‘Smile 2’ Raises the Stakes in 4 Intense Ways

Smile 2 presents us with a new chapter in the unnerving saga that began in 2022 with the standout horror hit Smile. This sequel focuses on Skye Riley, a pop superstar preparing to go on a huge world tour. As she deals with the pressures of fame and preparing to spend months on the road, she witnesses a horrifying act. Through the act, she is cursed by the smiling entity we saw tear apart Rose’s mind in the first Smile film.

Judging by the trailers and the increasing buzz, Skye Riley’s story could exponentially increase the intensity of Smile‘s brand of horror. Here are some of the best reasons why we think Smile 2 will be one of the rare horror sequels that is better and scarier than the original.

With fame comes isolation. It seems paradoxical that someone who is surrounded by people could feel lonely, but it’s a common occurrence. The success of a celebrity the status of Skye Riley breeds skepticism about the people in their life. Is a person’s kindness—their smile—genuine, or are they looking to gain something from the interaction? Dealing with fake people and fake smiles day after day can be mentally exhausting, and it can lead to a lonely life. For Skye, if she already doesn’t know whom she can trust before the entity attaches itself to her, how can she possibly trust any single person when she realizes that the entity can appear as anyone? She might truly feel all alone in her struggle for survival.

Looking back at Rose from the first movie, she was a therapist. She was trained to understand how people think. It took her time to accept what was happening to her, but once she did, she knew the person she could trust for help. Having relatively few people close to her, the choice came somewhat quickly for Rose. For a celebrity like Skye who is already guarded with herself in everyday life, is there anyone she can turn to for help? With so many people around her but even fewer whom she can confide in, her isolation and her fear will be magnified… which can only make the entity even more bold and terrifying.

As we learned in the first movie, the entity is passed from person to person through a moment of horrific trauma. The person afflicted with the entity’s curse eventually has their mind taken over, and they kill themselves in view of someone else. The entity then attaches itself to the witness, repeating the same cycle over and over like a never-ending chain. The first movie showed us multiple examples of this cycle, but there was only ever one witness at a time.

As a celebrity, Skye Riley has an untold number of people watching her at any given moment. People actively seek her out. At her most visible, Skye Riley could have millions of people watching her all at once. It’s understood that the entity passes through one person’s trauma, but what if it also passes through collective trauma? This idea, added to the fact that Skye lives her life in the public eye, adds a palpable layer of dread that could make Smile 2 significantly more intense than the first film.

We don’t know if the spread of the entity can be stopped. Rose tried and failed. Her research led her to a man who managed to survive the entity, but he had to kill someone else in order to live. The entity’s chain of victims remained unbroken, and it carries over into Smile 2. As an audience, the only thing we know is what doesn’t work. Presumably, Skye’s own attempts to find out what the entity is will lead her to similar realizations. She will know what has failed in the past, which will force her to take even more drastic action for even a small glimmer of hope.

One of the trailers for Smile 2 hints at just how much Skye Riley is willing to risk. No spoilers here, but the plan sounds like the ultimate sacrifice. Skye’s words in the trailer suggest that she isn’t looking only for survival. She also wants to end the entity’s cursed chain of victims. If we learned anything from the first movie, it’s that success is never guaranteed. Will Skye’s drastic plan succeed? If not, what else could she possibly do to stop the spread of the entity? Can it even be stopped?

Sometimes when considering how much bigger and bolder a sequel is going to be, you simply have to trust the director. Parker Finn is the writer and director of Smile 2, and he is the creator of the story. His short film “Laura Hasn’t Slept” was the inspiration for Smile, which he also wrote and directed. So when Parker Finn says Smile 2 is “nastier” and “bloodier” than the first film, we should take his word for it.

Finn established himself as a creator of smart and scary horror with Smile. His knack for crafting quality scares, believable characters, and incredibly suspenseful scenes is on display in the first movie, and it will surely be even better in the sequel. After all, he says himself that “everything you loved about the first film, we do that ten times bigger.” And when you see him talk about Smile 2, you can see the passion he has for the movie. For an audience, that passion is infectious. So take a look at the video below to see Parker Finn talking about Smile 2, and get ready to head to theaters on October 18th when Smile 2 releases exclusively in theaters.