It’s been 2 years since we last saw the unsettling smirk on the big screen. With Smile 2, Parker Finn (director of Smile and Laura Hasn’t Slept) is back to bring the scares once again.

 

The film starts where we left off with the smile entity passing into the police officer Joel (Kyle Gallner). Joel witnessed the previously infected, Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), take her own life. Joel tries his best to pass the curse onto someone else by figuring out a loophole where he doesn’t have to take himself out. The plan backfires and the entity passes on to a drug dealer, Lewis (Lukas Gage), who witnesses Joel’s attempt to trick the entity. This is when we are introduced to our main character, pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott). Riley is back in the spotlight a year after surviving a car crash that killed her boyfriend and making it through rehab from a severe drug addiction. Now, she’s preparing for a new world tour while still coping with the trauma of her past. As she deals with the mental trauma, she also must manage the physical trauma, because her body is still not 100% recovered from the accident. As a result, she meets up with drug dealer Lukas to score some pain-relieving drugs. What was supposed to be a simple visit becomes her worst nightmare. Riley witnesses Lukas taking his own life and the smile entity enters her. Now under the entity’s influence, she will see things that aren’t there, have vivid flashbacks to the day of the crash, and become completely paranoid that someone is out to ruin her career. How can she overcome this entity that has already taken the lives of so many people? Is it possible to break the chain? Or will this entity continue to wreak havoc on society?

 

Sometimes sequels are good or are bombs. In this instance I’d say they knocked this one out of the park. From start to finish the movie sucks you in with how high the stakes are with this entity. The last film was more of a slow burn that led up to a big finale, but this time around they do a good job by taking everything up a peg. There were a lot of moments in the film where I didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t real. I was left guessing about when a jump scare would be around the corner. I think Naomi Scott did an amazing job in this film and should be given more roles in the future based on this performance. It was not an easy script to bring to life and she really brought her A-game to make you feel like you were experiencing what her character was experiencing. The only issue I had with the film was that there were some pacing issues, and the last 20 minutes of the film make you question what was real and what wasn’t real. I had to watch a YouTube video to get a better understanding of the events that lead to the conclusion of film. That’s the only blemish I felt hurt the film. Other than that, it was a very solid horror movie.

 

Only a couple more days of the spooky season are left, and this is a film you should check out in theaters if you’re a horror movie fan.

 

Rating: 4 out 5