Against my better judgment, I liked this one much better than the first. In fact, I wish this had been the original film because Smile 2 sets up the psychological torture of the Smile demon far better than the original, which just wanted a body count.
Going into this film, I complained about the 127-minute run-time. Such is about 30 minutes longer than one would expect from standard popcorn horror. What? You’re gonna have character development and plot analysis? It’s popcorn horror. We meet a camper for three minutes, then Jason runs him through with a machete; that’s what the genre is about. Like Smile 2 is gonna be any different.
Oh, but it was different. Color me surprised and a little impressed.
The film starts with somebody we might have met in the original cursed with the Smile demon. He infiltrates the lair of a drug dealer, attempting to slough off the supernatural menace onto someone who genuinely deserves it. However, he ends up killing the guy instead. Oops. Two minutes later, the original host dies out of the blue and the demon latches onto a minor league drug dealer, who has a shitty week before his last customer arrives, rehabbed pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott).
Instantly, we get to see the demon go to work, immediately showing Skye her future by having the drug dealer brain himself repeatedly with a weight plate while … smiling. Yikes, that is creepy.
And then our story becomes big Skye country. For the Smile demon is simply the newest of the many demons that control Skye Riley. The pop diva had a drug addiction and a boy toy, both of which ended on a night drive concluding in parallel parking off a cliff and into a tree. A year later, she’s still recovering and attempting to regain her addiction, having damaged her brand and all her friendships prior to the accident. Part of the insidious nature of the Smile demon is its parasitic ability to make its host relive the worst moments of their life, which is a fate I wish upon nobody; I think most people are already well aware of the worst things they’ve ever experienced.
Over the course of two hours, we live the life of Skye, tortured star. We meet her mother and her handlers and her friend, but mostly we’re into Skye and how she lives life while being taunted by demons. It’s not pretty, and yields the most cringe-worthy stage appearance in recent movie history – and when I say that, I’m including the moment where Bradley Cooper pees himself in A Star Is Born. Yeah, it’s that bad. Is this horror? Well, it sure would be for me.
Let’s not be silly; there wasn’t any master class in filmmaking going on here … and 127 minutes is ridiculously long for a popcorn sequel. However, I cannot deny that Smile 2 did indeed deliver horror, and it kept me guessing more than once. I think horror fans will be delighted and movie fans will find this acceptable, but not much beyond that.
There was once a superstar named Skye
Whose life went horribly awry
Now she’d like to live on
Except she’s a pawn
Of the demon who won’t say “good-bye”
Rated R, 127 Minutes
Director: Parker Finn
Writer: Parker Finn
Genre: My demon pal
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of psychological horror
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who don’t like torture