⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rob Ryan
The point of a horror film is to scare you, that much everyone can agree on. Smile 2 did that and then some. Some horror films subtly sneak up on you and only really impact you after the credits, others leave you with your head down, eyes shut and ears covered, Smile 2 did both. As embarrassing as it is to admit that a movie put you in that position through a significant portion of the run time, it must be said that it's not just because the anticipation of the loud noise followed by scary face is why I felt so uncomfortable throughout this film but it's because of the context surrounding the intricately built up scares that is what got me so on edge in the first place, it's one thing to watch a horror movie scare on it's own and not care about the story and characters, you will still get the desired effect of jumping out from your seat, but with the extra context surrounding a pop star trying to hold it together while under huge pressure from staying sober, brand deals, millions of adoring fans and a demon that is going to torment and mess with her head before killing her after day 7. Now the stakes are really high.
The film opens six days after the events of the first where Joel (Kyle Gallner) has one more day to pass the curse onto someone else or kill himself without influence from the demon after contracting it after Rose, the protagonist of the first, lit herself on fire in front of him. He tries to pass it on to a group of drug dealers but the plan goes awry and the plan leads him being run over by a pick up truck at high speed. The blood stain on the road resembles a smile that the demon displays to his victims in the form of normal people, indicating that his death was its doing.
Joel's death lead to him passing the curse on to Lewis (Lukas Cage) who was buying from the dealers at the time, this then leads to him eventually getting possessed a week later, not before having his lost his sanity, his death is witnessed by popstar Sky Riley (Naomi Scott) who was buying from him to relive a pain in her back which was the result of a car crash that took the life of her lover (Ray Nicholson) while under the influence of drugs. Now she keeps seeing the smile he was pulling at the time when he took a gym weight to his face. She even starts seeing the face of her late boyfriend, this causes her to loose her perception of reality and time while under the watchful eye of her controlling mother (Rosemarie DeWitt) managers, her fans and the spectators watching at home.
Writer-director Parker Finn who also helmed the first, comes from the M Night Shyamalan of screenwriting where dialogue can at times feel strange and unnatural, certain characters can feel very stereotypical and even the annoying fans that photo bomb sky feel like generic archetypes then real people, but his bread and butter is in the mood, look, presentation and tone of his movie. Finn and cinematographer Charlie Saroff conjure some masterful shots that are even unnerving in scenes that feel inconsequential, a perfect example of this is a still wide shot on a TV showing Sky on the Drew Barrymore show, a scene that gives some brilliant exposition for our protagonist. Only when the scene transitions to the live show do you then realise the camera has been slowly moving at a slow but ominous way. Other brilliant scenes are all done in one continuous take that are seamless and must have taken some will power to choreograph.
The casting of Naomi Scott initially didn't stand out to me beyond "having a singer who also does acting from time to time be the lead cause the lead in this is also a singer" but she excels beyond being a good singer and an outstanding lead, especially in the flashback scenes involving her tragic ordeal that are grim and relentless in there brutality. Smile 2 doesn't just succeed as a horror movie about a smiling demon, but actually for once has a more honest depiction of grief and trauma that doesn't feel insincere. We see Sky be torn apart from the expectations from her chosen path, one that she probably now regrets, and now this seemingly unstoppable force is going to make her relive all of her worst aspects of her life and we the audience are forced to experience all of these things with her.
Smile 2 does things I can't stand in mainstream horror and does them well, instead of sitting through one scare sequence after the next, you are wishing they where all over, whereas the first film towed the line between camp and cruelty, Smile 2 goes over the line and is a cruel, uncompromising exercise in abject horror from beginning to end. Finn is a director with genuine talent in creating fear and dread but he also understands that the monster is often not the biggest monster of them all, he understands that horror has to show what people fear, hate and what people are capable off when desperate, when all the mental health has much deteriorated, when they feel like no one cares for them and will care for them. Where no alternatives are possible.
2024 has been a great year for horror but Smile 2 might be in my opinion the scariest horror film of the year!
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