SMILE 2 (2024) is that rarest of beasts: a horror movie sequel that's actually better than the original

Naomi Scott's scorching performance, and Parker Finn's exponentially increased confidence as director, together produces an absolute banger horror thrill ride.

- “I wish you could feel what it's like having to live inside my head.”
- “ł'VɆ ₮₳₴₮ɆĐ ₩Ⱨ₳₮'₴ ł₦₴łĐɆ ɎØɄⱤ ⱧɆ₳Đ.”

If I had to sum the film up in a single line, my overarching thought would be:

Basically, Smile 2 is like Brady Corbet's Vox Lux, but better.

Improving in every way upon the already solid foundations he laid in his first film, writer/director Parker Finn uses the opportunity presented by Smile 2 to assert his noticeably more confident progression in his filmmaking craft.

More visually audacious in its creatively dynamic camerawork. More outrageously bonkers in scope and ambition. More tonally consistent in its fluctuations from addiction drama, to gory horror, all the while an intentional seam of fun campiness always straddles the line between the comedically absurd, and the horrifically nightmarish (like, for example, that one Climax-esque sequence in the apartment, which prompted interchangeable jolts of laughter and fright among the audience I was with). More adept at conveying its themes of being About Trauma And Mental Health, without the heavy-handedness that the first Smile fell victim to as it hewed closer to a flawed attempt at “elevated horror”, as opposed to Smile 2 finding a sweet spot that encompasses its aims as both popcorn horror crowd-pleaser, and resonant character study using the genre to impart adroit social commentary.

As any sequel worth its salt should be, Smile 2 is more more more in every department, in all the best ways, delivering a follow-up that shows Finn is no one-trick pony, and that the Smile universe still has new corners to reach. Especially with that jaw-droppingly awesome ending, which counteracts the sour taste that could've been left behind by the narrative cheats it took to get there, by then giving us the kind of electrifying conclusion that makes the prospect of a Smile 3 terrifically tantalising to imagine.

This burgeoning franchise may not be headed in the kind of weird, esoteric directions I envisioned when I wrote about the first Smile - (though this second film's throwaway use of the word “cosmic”, as a possible descriptor for the mysterious origins of The Monstrosity, does give the lore some leeway for potential future sojourns into full-on cosmic horror, which I personally would adore) - but if Parker Finn does make a third film, and he sticks the landing on the gargantuan ramifications wrought by the second film's finale, then that's a direction I will be more than happy to follow him down.

Also, Naomi Scott is sensational as Skye Riley, in the kind of star-making performance that gives her every morsel of film to devour in a way she never got to do in 2017's Power Rangers, nor 2019's Aladdin and Charlie's Angels.

And I would be remiss if I didn't make mention of how the score from one of my favourite composers, the returning Cristobal Tapia De Veer, is an aural assault on the senses that's even more batshit crazy and utterly terrifying than his demonic work on the previous Smile, and even if the rest of the film itself wasn't good, Cristo's soundtrack - plus the original songs written for the film that are performed in character by Scott! - would be worth the price of admission alone.

Now, seeing as writing all this has worked up quite a thirst, do you know where I could get my hands on some Voss water...?

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Rating: ★★★★

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