Smile 2 Review

I’m not sure why I decided to watch this movie when I did not even like the first movie.  But it was Halloween, and I needed something new “scary” to watch. “Smile 2” is a described as a psychological supernatural horror film. This film stars Naomi Scott as pop star Skye Riley who is preparing for a comeback tour. 

Skye struggles with substance abuse and the aftermath of a car crash that killed her boyfriend, actor Paul Hudson, played by Ray Nicholson. Yes, Jack Nicholson’s son has a small but impactful role in this film. Anyway, Skye’s life is being managed by her mother, manager, and assistant. Skye can barely go to the restroom without supervision. 

Somehow, Skye sneaks out to buy Vicodin for her back pain. She's so desperate for the drugs that she overlooks the manic state and crazed smile of the dealer. Suddenly, he picks up a weight and smashes his face in until he kills himself. Already in a volatile state, Skye tries to call the police but decides against it, realizing she’d have to explain why she’s at a known drug dealer’s house with drugs in plain view. Plus, who would believe that a man just smashed his own face multiple times? So, she skedaddles.

Much like the first film, it’s clear that this curse is contagious, passing along to witnesses of these traumatizing deaths. Skye starts to hallucinate. Her already fragile mind is pushed to the edge. Desperate for help outside her usual circle, she reaches out to an estranged friend, Gemma, played by Dylan Gelula, who offers her support.

Skye starts getting texts from an unknown number, warning her that they know she was at Lewis’ apartment and that she's in danger. At a charity event hosted by a music executive, she’s invited to speak. When the teleprompter freezes, she improvises her speech but starts seeing her dead boyfriend Paul smiling at her. Freaked out, she ends up accidentally hurting an elderly patron on stage.

Skye finally meets the unknown texter, an ER nurse who has been tracking the smiling entity. She explains how the curse spreads and suggests that Skye stop her heart and then get resuscitated to rid herself of the curse. Sounds reasonable, right?

Back at her apartment, Skye is attacked by the entity, which appears as her backup dancers. They hold her down as a giant arm forces its way down her throat.

We get a flashback sequence that reveals the crash was her fault—she grabbed the wheel during an argument with her boyfriend. She eventually wakes up at a wellness retreat, where she ends up in an argument with her mother, who is now under the control of the entity. The mother smashes a mirror and uses the shards to stab herself.

I tell you what, this movie does not skimp on the blood and gore. Watching the various ways people hurt themselves in the most elaborate ways was probably the highlight of the movie.

Skye escapes the facility and meets up with her friend Gemma. They carjack a private driver and have him drive them to meet up with the nurse to get her heart stopped and resuscitated. Things don’t go as planned. She gets a call from the real Gemma, revealing that the entity is impersonating her. It all goes downhill from there. Well, this whole movie was her going downhill, but the process fails. She is locked in the closet and told to break a leg.

Somehow, Skye finds herself on stage for her tour's opening night at Madison Square Garden. Everyone in her circle who died is in attendance. Turns out, her entire week was a hallucination. Now, she's on stage, tripping balls, seeing a large, skinless humanoid with multiple smiling mouths. The entity possesses Skye by forcing its way inside through her mouth. She chokes and collapses on stage.

No one rushes to her aid as she lies there. Eventually, she gets up, smiles, and offs herself on stage with a microphone. In all the years of watching horror films, that was a creative form of death.

I still didn't like this film, but if you enjoyed the first one, you might. I give it 2 out of 5 acorns.