Smile 2 Review: Parker Finn's Horror Sequel Is Possibly The Best Genre Surprise Of The Year

Expanding lore is a key element in horror sequels, and it’s something that I pondered heavily going into my screening of writer/director Parker Finn’s Smile 2. Revisiting the original in the days before, I recognized that the jump scare-filled feature did quite a bit of its own backtracking regarding the path of its villainous grinning entity, with Sosie Bacon’s Rose and Kyle Gallner’s Joel tracing the chain back through a string of 20 “suicides” and finding Rob Morgan’s Robert Talley – who tells the protagonist that the only way to survive is by committing a witnessed, heinous murder.

As the lights went down in the theater, I hoped that the follow-up wouldn’t just settle on being more of the same. I hoped the movie would avoid similar investigation plotting and explore both new “rules” and new depths for its theme about trauma. I also hoped it would be able to avoid the myriad of sequel traps to which many franchise-killers have fallen victim. My expectations were modest – further reined in by my awareness of the film’s quick trip through development and the very real possibility of a sophomore slump by the writer director.

It turns out that they may have been too modest, as the discovered reality of the film is that Smile walked so that Smile 2 could sprint. The sequel ratchets up everything that is good about the original and independently delivers on whole new levels – delivering nerve-shattering jumps, haunting images, thoughtful characters and splendid cinematography. It has a great chance of going down as one of the year’s best genre surprises, and it’s certainly one of 2024’s scariest horror movies.

Smile 2 does bring back the established mythology and “rules” from the first movie, as both heavily feed into the stunning opening sequence (all shot/made to appear shot in a single take), but without breaking the continuity, it finds a whole new story to tell with Skye Riley (Naomi Scott). In the aftermath of a drug/alcohol fueled-car crash that led to the death of her boyfriend (Ray Nicholson) and the need for life-saving surgery, the beloved pop star is preparing to launch her comeback world tour, and in combination with her still-new sobriety, stress is at a high.

Needing painkillers for her injured back but unable to get a prescription due to her substance abuse history, she turns to her old drug dealer (Lukas Gage)… but her timing couldn’t be worse. Arriving at his place, Skye finds him to be a manic mess, and then things get extreme. He seems to choke and pass out, and when he awakens, he smiles broadly while committing suicide with a barbell weight.

Unwilling to call the police because of the media storm that the situation would create, the protagonist flees the scene. However, the law is the least of her problems. Like Rose from Smile, she is disturbed by what she witnessed, but also finds herself terrorized by some kind of entity that takes the form of people with dead stares and ghastly grins.

Smile 2 is a rich departure from the first movie that also further develops the story that film began.

While they share the same foe in their respective movies, Skye and Rose are wholly different characters living wholly different lives in wholly different worlds, and while that alone doesn’t totally distinguish Smile 2 from Smile, it is an important component, and one that is well-utilized. Without getting too “film critic equals director’s psychoanalyst,” there is an interesting meta angle to observe, with Skye’s experience under the pressures of fame and success perhaps mirroring Parker Finn’s after the blockbuster success of his feature debut, but hollowness of stardom is just one of the excellent levels explored with the fictional pop star.

The entity is given new life through trauma and exploits any and all sources of stress, and within that, there are all sorts of excellent avenues for terror in Smile 2, and it makes the film relentless. Skye has her personal demons with her near-death experience and addictions, but she also has her constantly worrying mother/manager (Rosemarie DeWitt), her eager-to-please assistant (Miles Gutierrez-Riley), a broken relationship with her best friend (Dylan Gelula), hordes of screaming fans and the hardcore training for her tour. It actually ends up being a little too much, as the onslaught ends up creating a drag in the pacing of the narrative late in the second act, but the movie’s killer finale has more than enough energy to bring you back in.

Smile 2 takes many different tactics to freak out audiences, and they're all successful.

Jump scares are integral to the fear factor in Smile, and Parker Finn certainly doesn’t leave them behind in the making of the sequel, but he also advances his game in big, showy ways that prove to be extremely impressive. His psychological horror game is upped in a significant way; because of how locked into the protagonist’s perspective we are and how it’s been established that the antagonist entity can mess with their perception of reality, Smile 2 has license to fuck with the audience at every available turn, and the writer/director takes full advantage. (Saying more would be saying too much.)

There is beautifully creative gore and straight physical horror on display, and if you don’t want to look, that’s on you, as subtle isn’t the way that this movie plays. It doesn’t hint at, or just do the “quick flash” thing. There is shocking material that will make even the most seasoned genre fan wince and grimace. It’s not an exaggeration to say that there are some images that are burned into my brain days after my screening.

Not just freaky and scary, Smile 2 also happens to be exceptionally well-crafted. Smile features some cool shots and drone photography, but Parker Finn’s latest collaboration with director of photography Charlie Sarroff goes for some stunning, jaw-dropping swings. I mentioned earlier that the film’s opening sequence unfolds without any obvious cuts, but it’s just one of multiple awesome oners that build tension and keep your eyes not just fixated on the screen, but deeply looking everywhere in a paranoid search for the next scare. The scene construction is amazing (I’ll also highlight a spellbinding oscillating camera during a late second act flashback), and only enhances the work and never distracts.

Naomi Scott is not just a burgeoning scream queen in Smile 2, but also showcases her wonderful musical talent.

For all its nightmare fuel and dazzling cinematography, Smile 2 doesn’t work if you’re not emotionally connected to its protagonist – but it proves a terrific call that the production picked Naomi Scott for the part. Not only does she have the charisma and vulnerability to play the talented and haunted Skye Riley, but she also has the musical skills to legitimize the character as a musical superstar. Her principal job in the horror film is selling the unrelenting terror that is the experience of being haunted by the burgeoning franchise’s faceless monster, and she does that with every scream and wide-eyed look, but the bonus is that there is a great original soundtrack and impressive choreography. It’s a demanding role, but she meets every challenge with perfection.

So far, 2024 has been a tremendous year for original horror, with phenomenal films like Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, Damian McCarthy’s Oddity, and Greg Jardin’s It’s What’s Inside, but Smile 2 is a major win for franchise horror and a delightfully unexpected one. It will seriously freak you out, and as you work your mind over its twists and turns in the aftermath, you’ll want to go back for a second viewing.