October Movie Pick: 'Smile 2'

You should stop smiling at me, it is disturbing! But what about the movie? I loved it. I saw it late yesterday, and I am still thinking about it. In fact, I almost didn't sleep because I was alone, super scared, with my dog, who I believe is Gen Z—very sensitive, loud, and needs protection. So, I had some time to think about it, and some of the sequences will stay with me to haunt me probably forever. The first movie was very good; I remember going to see it, and after it ended, my friend stood up and did the smile at me in the movie theater. I almost hit him, cursing him not to do it ever again. I did it to him when we got back home that same night, and I am waiting for him to come back from his Saturday fiasco to remind him how I feel about him repeating that tradition yesterday.

I understand when some of you say that this movie wasn’t it, because of the raw gore, creepy images, and the hundreds of jump scares throughout the movie, but for me, this was the best horror movie experience since the first IT (the recent remake). There were multiple moments where I couldn’t look up, but the movie had me covered. There were the jump scares you knew were coming, but for me, there were those that appeared without any notice.

Spoilers

The movie follows the story of the truly carved-out pop star Riley, with kick-ass music and some dancing sequences that made this ride stand out from the crowd of horrors and its prequel. Smile excited me, but the sequel exceeded expectations and provided some of the best acting, on par with Toni Collette in Hereditary. Naomi Scott is incredible in this role—she’s able to express every emotion on the spectrum in a brilliant way that makes you connect with the character of Riley. Absolutely unrecognizable from her previous experience in Aladdin and Charlie’s Angels, she commits fully to this role, making it seem complex and well-realized. Her presence pulls you into a roller coaster of emotions written on her face. She is so beautiful, and it is hard to remain beautiful in the situations she’s put through, but she does it. And the things she is going through—oh lord, have mercy. This time around, the demon goes extra on the victim, for fun, and you feel the viciousness that comes out of that entity. The director was able to outdo his prequel, expanding the lore and his world, giving the evil even more evil. I felt sad for Riley—this demon put her through everything, completely destroying her in every sense possible. The constant attacks, leaving her tired, paranoid, and unable to differentiate, were brutal. From the beginning, this movie stands out with a prologue that connects the first part and the information you got from the trailer with the rest of the movie. The one thing that got me worried for a second was Drew Barrymore’s appearance as herself. From a PR point of view, you'd definitely go to her if your client lived through such a year, but she seemed like she was playing herself, which looked weird—almost too extra, too meta. Did it help Riley’s character seem more real? Probably, so I’ll let this one go.

Here we meet Lukas Cage, whom I sympathize with from that horrible interview with that rich director who commented on his tiny apartment, destroying his career because he didn’t use mute when he was speaking. Remember that prick? Another one bites the dust. Anyway, after seeing him in The White Lotus and Road House, his career is picking up some speed, but here he sucks you in with his intense performance as a drug dealer on drugs, attacked by a demon. You know what I’m talking about. The sound effects throughout the movie, and the way they chose to show the violence and creepiness, are so innovative that it elevates the so-called cheap jump scares.

And what a week Miles Gutierrez-Riley is having, showing up in Agatha All Along and Smile 2, one-two punching his career into the general public’s mind. And the son of Jack Nicholson? Such a small role, but so well handled and played, that it gave me the creeps. When he was in the car with half his face off, or when he was walking toward Riley in the crowd, it reminded me of the lady that got knocked out from the stage. This movie didn’t need to go so hard, but boy, that scene was so camp, but at the same time thrilling and serious, signaling in my mind about mental health and how important it is.

The demon, using trauma and jumping from host to host, serves as a chilling commentary on the real impact of intense negative experiences and how they can spread, potentially destroying not only your life but also the lives of those around you. When the demon dropped the facade and revealed how much was real and how much was just in her mind, the meta-commentary reached another level. In Riley's mind, she hurt the people around her, making her the killer of her own mother in a brutally realistic way—where at first it seemed like suicide, but it later becomes clear that she lost consciousness and time. During one of her episodes under the demonic influence of the Smiler, just like in real life, the trauma damages Riley, causing her to forget moments and memories or even entire passages of time, while experiencing gruesome attacks.

