By Todd Garbarini

Parker Finn is a director who made a short film called Laura Hasn’t Slept (2020), starring Caitlin Stasey and Lew Temple as her somnologist. It is the second short he made after his impressive and creepy The Hidebehind (2018), a nearly ten-minute now-you-see-me, now-you-don’t bit of computer trickery that will make you think twice about trekking solo in a forest. In Laura Hasn’t Slept, which runs under twelve minutes, Laura tells her therapist that she has a recurring nightmare wherein a frightening man is constantly smiling at her. While I appreciated the effort of this film and experienced no difficulty in determining the ending, the prospect of sitting through the theatrical version entitled Smile (2022) simply did not sit well with me. To my surprise, Smile is every bit as terrifying as its marketing campaign has professed. Like The Blair Witch Project (1999), Smile feels like the sort of film that would emotionally bifurcate the audience into those who love it and those who hate it (I am zealously ensconced in the first camp). In terms of genre tropes, the film’s most obvious cinematic antecedent is David Robert Mitchell’s superb It Follows (2014), and a nod to Smile’s title can be further traced back to the malevolent chauffeur, played with icy stillness by the late Anthony James, in Dan Curtis’s Burnt Offerings (1976). The basic premise of Smile concerns an evil entity that exists in a human being, or “host,” and survives by transferring itself from one victim to another, albeit invisibly, not unlike the monster in John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), by essentially “infecting” a new host through trauma, specifically when someone witnesses the horrific death of a previously infected person; this new witness then becomes the next target, perpetuating a cycle of terror and suicide.

Smile’s box office success, both critically and financially, virtually ensured a sequel. In many ways Smile 2, which was released on Friday, October 18, 2024, and was also written and directed by Parker Finn, reminds me of Jon Harris’s The Descent: Part 2 (2009), the pedestrian follow-up to Neil Marshall’s The Descent (2005), which was one of the most effective and most terrifying horror films of recent memory, in that the original and sequel are worlds apart in terms of their effectiveness. I wanted to love Smile 2 just as much as its superior original, however following two viewings of the film I have decided that it simply is not meant to be.

To follow Smile 2, it is imperative that the audience view the first film. The sequel begins six days after the ending of Smile. Joel (Kyle Gallner of 2022’s Scream remake), the ex-husband of Smile’s heroine, is now infected with the Smile Entity, and is desperate to pass it on to another person. In a bravura opening sequence that is nearly completed in one take, he attempts to pass the Smile Entity on by stabbing one drug dealer in front of a second dealer. Unfortunately, during the mayhem, Joel inadvertently kills the second dealer, which thwarts his plan. Lewis Fregoli (Lukas Gage of HBO’s The White Lotus), a drug addict, stumbles upon the action and “inherits” the Smile Entity instead. When Joel attempts to run from more dealers who arrive unexpectedly, he races from the house and is killed by a truck, his blood and entrails made to form a smile on the asphalt.

Skye Riley (Naomi Scott of Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin and Elizabeth Banks’s Charlie’s Angels, both from 2019) is a pop singer coming off the heels of a personal traumatic event. In an effort to stage a return to the spotlight following her substance abuse issues and car accident which killed her boyfriend Paul (Ray Nicholson of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza (2021)) as she embarks on her comeback tour, she revisits high school friend Lewis in need of drugs to calm her and unwittingly becomes the next victim of the Smile Entity as it is transferred from him to her. Skye’s life becomes a downward spiral into confusion, fright and madness as she begins to question the validity of everything before her eyes. A reconnection with her old friend Gemma (Dylan Gelula) has an unfortunate, if predictable, outcome. Her mother and personal manager Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt) suffers a horrible fate – but does she? The lines between fantasy and reality become blurred and we are left with more questions than answers – and an ending that left yours truly with an upside-down smile, indubitably paving the way for Smile 3.

If you have seen Smile, you have seen Smile 2. In the first film, I was actually convinced that these characters were possessed by the Smile Entity, which essentially sold the film. That conviction is somehow missing from the sequel. Why? I am unsure. Perhaps because we know what to expect now?

Watching Smile 2, I am reminded of Gene Siskel’s take on Richard Franklin’s 1983 film Psycho II (a film which I actually liked a lot at the time) which he referred to as a film that “does nothing extra than the original film did. What I like about sequels that are good…is that they take the characters into new places. This is basically a retread with sort of a wink at the audience…I don’t think it was anything special. We don’t need this movie.”

Smile 2 is now available on 4K UHD Blu-ray limited edition steelbook (which this review pertains to) and standard Blu-ray and both formats come in the same package from Paramount Home Video. I watched both discs on a 43” TLC television and the visual image differences are indecipherable to me. The 4K disc contains the director’s audio commentary wherein he describes the difficulties in mounting the film’s opening shot and the enthusiasm he felt in following up his successful original with even more crazy kills. The standard Blu-ray contains this also in addition to the following extras:

Ear to Ear runs 5:17 and is a brief look at the making of the film.

The Rise and Fall of Skye Riley runs 5:33 and features input from actress/singer Naomi Scott, director Finn, costume designer Alexis Forte, actress Rosemarie DeWitt and how they created a persona for the artificial Skye Riley.

Behind the Music runs 4:44 and interviews songwriter Alexis Idarose Kesselman and choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall on how they created the music, and dance moves that Skye sings and performs, respectively. These songs are very well done and the “mega pop star” persona is convincing.

A New Smile runs 5:37 and introduces us to production designer Lester Cohen and prosthetic makeup designer Jeremy Selenfriend who school us on the practical effects used to represent the Smile Entity.

Smiler: A New Monster runs 5:44 and provides comments from animatronics designer Zachary Teller Trevor Newlin, creator of “The Monstrosity,” and costume designer Alexis Forte.

Turn That Frown Upside Down runs 5:25 and features actor Lukas Gage as Lewis and prosthetic makeup designer Jeremy Selenfriend.

Show Me Your Teeth runs 5:11. This features Ray Nicholson (who is a spitting image of his father, Jack) as Paul and Charlie Sarroff, the director of photography, and the ingenious method that was devised to create the car crash sequence.

Deleted and Extended Scenes – this consists of three scenes that wisely runs 6:54

The package also includes a digital code for an additional viewing option.

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