Going into the theater, all I knew about “Smile” were the cringy, creepy smiles the characters make when possessed. It’s not known for being too scary, so I wasn’t worried.
After the two hours and 12 minutes that made up “Smile 2,” I vowed to never see a horror movie in theaters again.
I was in no way prepared to see the sheer amount of bloody gore and jump scares. I’m going to be honest: once I realized this movie would be nothing like the first, I permanently had my hands over my ears and was readily available to close my eyes.
The movie stars Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), a troubled pop star who a year ago got into a horrible accident that took the life of her boyfriend Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson). Struggling to stay sober after intense substance abuse while dealing with grief, Skye is also handling the stress of preparing for her comeback tour.
Skye turns to an old high school classmate, Lewis Fregoli (Lukas Gage), looking for drugs to relieve old pains from the crash but has a run-in with the smiley demon. Possessed by the entity, Skye witnesses a horrible, gruesome “suicide” where Fregoli smashes his face in repeatedly with a weight plate right in front of her.
The demon attaches to those who have tragic pasts, something to manipulate and control before moving on to another victim. It’s an entity, a parasite that subjects its victims to psychological torture for seven days before forcing them to kill themselves in front of another person to latch onto a new host.
The demon survives through lines of people. Throughout the movie, I kept thinking about how to kill this thing; it seemed never-ending.
Skye becomes the next victim and experiences the horrors of the monster; she becomes an unreliable protagonist. She deals with this haunted entity, often taking the form of her overzealous fans. But on the outside, it just looks like a substance abuse relapse.
This movie ties in the pressures of being a public figure, performing and smiling through the pain when so many people depend on you for your talent.
Skye misconstrues reality and perceives hallucinations as genuine events. The audience can’t trust anything happening on screen, making the movie unpredictable and all the more terrifying.
After Fregoli’s death, Skye receives texts from a mysterious number who seemingly knows what she’s going through and sends her a location pin to meet up. Being the only person who validates her pain, Skye decides to take a chance.
The mysterious number came from Morris, who explains his brother was tortured by the same monster and eventually killed. We learn that the only way to escape the smiling demon is to temporarily kill the current host, depriving the monster of another host to latch on to.
However, it’s never confirmed whether he’s real. He could have just been a hallucination created to generate a false sense of hope and control so the demon could scare Skye even more.
Scott’s performance as Skye was incredible. She made the movie with her range and embodied all of the internal anguish and trauma of a torturous downward spiral. She threw her all into this role with horrible screams and unhinged contortions.
Skye slaps her face to try and convince herself that it’s all in her head and chugs water to feel some control when craving drugs. She even periodically pulls her hair out in clumps to get some grip on reality and we see her fall farther and farther into the demon’s power.
The longer this movie went on, the more I lost hope that Skye would survive this.
The final straw of Skye’s succumbing was facing the smiley demon in the last scene. Skye is on stage facing a reflection of herself, the demon wearing her skin. Her jaw cracks open to smile as her scar from the car crash that runs across her abdomen is ripped open and a bloody monster emerges from her body onstage.
While the audience can’t see what’s really happening, they see Skye collapse on stage.
Skye stands up after a few moments after choking on the floor and faces the crowd with a creepy smile. The camera pans to the crowd as they watch Skye mutilate herself onstage and moviegoers are forced to listen to the crunch of a microphone being shoved in her eye.
Paving the way for a third movie, the demon could latch on to anyone. This storyline keeps the creature’s origin mysterious and leaves room for future horror.
Honestly, this movie is one of the best horrors of the year. I just won’t be around to see the next one.