"So much heat for the ones we love," sings Kate Bush, expressing exactly what the movie says. Trauma, substance abuse, pain—those things become shared in the circle you are in and affect everyone around you, and the demon uses its powers to what I would say is full potential. But you never know what’s coming up in the next chapter or how creative the team will get. Like a predator that plays with its victim before it consumes it—for fun, or because fear makes the taste sweeter—trauma plays with our minds until it does what the creature did when it destroyed poor Riley and devoures our existence. I knew the mother would be part of the game, but I appreciated keeping her for the end, creating this tension and expectation around her.

I have to admit, writing this got me scared all over again—this movie is something else. Everyone involved did an incredible job. The crowd that chased Riley in her apartment, changing their positions in the creepiest way, gives me chills right now. It was shockingly well played. It never switched to cringe, not for a moment, which could have easily happened when you add those interpretive dance scenes.

And the final scene—I know it went on for some time. Even I was thinking, “how long is this movie?” But the movie never dropped in quality in the way it scared me, so even though it felt a bit long, I was enjoying it. The finale felt like the real demon showed its face, and it did, like in the first movie, I believe. But the movie felt like it was ending numerous times—some of which Riley was winning—only for another twist to appear and completely torment the character. Her backstory was a nice touch, scarily familiar to the point that I felt lucky I went through a similar situation without the movie’s outcome. Everyone has some trauma, but the film points out the seriousness and the impact of it. When Riley spoke about that one thing we all thought—that success will immediately clear the air—but in fact, it makes things harder, making you more responsible, with a bigger pile of shit on top of the same problems and trauma you had before you achieved it. And that ending—oh boy—the way the crowd reacted to what was happening, the painful outcome of the finalized possession, serving as an allegory for the destructive effects of trauma. I love horror. Maybe I should check out the first one one more time. The last time I saw it was when it came out, and it was so terrifying that I never thought I'd go through it again, but here we are.

Morris, played by Peter Jacobson, kept me guessing right until Riley met him at Pizza Hut. The revelation that Morris was part of the demon’s game made me think back to the beginning of the movie, when Joel got hit by a car—the cop who helped Rose in the first film. I realized it was him after rewatching the first one a few hours ago. At the beginning of the second movie, he saw a burning human while walking to that house. This was a hallucination of Rose. And when he jumped from the window and tried to escape, that moment was the clue: the demon jumps to another person if they witness death, not just if it smiles at you. Killing yourself won’t break the curse. After revisiting the first film, it became clear that you have to kill someone else—like the guy in jail who got away with murder. It’s some sort of sacrifice, which makes sense when dealing with a demon. There’s no easy way out. But Joel killed someone at the beginning of the movie—does it have to be intentional, as a sacrifice? Or was the car that killed him just the tip of the iceberg, occurring right as he tried to escape? Maybe there’s something to the theory that Morris had, and the demon escaped right before the car hit Joel. But why would the demon allow such crucial information to slip out? And if that’s true, it suggests the demon might protect your physical body until it finishes its task, ensuring its own survival.

Despite the fact that the first movie holds up really well, even after seeing the sequel yesterday (which, in my opinion, is elevated in every sense), I immediately forgot the names of the main characters. However, Riley stood out—she was so well fleshed out and raw that I connected with her as if she were a real person. I don’t think there were any moments where the spell of both movies broke and pulled me out of the story. Even when I glanced at the seat in front of me, looked down at my shoes, or covered my face to avoid the obvious jump scares and grotesque images—or today, when I did the same at home while rewatching the first one—it never felt like 'just a movie'.

The experience and the story hold onto you, and I wonder if it did further damage to my existence, like the trauma it portrays.

Iliya Badev