is totally cool in my book, as she deserves it. Ray Nicholson is fine in flashbacks, but he seems to be doing his dad in certain scenes, which proves distracting. In addition to Lukas Gage, Dylan Gelula, and Peter Jacobson, supporting players here include Raúl Castillo, Kyle Gallner, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, as well as a cameo from Drew Barrymore as herself.

Filmmaker Parker Finn utilizes the larger budget this time around to give more scale to the horror. He also indulges in some more complex direction, which is occasionally too much, but mostly adds to the experience. We get big concert production rehearsals, which you wouldn’t usually see in a similar flick. At the same time, this is over two hours when it really needed not to be. At 90 minutes, it would have rocked. His writing is more or less the same film over again, but in such a way that you don’t mind too much. The movie is a more expansive take on his premise, including with the running time. Finn probably can keep making Smile sequels as long as he feels like it. Provided that he mixes up at least the set up like he did here, I’m more than fine with that concept.

Smile 2 does what it sets out to do, so even if it’s not quite an original idea, it’s executed well enough. As a near Halloween release, it’s going to scratch a very specific itch. Combined with the recently released Terrifier 3, gory horror sequels are having a moment, which I’m completely in support of. Long live R-rated horror!

SCORE: ★★★