The sequel to the original Smile movie, Smile 2, was released on October 18, 2024. Walking into the theater, I had never seen the first movie but had heard before that it was a decent horror and thriller film.
During the first scene, I didn’t know what was going on and I got a little confused. Everything happened so fast; as we followed Joel, he was seen trying to escape these smiling people he saw. He ends up running on the road and gets hit by a truck passing by. Following that scene, the storyline became more interesting and easier to understand. I found myself multiple times getting jump-scared and feeling on edge.
The movie follows Skye Riley, a sensational pop singer preparing to go on tour. A few days before her initial show, she pays a visit to her friend Lewis’ house. He acts completely different from how he normally does and ends up getting possessed. He starts smiling and smashing his face with a weight, committing suicide.
For whatever reason, Skye doesn’t call the police, likely due to experiencing adrenaline. After his death, Skye starts to encounter horrifying and unexplainable events in her life. For example, she starts to see several people in her house randomly smiling like Lewis was and they begin to chase her.
She eventually contacts one of her previous close friends, Gemma, and explains everything that is going on with her. She also tries to talk to her mom and tries to explain what is happening to her, but she doesn’t believe her.
Skye then meets up with a mysterious man named Morris who explains that he knows what is happening to her. He says that his brother died the same way Lewis did, and he lives with the regret that he couldn’t help his brother. He tells Skye that it is some form of evil spirit cursing others, making their victims see smiling people to feed off their fear and eventually the entity drives them so mad that it makes the person kill themselves. Whenever someone dies by this curse, there is an observer who watches it, and the curse gets passed down to the witness. He believes that this curse could be broken by stopping Skye’s heart temporarily.
In the end, Morris tries this, but the spirit ends up getting the better of her. The spirit teleports her to the stage of her first show. Skye ends up getting possessed in front of thousands of fans who came to see her show. She ends up smashing the microphone against her head, ultimately killing herself.
My favorite part of this movie was probably the end. It was interesting because it had me wondering if all of the fans got cursed, or if only one was randomly chosen. The conclusion also had me wondering if there was any possibility for a third movie, or if the storyline could get extended.
I overall rate this movie a 9/10. There were some moments that I didn’t understand because I didn’t watch the first movie. However, it was a perfect movie that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I even got scared and jumped a few times.
I think I would have enjoyed the film more if I watched the first one, but overall, I loved the movie and I plan on watching the prequel soon.
