GamesRadar+ VerdictA little baggy in places with its two-hours-plus runtime, and a touch convoluted too, Smile 2 is a visually impressive sequel with solid performances, an expanding lore, and some genuinely scary moments, making it a very successful follow-up to a recent horror favorite.Pros+A visually arresting horror spectacle+Doesn’t let us off lightly with scares+Scott gives a raw performanceCons-The runtime is long-The ambiguity is confusing at times-Some of the CGI is a little obvious
GamesRadar+ Verdict
GamesRadar+ Verdict
A little baggy in places with its two-hours-plus runtime, and a touch convoluted too, Smile 2 is a visually impressive sequel with solid performances, an expanding lore, and some genuinely scary moments, making it a very successful follow-up to a recent horror favorite.
A little baggy in places with its two-hours-plus runtime, and a touch convoluted too, Smile 2 is a visually impressive sequel with solid performances, an expanding lore, and some genuinely scary moments, making it a very successful follow-up to a recent horror favorite.
Pros+A visually arresting horror spectacle+Doesn’t let us off lightly with scares+Scott gives a raw performance
A visually arresting horror spectacle
Doesn’t let us off lightly with scares
Scott gives a raw performance
Cons-The runtime is long-The ambiguity is confusing at times-Some of the CGI is a little obvious
The runtime is long
The ambiguity is confusing at times
Some of the CGI is a little obvious
Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy.
Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy.
Following the impressive worldwide box office performance of Smile in 2022, and the enduring popularity of the supernatural shocker amongst genre fans, director Parker Finn’s sequel does everything a horror follow-up should, picking up where the original installment left off (just six days later), providing some worthwhile call-backs, expanding the scope of the action, and adding in plenty more scares and gore.
The use of Skye’s pop stardom works well, upping the ante from Smile’s more contained storytelling to that of someone battling a horrifying supernatural entity amidst the trappings of celebrity while managing to remain deeply personal.
Taking a look at the pressures and responsibilities of fame and obsessive fandom, explorations of addiction, suicide and past trauma – both physical and psychological – are laced through Smile 2, providing Scott with ample opportunity to demonstrate her talents with a raw, no-holds-barred performance while setting up the audience with just the right amount of ambiguity around events, in the well-worn style of the ‘hysterical’ woman experiencing violent hallucinations and desperate to be believed as Skye struggles with recovery.
Worldwide domination
(Image credit: Paramount)
Fast factsRelease date:October 18, 2024 (US), October 17, 2024 (UK)Available on:In theatersDirector:Parker FinnRuntime:2h 12m
Fast facts
Release date:October 18, 2024 (US), October 17, 2024 (UK)Available on:In theatersDirector:Parker FinnRuntime:2h 12m
Release date:October 18, 2024 (US), October 17, 2024 (UK)Available on:In theatersDirector:Parker FinnRuntime:2h 12m
About to embark on a global comeback tour, our leading lady is in the middle of relentless rehearsals and promotion, and Smile 2 includes a couple of sequences that dazzle while still working within the narrative to create genuine scares (including a performance of ‘Blood on White Satin’, the single released in advance of the movie, which ends on a less-than-harmonious note). These well choreographed song-and-dance moments feel more organic here than they did in M. Night Shyamalan’s recent pop concert-set Trap, and in the age of huge live shows like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour – which has reached vast audiences beyond the stadium via streaming onDisneyPlus – anchors this film in the zeitgeist to entertaining ends.
Director Parker Finn, cinematographer Charlie Sarroff and editor Elliot Greenberg (who all return from the first Smile movie) have created a visually arresting horror spectacle; dynamic camerawork, disorienting cuts, and use of long takes, space and mirrors create a rich experience for the viewer, immersing us in Skye’s world with striking effect.
Smile has a reputation for being legitimately scary and, while it doesn’t quite pull off the insidious dread of its predecessor, the sequel is determined to not let us off lightly. The truly unsettling rictus grin of the demon is back, a beautifully crafted opening sequence is an assault on the senses that sets us up for what’s to come, and one particular set-piece later in the movie that involves Skye’s dance troupe is especially jarring, in ways reminiscent of Gaspar Noe’s Climax and Luca Guardinino’s Suspiria. Plus – although some of the CGI, similarly to the first film, is at times a little obvious - some intense body horror and lingering gore, and a couple of well-crafted jump scares, had me cowering in my seat.
A star turn
(Image credit: Paramount)
A couple of well-crafted jump scares had me cowering in my seat
A couple of well-crafted jump scares had me cowering in my seat
The runtime of Smile 2 is long – while they mostly work, at nearly two and a quarter hours the film could potentially have lost some of the musical numbers, and Finn and Greenberg could have also trimmed some fat from the longer incidental sequences – and at times the ambiguity about what is real and what are hallucinations or nightmares tips over into being straight-up confusing, but with solid performances, an expanding lore, and some genuinely scary moments, the movie is largely a very successful sequel to a recent horror favorite that will serve audiences well in the lead up to Halloween.
Smile 2 is out in UK cinemas on October 17 and US theaters on October 18.
For more scares, check out our guides to all theupcoming horror moviesandbest horror moviesyou need to know about. We’ve also got a list ofupcoming moviesto add to your calendar too.
More about smile 2Horror movie Smile 2’s opening scene is now online for free – but you have to smile for 7 minutes to watch itSmile, A Quiet Place, Sleepy Hollow, and more big screen horror franchises to get comics from IDW’s new horror line
More about smile 2
Horror movie Smile 2’s opening scene is now online for free – but you have to smile for 7 minutes to watch itSmile, A Quiet Place, Sleepy Hollow, and more big screen horror franchises to get comics from IDW’s new horror line
Horror movie Smile 2’s opening scene is now online for free – but you have to smile for 7 minutes to watch it
Horror movie Smile 2’s opening scene is now online for free – but you have to smile for 7 minutes to watch it
Smile, A Quiet Place, Sleepy Hollow, and more big screen horror franchises to get comics from IDW’s new horror line
Smile, A Quiet Place, Sleepy Hollow, and more big screen horror franchises to get comics from IDW’s new horror line
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