The sound design booms and rattles, the delusions are even more elaborate, and the body horror is even bloodier and more disturbing.
Say cheese! This October, there’s something to beam about, which is a horror sequel that eclipses its predecessor. That’s right, “Smile 2,” the follow-up to the surprising 2022 hit “Smile” is bigger, gorier and even more bonkers than the first film, and it even has something interesting to say through those gritted-teeth grins.
After writer/director Parker Finn skewered the horror movie trauma trend in “Smile,” he’s moved on to bigger and better metaphors in his sequel. He also takes the devilishly stupid/smart “smile demon” device and blows it up to a much bigger scale. Instead of a therapist catching an infectious strain of PTSD from a patient, now, a mega-famous pop star, Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) struggling with her own personal issues, catches the bug from her drug dealer Lewis (Lukas Gage), the unhappy recipient from the last film’s last host, transferred in a bravura one-take opening sequence.
In transplanting this device to a hyper-visible performer, it affords Finn the chance to play on a bigger stage, producing stylized musical numbers, backstage antics, public meltdowns, fan frenzy and private anguish in Skye’s luxury gilded cage. He reunites his creative team from “Smile,” including cinematographer Charlie Sarroff, editor Elliot Greenberg and composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer, and with the success of the last film under their belts, they’re unleashed to make something even crazier.
