Usually an infectious smile is a good thing but not if you are in a SMILE horror movie, where a creepy smile is the last thing you see before a contagious form of deadly of madness infects you. The first SMILE scared audiences, with an actress sporting one creepy smile in the poster and trailer, even before they saw the movie. In the original hit horror movie SMILE, that creepy smile was the signal that this infection about to jump from one person, as the smiling victim commits suicide in front of a hapless soul who becomes the next victim. In SMILE, we followed the path of the horrific infection as it jumped from victim to victim, but in SMILE 2 we concentrate more on one person.
Writer/director Parker Finn never really explains what causes this infectious madness as we follow the trail of carnage, although the film suggests some possibilities – a demon, a contagious madness, an evil being from another dimension. It really doesn’t matter anyway, as it’s a kind of horror MacGuffin. If you see that creepy smile, you’re next, and then you’re dead.
In SMILE 2, the smiling, um, thing, continues to spread, but the sequel switches to mostly following one person. After an opening sequence tied to the last film, which seems to end things with a twist, the film takes a turn, towards an international pop star, Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), who is trying to restart her career after recovering from addiction and a horrific car accident that left her scarred inside and out, and killed the other person in the car, her pop star boyfriend Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson). Skye is off drugs but still struggling in many ways, under the pressures of fame, of preparing for a world tour and doing rounds of publicity, while haunted by her experiences and still in pain from her injuries. Skye seems both fragile and driven, supported by her manager mother Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt), and eager-to-please assistant (Miles Gutierrez-Riley).
After lingering pain from her injuries is aggregated by rigorous training for acrobatic dance sequences for her upcoming tour, Skye reaches out to a friend from high school, Lewis (Lukas Gage), looking for some pain killers. That visit goes all kinds of wrong, sending Skye running back to her posh apartment with more trauma.
Meanwhile, Mom has encouraged Skye to reach out to her childhood best friend Gemma (Dylan Gelula), to ask if she’d be willing to join her on the tour, as emotional support. But Mom seems unaware that Skye had alienated her friend during her addiction crisis, and now Skye is unsure Gemma will even want to hear from her now.
When Skye starts having nightmares and shows signs of extreme stress and possible breakdown, it is hard to tell if what is happening is the result of all the pressures she is under or if something else is in play. No matter the cause, a series of increasingly bizarre and frightening events ensue. What’s real and what’s not gets pretty blurry.
First, full disclosure: this reviewer is not really a fan of gore-fest horror like this film and its predecessor. Although I have a fondness for classic horror, in the Vincent Price and Frankenstein vein, and I do like a good head-twisting psychological or science fiction thriller – think “Under the Skin” – but generally, suspense, mystery and psychological thrillers are more to my taste.
On the other hand, for those with a higher tolerance for gore who do like this kind of film, SMILE 2 does a pretty good job of scaring audiences throughout and delivering regular doses of gross-out effects. SMILE 2 does deliver on plentiful jump scares, shocker twists and nightmarish sequences to scare the bejesus out of you.
The pop star theme lets the film showcase British singer and actor Naomi Scott, who performs several songs and gets plenty of chances to go through a wide range of emotions. Scott does well in the film, as does the rest of the cast, and the whole production is well-crafted and effectively terrifying.
While we never learn what is causing this fatal infectious madness, it really doesn’t matter anyway. In this sequel, writer/director Parker Finn seems to hint at a link between the pop star’s own inner demons and the “demon” or whatever inhabiting her. Or maybe it’s just an excuse for a lot of fairly effective jump scares and abundant buckets-o-blood gore.
Using a pop star as the lead character, especially one in recovery from addiction, survivor guilt and more, allows another level of tension that makes the scares a bit easier to conceal as they creep up on us, and also opens the door to some commentary on the price and pressures of stardom, although it says nothing new.
If you liked the first SMILE film, or like that kind of horror generally, SMILE 2 seems to tick all the boxes for a gory good nightmare ride.
SMILE 2 opens Friday, Oct. 18, in theaters.
RATING: 2 out of 4 stars
