The Scariest Horror Movie Of The Year Is Finally Streaming
Break a leg out there.
Fame is a monster in more ways than one. That’s a fact that most can reasonably agree on, especially in the age of social media and parasocial standom. And while a handful of backstage documentaries and dramas have explored the true misery of pop stardom, it took something like Smile 2 to bring a supernatural bent to the whole ordeal.
The sequel to Parker Finn’s 2022 feature debut is, in many ways, a much bigger film. That it follows a disgraced starlet as she struggles to survive a demonic parasite and gear up for a worldwide comeback is just one example of its scope. But Finn also delivers a follow-up that’s crueler, glossier, and even funnier than its predecessor, with a relentless narrative supplemented by twisty, off-kilter visuals and camera work that samples from the best parts of “elevated horror.” Barring Neon’s excellent Longlegs, Smile 2 may be the best — and most terrifying — horror of the year. It didn’t perform quite as well as the original in theaters, but there’s still a chance to give the film some love as it finds a new home on Paramount+.
The rules of the Smile franchise are pretty straightforward, particularly for those familiar with horror films like The Ring, It Follows, or Drag Me to Hell. The entity that travels from host to host is not unlike the curses in those films: once one sees an eery smile, or witnesses a traumatic suicide, they have just seven days to pass it on or perish in a similar fashion. As their window shrinks, their grip on reality begins to slip, manifesting in hallucinations of smiling, slobbering figures prone to acts of self-harm.
Smile 2 picks up six days after its predecessor, following the last victim’s effort to save himself before he’s driven mad by visions of dead bodies and the grinning demon pulling all the strings. Joel (Kyle Gallner) does succeed in riding himself of the curse, passing it on to a small-time drug dealer named Lewis (Lukas Gage). But this entity is nothing if not ambitious, and it’s only a matter of time before it latches itself onto Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), the pop star who watches Lewis smash his head in with an iron weight a week later.
Through Skye, Smile 2 takes on a tale that goes beyond its predecessor’s exploration of trauma and unresolved guilt. The thing about this curse is that it feeds on ones insecurities, and seems to favor those who already wallow in self-hatred. Skye might just be its perfect target: a recovering addict still reeling from a car accident that claimed her boyfriend’s life and left her severely injured, Skye is caught in the throes of a very public recovery tour. It’s been a year since she fell from the spotlight, and it’s clear she needs more time to heal and to pick up the pieces of her old life, as she was already battling diva allegations before details of her drug abuse came to light. But by the urging of her momager (Rosemarie DeWitt) and her record company, Skye is forced to put on a smile and perform, appearing demure and contrite on talk shows, signing autographs for creepy fans, and learning rigorous choreography for her new world tour.
In Smile 2, Scott stretches the limits of pop stardom and sanity.
The demands on Skye’s life are already clear enough before demonic possession, but once the curse takes hold, her downward spiral starts anew. Finn relishes in the opportunities to show what a reality-warping curse can do to someone so entrenched in the public eye, and Scott throws herself headfirst into every new twist, however cringe-worthy. The actor is in impeccable form here, delivering every snarl, scream, and sob with gonzo commitment. While so many of Skye’s predicaments are genuinely amusing — like the moment she hallucinates a group of grinning backup dancers camped out in her apartment — there are just as many moments designed to serve as nightmare fuel.
It’s in exploring the connection between fame, mental illness, and possessive fans that Smile 2 shines the brightest, but its take on addiction and the illusion of control is suitably chilling too. Scott holds it all in place with aplomb: even when the film tests its limits (at 127 minutes, it’s prone to some pacing issues), it’s worth it just to see how Skye fights her way through. In a few years, Smile 2 could belong in the horror hall of fame alongside films like Possession and Black Swan. It’s a relentless, brittle, and brutally-funny splice of psychological and supernatural horror, and with Scott center stage, it’s anything but predictable.
