Smile 2 review — A disturbingly good smile

I would say that I’m a pretty big fan of the horror genre, both movies and television. I’ve watched the major slashers, the psychological thrillers, the mindwarping religious, and the campy low-budget cult classics, nothing on the face of the earth prepared me for Smile 2. Let’s discuss Smile 2 as well as the 4K/BluRay/Digital Combo from Paramount Pictures!

Smile 2 CAN be watched without watching Smile 1 However, the entire viewing experience of the movie changes depending on if you believe the relationship between the characters and the curse are fully psychological or if there is an actual monster to escape from. So, without spoiling Smile 1, if you choose to watch Smile 2 without it, I would suggest not reading a recap of the first movie and just enjoying the ride. I believe not knowing anything about Smile 1 would actually make Smile 2 more enjoyable for that reason. 

Overall, this movie was a disturbingly good time. It was actually the first horror movie I’ve ever watched that made me physically sick to my stomach after watching. I watched this movie with a close group of friends and we all had pretty different reactions, but the majority of us felt it was an extremely fun but disturbing time. 

(Trigger warning for physical mutilation)

The story follows Skye Riley, played by Naomi Scott, who is a pop-superstar with all of the fame and glory that comes along with that. When we meet her for the first time, we’re introduced to the fact that she is a recovering addict who seems to have been out of the spotlight for some time and is trying to win back her audience and show she’s changed. 

Her mother, an overly controlling manager, pressures her to be perceived a certain way in order to keep making that money from the merch, tour, sponsorships, etc. Meanwhile, Skye sees something that changes her life forever and passes the curse to her. This is when the gaslighting / questioning what is real or not really begins. 

As things begin to get worse for Skye, it becomes apparent that nobody believes what she’s saying and they believe that she’s using again. The number of conversations that simply end with someone not believing Skye when she clearly needs someone to help her sift through what’s happening to her is wild. 

Smile 2 could have been 20% less gore/disturbing image-filled and I would have absolutely adored it. However, some scenes were so disturbing that most of my friends didn’t watch and I had to tell them when it was over. As I mentioned, I’ve watched a lot of horror, and this was some of the most disturbing imagery I’ve ever seen. From hair being pulled straight out of the skull to broken bones to pealing skin to a nasty audio sound of smashing. The audio and visual teams should be commended as it made me fully sick to my stomach. 

This isn’t a knock on the final product by any means, but more a warning to expect some majorly disturbing moments. 

The best part of this entire movie is you never really know what is real or what isn’t from that point of the movie I mentioned earlier. Once that moment happens, it’s truly up to you the viewer as to what you believe. Is Skye cursed by some eldritch horror being or is she having a mental breakdown and causing these problems herself? 

My biggest issue with the movie is that it tries to toe the line of “is the being real” without taking into account the first movie. Basically, the character IN the movie doesn’t know one way or another, but WE the audience saw the first movie and have a pretty good idea on which side of this we believe. That does change the viewing experience for the audience. Hence, my suggestion that if you haven’t seen the first movie, you don’t have to in order to enjoy Smile 2. I might say you’ll enjoy it more if you haven’t. 

From a purely cinematic standpoint, this movie does a great job using those creepy 360 turn around moments where things do/do not change as the camera spins. I was always looking for things to change as the camera spun, which is one of my favorite horror tropes. I also really enjoyed the dance-aspects of the film from her first practice with her dancers, to the many moments it comes back in her moments of panic. You gather many different aspects to how her mind is working at that time and what she's in fear of at that specific moment. 

The 4K + Blu-Ray + Digital Code combo pack looks fabulous and has a ton of fun content including deleted and extended scenes, lore videos about Skye Riley, and commentary tracks! The combo pack has a great sleeve with the main title art of Sky with the painted / torn smile. Inside you'll have both the 4K disc, Blu-Ray disc, Digital Code card, and a coupon for the Paramount Shop.

Smile 2 is a fun, yet disturbing movie full of twists and turns of what is real and what is fiction. The ending has, what I believe to be, one of the greatest twists I’ve had the pleasure of watching. It was a wild ride from start to finish. The only reason I would rewatch this movie would be to track the moments I truly believe were real versus a hallucination. Watch at your own risk, this movie could change your outlook of specific smiles for the rest of your life. 

Smile 2 is available on 4K, BluRay, and Digital through Paramount Pictures.