Slight spoilers forSmile 2!
Smile 2, now playing in theaters, hits harder than its predecessor on many levels — and its final moments more than set the stage for yet another sequel from writer-director Finn Parker. While the new film maintains the psychological horror of the first, it offers new heights when it comes to gore and lore. Rather than being a straightforward sequel that follows Joel’s (returning actor Kyle Gallner) last seven days after catching the smiling curse,Smile 2starts with his final moments and makes its way to singing sensation Skye Riley (Aladdin’s Naomi Scott).
A year after a tragic car crash took her boyfriend’s life and scared her sober, Skye is on the verge of a comeback with a brand-new album and hotly anticipated stadium tour. But her demons begin literally haunting her when a fateful encounter with high school friend Lewis (Lukas Gage) turns her into the next bearer of the curse, andFinn utilizesSmile 2as an exciting metaphor for both the knife of stardom, as well as the potentially infinite power of the demonic being behind the smile. The movie also features Rosemarie DeWitt as Skye’s mom and manager, Dylan Gelula as her best friend, and Miles Gutierrez-Riley as her loyal assistant.
Smile 2 First Reactions Revealed — How Does Horror Sequel Compare To Viral $217M Hit?
The first social media reactions for Smile 2 are rolling out, and those who have seen the horror sequel are grinning ear-to-ear in their responses.
Screen Rantinterviewed Finn about his decision to setSmile 2in the music industry, a world known to be almost as cut-throat asSmile’s evil entity is. The writer-director revealed how he collaborated with star Naomi Scott to create the pop persona of Skye Riley, as well as how far his vision for futureSmilemovies reaches.
Parker Finn Felt The Pop Music Scene Was The Perfect Setting For Smile 2
Screen Rant: The firstSmilereally spoke to me as a metaphor for suppressed trauma and how it affects those around us.Smile 2takes that and adds this exploited pop star element. Can you talk about why you wanted to take it to that setting?
Parker Finn: I knew that if I was going to approach a sequel, I didn’t want to just do any sort of obvious continuation or a retread of the first one. I wanted to do something that really had Smile running through its DNA, but also had its own identity, its own metabolism, and offered some audiences something new and fresh and exciting.
That was really how I landed on the character of Skye Riley, this mega pop star, and this world that felt so far from the world of the first. And also, I think from what we expect from horror in the first place, it just felt so powerful and ripe.
Screen Rant: Speaking of Skye, Naomi’s amazing, the songs are popping, and even the choreography adds to the story itself. How closely did you work with her and the creative team to get all of that right?
Parker Finn: It’s such an incredible collaboration, and it was a lot of work early on. Two days after I cast Naomi, we got her in the studio doing pre-records and working with her and our songwriters and music producers, as well as our choreographer.
It was such a team effort, but it was this really intense undertaking; this crazy challenge to do in the middle of also doing a really intense horror film. It was a lot, but Naomi is so talented and really handled it all so gracefully. She was a dream to work with.
Smile 2 Goes Bigger With Its Gore — And With Its Sequel Possibilities
“I think that there could be a really interesting future for Smile.”
Screen Rant: One thing that really stood out to me was how much bigger the gore is in this one. Is that almost all about having a bigger sandbox to play in, or did you want to approach it that way for a specific reason?
Parker Finn: I wanted to make sure that if we were coming back, there was more for the audience to sink their teeth into. More frights, more anxiety, bigger violence and gore — all that nasty stuff. All the supernatural elements coming back in a way that is both familiar yet surprising, and how they’re going to scare you. It was really important to me to offer something that felt like a really exciting experience for an audience coming back.
Screen Rant: The ending ofSmile 2really kicks the door open for any number of possible continuations. I know the first was written as a standalone, but for this one, did you haveSmile 3in mind?
Parker Finn: I do think that there are so many exciting places that Smile could go. For me, it’s still always about wanting to do something thematically rich that’s centered on character stories. I love where this film goes, and right now I’m excited for audiences to see Smile 2. Hopefully, if they embrace it, I think that there could be a really interesting future for Smile.
Screen Rant: Who had the most amount of takes to get the perfect smile?
Parker Finn: Everybody was really good at delivering their smile in this film. I would say that, because of the technical intensity of it, [it was] Lukas Gage - who I think has one of the best smiles in the whole film. It needed to be so specific and so dialed in such an intense way that we really had to really hone in and get it there. But Lukas' smile is amazing.
More About Smile 2 (2024)
About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.
Smile 2
Cast
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.
