The Plot: Pop star Skye (Naomi Scott) is about to embark on a comeback tour. A year ago, she was in a traumatic car crash with boyfriend Paul (Ray Nicholson) which left her in a distressed state and unable to function. Keen to please her fans though, she’s ready now… or is she? After contact with a drug dealer, she starts to experience terrifying visions that only she can see – of a dead smile frozen on the faces of strangers that threaten her to various degrees. She has become the host to an entity that will not stop…
The Verdict: In the search for a new, original idea for a horror film it can always be relied upon to lean on and then mine past success from other filmmakers. Such was the case for Smile, a supernatural horror that was intended for streaming but was effective enough to justify a theatrical release. It mashed together superior horrors Ringu and It Follows and then added its own flavour of the month with an infectious but killer smile. It was mildly diverting pre-Hallowe’en entertainment, but not exactly boundary-pushing. It now appears that returning writer/director Parker Finn was just warming up and then unsettling audiences for the real deal: Smile 2. The smile is back and causing bloody mayhem once more, but with higher stakes and constantly escalating mayhem to seal the deal as possibly the key horror film for this Hallowe’en.
Where did it all go right this time around? This isn’t the norm in the horror cycle, where sequels comfortably surpass their predecessor and mark out their own territory with bloody hands. It’s more a case of same-old, same-old for predictable, bottom-of-the-barrel horror sequels like Terrifier 3. Smile 2 on the other hand does what a good horror sequel should do: build upon what came before, deliver the required scares with gusto and then push further into its own mythology to figure out what the hell is going on… but still leave a few question marks for good measure. That does seem to be Finn’s purpose here, to take the admittedly derivative chain curse concept and then flesh it out further while having lots of fleshy gore dropping in (and dropping off) when required. Enough of the diet horror films. Finn is going full-strength horror here, with some choice gory moments and a stand-out encounter with multiple ‘smilers’ that suggests a multi-limbed, spider-like entity. It’s freaky stuff, but well executed – and it gets even freakier in the last few minutes.
Moving the story and the ‘infection’ to a celebrity who is already walking on eggshells is a clever concept. The intense trappings of fame and the constant pressure from managers, publicists and the fans are enough to drive anyone over the edge. If the serial killer in Trap had turned out to be the pop star sensation then this is how it might look (now why didn’t M. Night Shyamalan think of that?). That’s where we find lead character Skye for most of the film – just teetering on the very edge of madness, only requiring a light push to send her spiralling. Hats off then to Naomi Scott, who delivers a performance so emotionally raw and committed that you have to wonder about her own sanity by the end of the film. Let’s hope that she left Skye behind in the dressing room. Scott runs the gamut of emotions: from joy to anger, frustration to fear, terror to horror at the actions of others and then her own too. That’s the kind of range she didn’t get to display in Aladdin and the forgettable Charlie’s Angels reboot. If she’s curious about becoming the next scream queen, then it’s hers for the taking.
Finn works in a sly vein of humour throughout the film too, particularly with the casting of Ray Nicholson who channels the Kubrickian stare of his father Jack – a nice touch. There are also the occasional rug pulls and even outlandish dream sequences which question reality and what we’re seeing. It’s fun watching what unfolds and wondering if what is presented is real or not. That unpredictability to the narrative and hard horror approach towards presenting the entity and its actions sets the film apart from its predecessor. Sure, it’s derivative of other films and doesn’t always work or follow through on some of the supporting characters and their arcs. When it does work, Smile 2 works well enough with its well-placed scares, unhinged performance from Scott and wink-wink humour. There’s room here for one more film perhaps, should audiences be left smiling / grinning on the way out of the cinema – which they should. Smiles all round then.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Review by Gareth O’Connor
Starring Naomi Scott, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, Rosemarie DeWitt, Drew Barrymore.