by Nick Nitkowski

I remember watching the first “Smile” movie back in 2022 and while I felt that it was a good concept with genuinely unsettling images, I thought that the ending of the film could have been done a lot better. In fact, as I left, I immediately thought of a better ending that could have also led to a potential sequel. Now, here we are two years later with “Smile 2” and from the looks of the trailer, it seemed to be separate from the first movie following a completely different character that wasn’t featured in the first film. Interesting choice, but I went into this movie cautiously optimistic and asked myself if this horror sequel could in fact leave me smiling. So how is “Smile 2”?

Surprisingly, “Smile 2” was a lot better than I expected. I might even go so far as to say that I liked it better than the first “Smile”. “Smile 2”, as I mentioned earlier, focuses on a new character that wasn’t featured in the first film. This time our main focus is on a widely beloved pop star named Skye Riley, played by Naomi Scott, recovering from a dark past and comes face to smiling face with the dark entity that thrives on tormenting its victims after she sees an old friend inexplicably kill himself. 

One of the things I liked most about this movie is that even though it is slightly longer than the first film, clocking in at around 2 hours and 12 minutes while the first one was slightly under the two-hour mark, I thought this one was much better paced than the first. And since this film focuses on the life of a pop star, I can honestly say that this one was a lot more vibrant and colorful than the first one which presented a lot of dull and muted colors.

Of course, with this being a horror movie, there are a lot of jump scares. I’m personally not the biggest fan of jump scares. Mainly because 9 times out of 10, they are very ineffective and you can see them coming a mile away. But with “Smile 2”, while not all of the jump scares worked, there were a few that were actually very cleverly done that I didn’t see coming nor could I have predicted. So, I applaud this movie for having cleverly placed jump scares instead of just having them for the sake of a cheap scare. I remember the first “Smile” having a few cleverly placed jump scares as well, but I think these were done a little bit better.

Naomi Scott is the main focus of the film. Therefore, the movie pretty much rests entirely on her shoulders and I thought she was great in the film. I thought her reactions towards all the scary WTF moments were genuine. As the film progresses, you really do believe that her mental stability is deteriorating and this is all stemming from her great acting performance. She really carried this film and did a great job doing so.

The movie is also pretty graphic when it comes to horror violence. While it may not quite be on the “Terrifier” level, some of them were actually pretty effective. At first, I thought the weight to the face scene that was shown in the trailer was kind of dumb until I saw it play out on the big screen. While I’m mostly desensitized to movie violence, horror, or otherwise, there were still a few moments in here that widened my eyes. So, there’s plenty in here to make even the less squeamish of horror fans wince.

Overall, I enjoyed watching “Smile 2”. Any horror fan is sure to have a great time watching this film as well. The first film is not one that I watch on the regular. But when it comes to the sequel, it was a lot better than I expected it to be with a great performance from its lead actress and a lot of unsettling moments with an ending that I thought was way better than the first film’s ending. I can easily see myself watching this one again. Any horror fan going into “Smile 2” is sure to get what they come for and leave the theater satisfied with a nice big Smile.

4.5 /5 stars