Smile 2 (2024)

Preceded by: Smile (2022)

	Directed by: Parker Finn	COUNTRY USA Genre Horror NORWEGIAN TITLE Smile RUNNING TIME 127 minutes
	Produced by: Marty Bowen Wyck Godfrey Isaac Klausner Parker Finn Robert Salerno
	Written by: Parker Finn

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Skye Riley	Naomi Scott	½
Elizabeth Riley	Rosemarie DeWitt
Lewis	Lukas Gage
Joshua	Miles Gutierrez-Riley	½
Morris	Peter Jacobson
Paul Hudson	Ray Nicholson	-
Gemma	Dylan Gelula
Darius	Raúl Castillo	-
Joel	Kyle Gallner	-
Drew	Drew Barrymore	-

Review

A remarkably driven lead performance by Naomi Scott is the nucleus of this sequel to the freshly effective 2018 horror film Smile. She plays Skye, a world-famous singer whom creator Parker Finn subjects to more relentless terror and gruesomeness than I can remember seeing in this genre for a while. As with most horror sequels, the ante is upped, though Smile 2 takes a while revealing its excessiveness. The first half is filled with nerve-racking sights and apparitions, as we are thrown into the cursed downward spiral with the successful, self-absorbed artist. One of Finn's small geniuses with this fast-becoming franchise is that his core premise gives him carte blanche for jump scares. He's a clever writer, and fairly creative too, which is arguably hard to be in this saturated genre. Unfortunately, he goes completely overboard in the film's final fifteen minutes or so, laying on too much and cheating the audience one too many times. Expect another sequel shortly; this has become all business now.