Smile 2

About to embark on a world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her past.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Apologies for getting this video to you a day or so late. Life is life. I don't stuff for anyone.

(00:04):
But now let's talk about the movie that...
...taif us that image.
["The

(00:28):
S

(00:53):
Is it at least tries to bring something new to something that would otherwise sound cliche?
Demon lashes onto someone, that someone starts seeing creepy things, hearing sounds that might not be there.
Sound like you've seen it before? I know. Lots of times.
A serious person wouldn't even try or attempt to quantify how many times you've seen that plot.

(01:13):
But with the smile films and talking about Smile 2, it tries to bring a psychological horror element to it.
You're not just watching a demon mess with someone, you're watching someone actually lose their mind.
And no doubt there's a deeper, more thoughtful allegory of the psychological weight of trauma.
But as for myself, I was having fun watching someone slowly go insane. That's what I got out of this. That's what I enjoyed.

(01:37):
Hammered Home, pretty amazingly by Naomi Scott.
You might know where is Princess Jasmine in the live action, a lab movie.
Also she played the Pink Power Ranger in the 2017 Power Rangers movie.
In a world where a lot of actors would see a horror movie like this and be like, alright, let's get a paycheck.
Not like we gotta bring it or anything, no. Naomi Scott fucking brings it.

(01:59):
She's actually kind of amazing in this movie. I want to say she gives us more than the movie intended to give us.
Or maybe she's giving us exactly what writer-director Parker Finn is going for. Maybe he's like, yeah, I want to elevate horror.
That's what we wanted to bring you. I mean the movie is all from her POV. It's her film, absolutely.
All I'm saying, she was really impressive.
But yeah, the fun that does feel new here is the fact that when she hears a sound that might not be there or see something happen that might not have happened.

(02:26):
Having the audience feel like they're watching someone lose their sense of reality and sanity, there's something else frightening there.
Something beyond the sense of demons.
And when it plays it up and has fun with it, I thought it really did a good job with that.
Granted, there are jump scares. I mean, the first one had jump scares too.
Smile 2 does do fun things with the jump scare. I mean, the jump scare just looks like it has a little more going on.

(02:53):
Like you're watching someone stare into the dark and all the sudden-
AHHHHHHHHH
Right, that happens. Sometimes the jump scares do compromise the moment.
But there's a scene where she's zooming into a video into the shadows and you're like, dude, what's there?
I kind of don't want to look because I feel like I'm just going to see the space looking back at me and that would be enough.
Or, stay with me on this, what if we just have a jump scare? I mean, come on.

(03:15):
The last act of the movie really jumps the shark. Like, it jumps the shark that jumped the shark.
I know with the premise and what it is you can do some fun things with that.
It got to feel like a bit much by the end.
It was all the sense of the sequel trying to outdo the first movie, but it wasn't just that.
It was like Smile 2 was trying to outdo Smile 2.

(03:37):
It ended up leaving the theater being like, I feel like you could have cut a lot of that last act out.
It would have been just as effective. Granted, they do some fun things with it.
I would have appreciated it more if I clearly didn't have the sense that this movie could have been 40 minutes shorter.
I say that because the movie's around 2 hours and 10 minutes. That's way too long for this.

(03:57):
If you cut 40 minutes out of this movie, it would still be an hour and a half horror movie, which sounds a bit perfect.
But if you want to just cut half that much out, that's still cutting 20 minutes out.
I think that's fair.
The first Smile movie, surprisingly enjoyable. Smile 2? Surprisingly enjoyable.
It's not scary, which usually is a cardinal sin for a horror movie. If it's not scary, I mean, what's the point?

(04:21):
But what it lacks in scare is it does make up for with interesting psychological horror elements,
and Naomi Scott in the movie was pretty awesome.
I say Smile 2's a good time. No alcohol required.
Alright, so Smile 2, have you seen it? What did you think about it? Or what's a horror movie sequel that was surprisingly enjoyable for you?
Whatever it is, whatever you think, comment below, let me know, and as always, if you like what you've seen here and you want to see more, click right here to see more.