Review: Smile 2

A famous quote from an episode of The Simpsons captures Smile 2 very well: “Stop! Stop! He’s already dead!” It’s rare, if not almost unheard of in horror, for a sequel to be this much better than the original. While I did have fun in the original, it still felt like the churned-out PG-13 (it wasn’t, but it just felt that way) safe horror of the time. Secondly, they do something that so many horror films get wrong: have a protagonist to root for. 

Skye Riley (played by Naomi Scott from Power Rangers 2017 and Lemonade Mouth) is a mega-star pop singer who has fallen on hard times. Coming back a year after an accident, which put her career on hold and ended the life of her boyfriend, she is expected to shine. Yet, when she witnesses the death of a friend of hers, a spirit, one who smiles, infests her life. 

Naomi Scott is outstanding here in her performance and in the choice of blonde hair, which gives her a striking appearance. The entire movie is on her shoulders, all of it. There’s no help, and the secondary characters offer very little assistance to carry some of the burden. We are privy to her madness, and boy does this movie like to kick her when she’s down. Then pick her back up, knock her down harder and harder… repeat. You live with her and her trauma as everyone just wants her to smile, sing and dance like a good little product. 

Smile 2 lets you know, very early on, that they are pushing that R rating here. There is not a whiff of the pulp mill PG-13 stuff that’s rotted at the core of horror. This is visceral and genuinely had me unnerved at times, which is a rare occurrence these days. Best of all, it leaves you wanting more. 

I’ve never seen this kind of take on a character like this. Someone of such immense privilege, who still seems so real. We don’t meet her at her height, she’s already suffering before the smiles begin. Had she come across as at all unlikeable, it would have all fallen apart. However, it is not perfect, and this keeps it from being a solid five for me.

The biggest issue is that it drags in a few spots. It was fifteen minutes too long and would have been better at a tighter pace. Yet, I kept thinking I knew how it was going to end exactly it subverted my expectations time and time again. 

It’s a good time for horror.

So smile.

It’s not like it’s going to kill you?

Right?