Naomi Scott Is Daring As Haunted Pop Star In Surprisingly Humorous Horror Sequel

Director Parker Finn delivered a disturbing showcase of mental anguish with his creepy directorial debut Smile. The film blended supernatural and psychological horror to shock and scare us through effective jump scares while adequately providing commentary on mental health issues. Returning for his sequel, Smile 2, Finn wrote and directed a movie revisiting the themes from its predecessor. Though it doesn’t stick the landing, the jump scares are at least there. Crucially, Naomi Scott delivers a daring performance you should rush to see in theaters.

Scott stars as global pop singer and superstar Skye Riley. After spending almost a year in recovery from substance abuse, Skye readies herself for a major come-back world tour. Through sleepless nights and countless rehearsals, the team plans to make this a major success story. Yet, Skye’s consistent back pain hinders her from reaching her full potential. To relieve her pain, Skye links up with her previous connection, Lewis (Lukas Gage), to score some Vicodin. Upon arrival, she discovers a disoriented Lewis who is barely cognizant of his surroundings. Before she recognizes what’s happening, Skye witnesses Lewis’ suicide.

Smile 2 Waits Too Long For Important Reveals

It Prevents Us From Fully Understanding Skye

Dealing with the aftermath of witnessing Lewis’ gruesome death is not easy for Skye. To make matters worse, Skye’s team can’t seem to understand her struggles with mental health without accusing her of using again. Interestingly, this is where Smile 2 could have built momentum, but for some reason, it just doesn’t. It took quite a while to learn what happened to Skye to result in both her back pain and mental health issues. But by the time these scenes rolled around, it was difficult to truly engage and understand Skye and the relationships with the people around her.

Following the formula of his first film, Finn cleverly uses his jump scare tactics to weave in moments of backstory for Skye. And yet, they were not as effective for the storytelling here. In Smile, we were aware of Rose’s mental health journey up front, making it easy to develop empathy for her while also questioning what was truly happening. Perhaps this is just an unfortunate side effect of being a horror sequel, but everything is more obvious in Smile 2. Many of the occurrences don’t seem real, though Scott does her best to convince us otherwise.

Smile 2 Surprisingly Leans Into Humor

It Only Works Sometimes

Even though Smile 2 is over two hours of missed opportunity, I cannot deny the fun to be had here. Oddly enough this time around, Finn’s script leans into humor, as the greatest pop star in the world is experiencing strange occurrences centered on a bunch of fans smiling at her. The inherent humor there and the cast’s delivery of certain scenes definitely deserve some praise. However, we almost have to forget this is a story about an evil entity forcing people to take their own lives to fully enjoy the experience in its entirety.

Ultimately, Smile 2 isn’t a bad film by any means. But there are certainly smarter choices that could have been made to make it an overall success. All around, the cast delivers solid performances that are enjoyable to watch. Naomi Scott, in particular, is so sensational every single moment she’s onscreen. With a better script, this could have been a sure winner for her. Even though it doesn’t take its own storyline seriously enough, Smile 2 is entertaining. Don’t expect the horror film to have the best commentary on mental health issues, but be ready for some jump-scare fun.

Smile 2 is in theaters on October 18. The film is 127 minutes long and rated R for strong bloody violent content, grisly images, language throughout and drug use.

5/10

Smile 2 is the sequel to the 2022 psychological horror film by director Parker Finn that centers on a therapist who witnesses a patient’s suicide, leading to a series of terrifying supernatural events. The sequel will see the return of Finn as director, with Paramount continuing distribution.

Pros

• Naomi Scott delivers a superbly daring performance.
• The script is often humorous.

Cons

• Smile 2 doesn’t take its heavy themes seriously.
• The script caters to humor over proper storytelling.
• The film suffers from familiarity.