Smile 2 Review: "Naomi Scott demonstrates her talents with a raw, no-holds-barred performance in this largely successful horror sequel"

Following the impressive worldwide box office performance of Smile in 2022, and the enduring popularity of the supernatural shocker amongst genre fans, director Parker Finn’s sequel does everything a horror follow-up should, picking up where the original installment left off (just six days later), providing some worthwhile call-backs, expanding the scope of the action, and adding in plenty more scares and gore.

Smile 2 takes the chilling phenomenon from the first movie to a new level as global pop sensation Skye Riley (played by a charismatic and captivating Naomi Scott) begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Moving on from Smile’s primary victim Dr Rose Cotter, the parasitic demon that terrorizes its hosts by stalking them in the form of people they know while sporting a sinister grin, has a new victim. The entity has now latched onto Skye and wreaks havoc on her life, and career, in a very public way, all the while continuing its modus operandi of causing its victims to lose their minds and then take their own lives in front of an unwitting witness so it can transfer a new body.

The use of Skye’s pop stardom works well, upping the ante from Smile’s more contained storytelling to that of someone battling a horrifying supernatural entity amidst the trappings of celebrity while managing to remain deeply personal.

Taking a look at the pressures and responsibilities of fame and obsessive fandom, explorations of addiction, suicide and past trauma – both physical and psychological – are laced through Smile 2, providing Scott with ample opportunity to demonstrate her talents with a raw, no-holds-barred performance while setting up the audience with just the right amount of ambiguity around events, in the well-worn style of the ‘hysterical’ woman experiencing violent hallucinations and desperate to be believed as Skye struggles with recovery.

Worldwide domination

About to embark on a global comeback tour, our leading lady is in the middle of relentless rehearsals and promotion, and Smile 2 includes a couple of sequences that dazzle while still working within the narrative to create genuine scares (including a performance of ‘Blood on White Satin’, the single released in advance of the movie, which ends on a less-than-harmonious note). These well choreographed song-and-dance moments feel more organic here than they did in M. Night Shyamalan’s recent pop concert-set Trap, and in the age of huge live shows like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour – which has reached vast audiences beyond the stadium via streaming on Disney Plus – anchors this film in the zeitgeist to entertaining ends.

Director Parker Finn, cinematographer Charlie Sarroff and editor Elliot Greenberg (who all return from the first Smile movie) have created a visually arresting horror spectacle; dynamic camerawork, disorienting cuts, and use of long takes, space and mirrors create a rich experience for the viewer, immersing us in Skye’s world with striking effect.

Smile has a reputation for being legitimately scary and, while it doesn't quite pull off the insidious dread of its predecessor, the sequel is determined to not let us off lightly. The truly unsettling rictus grin of the demon is back, a beautifully crafted opening sequence is an assault on the senses that sets us up for what’s to come, and one particular set-piece later in the movie that involves Skye’s dance troupe is especially jarring, in ways reminiscent of Gaspar Noe’s Climax and Luca Guardinino’s Suspiria. Plus – although some of the CGI, similarly to the first film, is at times a little obvious - some intense body horror and lingering gore, and a couple of well-crafted jump scares, had me cowering in my seat.

A star turn

As well at Scott’s stirring turn, we get fan favorite Kyle Gallner returning as detective Joel from the first movie who, as always, disappears into his role with the apparent ease that has put him on the map as one of modern horror’s most prominent stars, Lukas Gage as a manic drug dealer who is also possessed by the entity, Rosemarie DeWitt as Skye’s long-suffering yet ruthless mother/manager, and Miles Gutierrez-Riley as put-upon assistant Joshua and Dylan Gelula as likable best friend Gemma who both provide some effective and welcome humor to break the tension.

But Smile 2 is very much Naomi Scott’s movie. She navigates diva-like tantrums, disturbing nightmares, traumatic self-harm and candid descriptions of deteriorating mental health, messy relationships and the loneliness of fame, addictive behaviors, screaming, crying and outright terror with aplomb, and by the time the action is hurtling towards its conclusion, I couldn’t help feeling desperately sorry for her as she descends into an apparently unhinged, blood-soaked, gun-toting woman on the verge, willing to do whatever it takes to free herself – and the world – from the terrifying entity that has her in its grip.

The runtime of Smile 2 is long – while they mostly work, at nearly two and a quarter hours the film could potentially have lost some of the musical numbers, and Finn and Greenberg could have also trimmed some fat from the longer incidental sequences – and at times the ambiguity about what is real and what are hallucinations or nightmares tips over into being straight-up confusing, but with solid performances, an expanding lore, and some genuinely scary moments, the movie is largely a very successful sequel to a recent horror favorite that will serve audiences well in the lead up to Halloween.

Smile 2 is out in UK cinemas on October 17 and US theaters on October 18.

For more scares, check out our guides to all the upcoming horror movies and best horror movies you need to know about. We've also got a list of upcoming movies to add to your calendar too.