Warning: This article contains spoilers for Smile 2.
Smile 2 star Naomi Scott knows date nights can be a tricky thing, especially for fans of fright flicks with non-horror loving partners.
But hear her out. She’s ready to list off a bunch of reasons why writer-director Parker Finn’s sequel to his 2022 scary smash is the perfect excuse to call the babysitter for an escape to the movie theatre.
“You’re going to scream, obviously. You’re going to jump,” Scott acknowledges enthusiastically, before adding quickly, “but you’re going to laugh. And you’re also going to bop to some great music. This is a rollercoaster ride and it’s the most fun you’ll have at the cinema.”
So far, audiences agree with her sales pitch. Smile 2 earned $23 million in its opening weekend frame. Finn returned to write and direct the unsettling sequel to his 2022 supernatural thriller, which was a surprise hit at the box office two years ago after earning more than $217 million worldwide against a $17 million budget.
In the follow-up, Scott plays Skye Riley, a global pop star who becomes the target of a demonic entity that feeds on her trauma after she suffers a car accident and witnesses an old friend (Lukas Gage) gruesomely killing himself. Skye is there hoping to score some drugs, but instead she ends up getting infected by a death curse when her old pal issues a fateful creepy smile as he bashes his head in.
The evil hex from the first movie remains unchanged: once infected, carriers start seeing hallucinations of people with creepy smiles and end up killing themselves soon with onlookers catching the same deadly bug.
As she prepares for her onstage comeback, Riley is haunted by visions of terrifying violence and the haunting reemergence of her dead ex-boyfriend (played by Jack Nicholson’s son Ray Nicholson).
Despite her daughter being tormented, Skye’s demanding “momager” (Rosemarie DeWitt) — who is dependent on her child’s moneymaking career continuing — is of little help: “You need to stay hydrated,” she tells her dismissively.
It all adds up to a tense night out at the movies. “I was a fan of Parker and had been since 2020 when he made his short film Laura Hasn’t Slept,” Scott, 31, says. That film was an official selection of SXSW 2020 and ended up spawning the first Smile entry, which centred on a psychiatrist (Sosie Bacon) being infected by the same curse plaguing Skye.
“I watched that and I really loved the filmmaking and the performances and the fact that his movies are character pieces,” the British actress says.
Smile 2, Scott continues, gives fans of the first film the same thrills as the original with plenty more blood and guts.
“It’s infused with pop and everything is bigger, bolder and it’s definitely funnier, for sure,” she explains. In one scene, after her friend kills himself, Skye frantically Googles “Does vomit have DNA?”
“It’s so unhinged,” Scott says laughing.
“It’s way more off the rails, it’s nastier, it’s bloodier. Everything you loved about the first film, we do that 10 times bigger,” Finn adds.
The 37-year-old filmmaker didn’t anticipate he’d get a chance to make a second film (or even a potential third movie), but he says he wanted to craft a completely different experience for audiences that explored the dark side of fame.
“I knew that if I was going to approach the sequel, I needed to find a character I could fall in love with all over again and something thematic and emotional to explore,” he says. “The trick to unlocking it was discovering the character of Skye Riley.”
Scott, who won audiences over by playing Princess Jasmine in Guy Ritchie’s live-action Aladdin back in 2019, says she leapt at the chance to write and perform some of the film’s original songs.
She’s been writing her own material since she was a teenager. But Scott says Finn’s “unapologetic” finale was what won her over the most.
Much like what happens to Bacon’s character in the 2022 original, the conclusion of Smile 2. ends in similarly grisly fashion, but with even more sinister implications.
“That ending tracks with Parker and him as a filmmaker,” Scott says. “I love that he has such a strong vision of the stories that he wants to tell and how he wants to tell them. It’s so unapologetic, and I love it.”
And with Halloween just around the corner, Scott doesn’t think Smile 2 is the only perfect watch for date night. Asked for her go-to scary movie, she breaks into a big grin.
“I feel like The Shining is the masterpiece movie. I also love movies like Let the Right One In. I love Don’t Look Now. I also love the original Suspiria. Rosemary’s Baby. Movies like those are so much fun.”
Smile 2 is now playing in theatres.