The Paramount Pictures horror film “Smile 2,” was released Oct. 18, as a sequel to the first film released in 2022.
With a $28 million budget, the film includes impressive computer generated imagery (CGI) and elaborate prosthetic makeup to create a realistic and horrifying viewing experience. The film brought in a box office earning of $23 million in only three days, and is estimated to make around $25 million overall.
The movie follows Naomi Scott, who plays Skye Riley, a global pop star who experiences terrifying events as she gets cursed by the “smile entity.” Like in the first film, the curse is spread to people as they witness others get taken over by the entity, causing them to have the urge to kill themselves.
The film begins as Riley returns to her concert after recovering from substance abuse and a tragic car crash that had killed her husband, Paul Hudson, who is played by Ray Nicholson. In addition to already facing the pressures of returning to tour, she has tensions with her mother, Elizabeth Riley, played by Rosemarie Dewitt and her assistant, Joshua, played by Miles Guiterrez.
After meeting with a friend from high school, Lewis Fregoli, played by Lukas Gage, she develops the curse and loses her sense of reality.The film then continues to follow her over the course of four days, where her hallucinations cause her to confuse actual events with her imagination.
Director Parker Finn left ambiguity at the end of both films leaving him creative space for possible sequels. While Finn hasn’t announced official plans to create a third film for the franchise, his enthusiasm and success of the series leaves many expecting another.
“Smile 2” received a Rotten Tomatoes score of 84% and a 4.2 out of 5 rating on the Popcornmeter, along with written reviews from top critics. Eddie Harrison, a top critic from Film Authority, described it as an alarming and distressing horror film that achieved the goal of being brutally horrifying.
However, some critics were not as impressed, like Sean Collier from Pittsburgh Magazine, who said that the movie included unmotivated sound design that distracted from the plot, making the film not scary, just irritating and overall unenjoyable. The audience members disagreed, thinking that the sequel reached new levels of twisted, with many saying that this film was far more engaging and riveting than the first one. Several viewers were spirited by Naomi Scott’s performance, and said that her acting abilities shined through in the film, making it a truly chilling and daunting experience of psychological horror.
As the movie continues to earn more success like the first, many fans excitedly wait for a potential third part to the sequel.
