The horrific saga Smile now has a second chapter that is more brutal, bloodier and more disturbing – in short, in a word, better – than the previous one. A few days before Halloween, horror fans are being offered on a silver platter a good reason to… smile.
Surprise success of 2022, the first Smile – or Smilein its original version – arrived on our screens at the end of a viral and, some would say, particularly aggressive promotional campaign.
Its premise? A strange supernatural parasite stalks its targets in a very strange way. Once they are transformed into hosts, they fall prey to powerful hallucinations. These result in horrifying visions of faces distorted by a mournful grin, pushing the infected person to slowly sink into violent madness (think of Circlebut without the damned videocassette).
More ambition
For this second part, on display since Friday, Parker Finn takes back control of his concept, but with renewed and, above all, increased ambitions. And it shows from the first minutes: the filmmaker does not intend to laugh, redoubling his efforts – read here violence and hemoglobin – to terrorize moviegoers.
Picking up the plot where it left off two years ago, it once again follows this insidious parasite as he sets his sights on Skye Riley, a pop star regaining the reins of her career after taming demons of his past. At the dawn of a world tour, the singer will have to try to find a way out of this supernatural evil, failing which she will suffer the same fate as the previous hosts.
Fabulous Naomi Scott
And Smile 2 works so well, it’s thanks to the performance of Naomi Scott, perfectly invested in the role of a pop star with a troubled past. The British actress takes this character head on, letting herself go to give him all the intensity he demands.
Filmmaker Parker Finn, for his part, shows an exceptional mastery of the codes of the genre, keeping moviegoers on the edge of their seats – despite a few lengths – during the approximately 130 minutes of Smile 2. However, he loses control in the last act, letting his hitherto exceptional work slide towards a grand-guignolesque and, yes, laughable finale.
Nevertheless, Smile 2 remains an effective horror film that will satisfy fans of the genre. They will emerge from the dark rooms exhilarated, full… and with a smile on their lips.
Smile 2 ✭✭✭ 1/2
A Parker Finn film. With Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt and Miles Guttierez-Riley. On display.
