Smile 2 (2024) | Review

Remember 2022’s Smile, that delightful romp through trauma and dental hygiene gone wrong? Well, writer-director Parker Finn decided to double down on the madness, serving up a second helping of grin-induced grimness that’ll make you think twice about your next dentist appointment. The premise of the Smile movies is that a host-hopping demon is a big fan of horror movies like It Follows and The Hidden.

Smile 2’s story picks up six days after the events of the first film, because apparently, evil doesn’t believe in taking weekends off. We’re introduced to Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), a pop diva whose career trajectory is about as stable as a Jenga tower in an earthquake following an awful car accident that killed her fiancé, Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson, who has his dad Jack’s sinister smile from The Shining down-pat). Skye is basically what you’d get if Lady Gaga and a haunted house had a love child.

During a sit-down on “The Drew Barrymore Show” (the Scream cameo star portrays herself), it’s noted that this is the first interview that Skye has done since she was in the wreck, which left her broken both physically and emotionally. Later that night, Skye witnesses her high school classmate turned drug dealer, Lewis (Lukas Gage), perform an impromptu face remodeling that would make Leatherface wince. And just like that, our pop princess becomes the latest contestant on “Who Wants to Be Possessed by a Demon?”

Scott’s look is clearly modeled on Edie Sedgewick, and her performance is positively praiseworthy—this girl delivers a tour de force that’s more intense than a midnight screening of The Exorcist at a Catholic school. Scott’s portrayal of Skye’s descent into madness is so convincing, I half expected her to start levitating during the press junket. In fact, her portrayal of a woman off the rails is reminiscent of another female-driven horror flick that’s been turning heads—The Substance. Much like Demi Moore in that trippy terror-fest, Scott manages to make us feel every ounce of Skye’s fear, confusion, and growing realization that maybe, just maybe, an exorcism might be a good career move. While Smile 2 and The Substance are not the same plot-wise, there are threads of fame, and the fear of losing it, that run through both.

Supporting Skye on her journey through hell (now with 100% more smiling!) is a cadre of colorful characters. This really is a cast to die for (and some of them do). We’ve got the caring yet ambitious mother/manager (Rosemarie DeWitt), because nothing says “I love you” like monetizing your child’s trauma; there’s the sardonic best friend Gemma (Dylan Gelula), whose wit is sharper than Freddy Krueger’s fingernails; and let’s not forget the loyal puppy-dog of a personal assistant Joshua (Miles Gutierrez-Riley), who probably deserves hazard pay for this gig (or at least a lifetime supply of bottled water).

Finn proves he’s not just a one-hit wonder with a fetish for dental hygiene. This time, he’s pulled out all the stops, creating dazzling set pieces, intricate dance numbers that give the term “break a leg” a whole new meaning, and moments of breath-stopping suspense. One scene involving a crowd of dancers moving as one throbbing mound of grabby hands and smiling countenances is so unsettling that it would give Bob Fosse night terrors.

One of the unexpected delights of Smile 2 is its peek behind the curtain of the music industry. It turns out that dealing with demonic possession isn’t that different from dealing with record executives. The concert scenes are so realistic, you’ll be checking your ticket stub to make sure you didn’t accidentally wander into a real pop concert (pro tip: if everyone’s smiling maniacally, you’re still in the movie).

Now, it wouldn’t be a proper review without a little constructive criticism. There are moments when the movie hammers home Skye’s hallucinations with all the subtlety of Art the Clown at a chainsaw store. And there’s one unfortunate CGI “monster” that looks like it escaped from the cutting room floor of Alien: Romulus and found its way here.

Smile 2 is the rare sequel that doesn’t just meet expectations—it’s a roller coaster of horror, humor, and pop music that’ll leave you grinning from ear to ear… whether you want to or not.