By Jon Donnis
"Smile 2" is a solid follow-up to the first film, delivering everything you'd expect from a psychological horror, but with a fresh twist by centering the story around a pop star, Skye Riley. Played brilliantly by Naomi Scott, Skye is on the verge of a major comeback after a rough patch involving substance abuse and a car accident that killed her boyfriend. Just as she prepares for her tour, things take a terrifying turn when she witnesses the gruesome suicide of a drug dealer, Lewis, who is clearly under the influence of the same curse from the first film. From there, Skye's life spirals out of control as she starts experiencing disturbing hallucinations and eerie encounters with smiling strangers.
The film follows Skye as she becomes more isolated, trying to hide her deteriorating mental state while desperately seeking answers about the curse. The tension ramps up as she reconnects with her estranged best friend Gemma and teams up with Morris, a nurse who has been researching the entity behind the curse after it claimed his brother's life. As Skye becomes more unstable, her reality blurs, and she struggles to tell what's real from the entity's mind games. One of the film's most chilling moments comes when Skye, during a charity event, sees her dead boyfriend "Paul" grinning at her from the crowd, leading to a violent outburst in front of a shocked audience.
Naomi Scott absolutely owns the role, turning in a performance that's both vulnerable and terrifying. The way she portrays Skye's slow unraveling is nothing short of impressive, making her descent into madness feel raw and believable. Director Parker Finn doesn't hold back on the scares either. The film is packed with unsettling moments, including a scene where Skye's backup dancers transform into something far more sinister, and another where her mother, under the entity's control, meets a particularly gruesome fate.
Where the film stumbles slightly is in its lack of new information about the curse. While the first film built up a lot of tension around the entity, "Smile 2" sticks mostly to the same formula, with plenty of fake-outs and jump-scares but not much development in terms of understanding what the curse really is. It plays it safe in that regard, relying on the same supernatural gimmicks, which work but don't bring anything fresh to the table.
That said, the movie still hits the mark for horror fans. It is tense, disturbing, and loaded with nightmare fuel. Finn's use of sound and visual design is superb, with the hallucinations becoming more elaborate and unnerving as Skye gets deeper into the curse's grip. The final act, where Skye faces off with the entity in a nightmarish, hallucination-filled sequence at Madison Square Garden, is an intense ride, building up to a shocking climax that's sure to leave an impression.
"Smile 2" may not dive too deeply into new territory, but it succeeds in upping the ante on the terror. Naomi Scott's performance is definitely the highlight, as she transforms from a troubled pop star to a completely unhinged victim of the curse. While it may not offer much in terms of new mythology, it is still a bloody, disturbing, and well-crafted horror experience.
Overall, "Smile 2" keeps you on edge and delivers a solid dose of fear and gore. It's not groundbreaking in terms of expanding the lore, but it is a well-executed horror film that delivers plenty of scares. I'd rate it a solid 8.5 out of 10.
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