The first trailer forSmile 2revealed more about the movie’s plot, including a change in the way the Smile Entity is approached that repeats the same trick as a horror movie from 21 years ago, and it’s not good. One of the biggest recent surprises in the horror genre isSmile, written and directed by Parker Finn, based on his 2020 short filmLaura Hasn’t Slept.Smilewas a surprise critical and commercial hit in 2022, and thanks to the mysteries left by it, it was quickly granted a sequel, simply titledSmile 2.
Smile 2follows Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), a famous pop singer preparing to go on a new world tour. Skye witnesses the death of an old acquaintance who carried the Smile Entity’s curse, thus passing it to her. Skye then begins to experience a series of increasingly disturbing and haunting events as the Smile Entity follows her everywhere and manifests in many ways and places.The first trailer forSmile 2gave a better idea of the plot but also made a big reveal that repeats the trick of a 2003 horror movie, and it’s not a good sign.
Smile 2 Is Repeating Final Destination 2’s “Cheat Death” Trick
Smile 2’s Trailer Revealed A Bit Too Much
Most things about the Smile Entity are a mystery, butSmilegave some key clues about it.The Entity feeds off the trauma of its carriers, and it causes hallucinationsto make them believe they can free themselves. It’s known that the carrier of the curse can avoid their death if they kill someone in front of another person in order to pass the trauma to them, and it’s theorized that the curse could be stopped if the carrier kills themselves in isolation, thus having no one to pass the curse on.
Smile 2is testing another theory, revealed in the trailer: the carrier of the curse has to kill themselves to break free, but they are brought back to life.
Unfortunately, when Rose tried to prove the latter, it turned out to be a hallucination provoked by the Smile Entity, and she killed herself in front of Joel.Smile 2is testing another theory, revealed in the trailer: the carrier of the curse has to kill themselves to break free, but they are brought back to life.If this solution sounds familiar it’s because it was used inFinal Destination 2back in 2003, but whether it worked or not is still debated.
InFinal Destination 2, the mysterious William Bludworth (Tony Scott) told Kim and Burke that only new life could defeat Death. After wrongly believing that meant the birth of the baby of one of the survivors,Kim later understood that it meant dying and coming back to life, so she let herself drown in the lake and be resurrected. Kim survivedFinal Destination 2, but a featurette on the DVD shows a newspaper clip reporting on her and Burke’s deaths, though it’s widely considered non-canon.
While dying and coming back is an interesting concept within the world ofSmile 2, it’s already bound to fail. As mentioned above, the Smile Entity causes hallucinations, andthe trailer implies that Skye will hallucinate dying and coming back, so this won’t be an effective way to break the curse.
Smile Risks Making The Biggest Mistake Of The Final Destination Series
Smile Needs To Learn From The Mistakes Of Others
The world ofSmilehas a lot of potential for a bigger expansion, but the inclusion of the “die and resurrect” theory inSmile 2risks repeatingFinal Destination’s biggest mistake.TheFinal Destinationsagakept changing Death’s rulesand the possible ways it could be cheated in every movie, making the saga messy and hard to follow.Smilecould end up making the same mistake if it expands with more sequels, changing the rules and ways the Smile Entity works and how it can be defeated, making it messy and ruining the mysticism of the first movie.
Smile 2
Smile 2 is the sequel to the 2022 psychological horror film by director Parker Finn that centers on a therapist who witnesses a patient’s suicide, leading to a series of terrifying supernatural events. The sequel will see the return of Finn as director, with Paramount continuing distribution.
