Smile 2: Let’s start off with showing y’all the trailers shall we?

Ohhhhhh we’re in for a doozy today, also disclaimer I’ve not watched the first Smile film. I’m planning on watching that soon. Then I’ll post a review for that. But if ur wondering why I never watched the first Smile film, it’s because I found the concept stupid.

I mean the whole idea of a demon who just smiles a lot, idk I don’t find smiling unnerving (unless it’s a killer who is smiling). I will give some credit though, the demon makes its victims go mentally insane and makes them look like they aren’t fully there in reality.

Also on a side note, I don’t know why but I have the sudden urge to drink some “Voss” Water, just something came over me, ahh well must not be important (If u don’t get the joke just stick around, it will become clear).

So now let’s get the rating out of the way so we can get into spoilers. Overall I am completely mixed about this film, on one hand, this film does have some great moments, the actors do a great job with what they are given, and the jump scares started me (yes this film is filled with jump scares), and the film looks gorgeous, also I just like Naomi Scott she’s a great actress, also she’s a singer.

But on the other hand, the concept of the smiling demon still seems stupid to me, this film is unnecessarily too long clocking in at 2 hours and 7 min long. If u ask me that’s 1 hour too long, there are jump scares in this film, and too many moments of yelling/screaming/crying, the main character falls somewhere between unlikable and understandable, but mainly she leans towards unlikable, the product placement for Voss water is so absurd that I started counting the amount of times that brand of water made an appearance in this film.

Spoiler alert that brand of water appears like 7 to 8 times, also 2 times the brand is just mentioned, wow if that’s not blatant advertisement then idk what is. It’s like Voss Water helped fund this entire film. Heck if u wanna know how stupid this marketing gets. I kid u not there’s a jump scare moment that has Voss Water in the scene.

Yes they implement Voss Water bottle in a jump scare.

Yep, I want y’all to let that sink into y’all heads, they implemented a jumpscare revolving around a water bottle, oh dear lord what are we even doing here folks? This is just sad, also the ending will break this film or make it for y’all, I’ve seen both sides argue.

Some say they loved it, some say the ending ruined the film. Also, there’s a plot twist near the end as well that ruins this film as well. Me personally I fall right in between them, I can see how this film is good but also I can see how this film is terrible…especially that ending, oh boy we’re gonna get to that In spoilers.

Also If they want to make a Smile 3, I can see where they will go with it, especially with the way this film ends. Trust me the ending is bonkers.

Also no animals die in this film, unlike in the first film a cat gets killed. Ugh I hate when animals get killed off, especially dogs.

So overall this film will get a solid 5.8/10 from me, warning spoilers ahead y’all been warned.

So this film opens with this guy who survived at the end of the last film (no idk what his name is) but what is important is this, during a snowy day he sneaks into a drug crime dealer’s house by aiming a gun at the guy’s brother who’s about to enter the house.

He gets inside and shoots the brother because he has to pass over this smile curse that can only be passed on through trauma, as in someone has to die in front of them. Well yeah, that will cause trauma, anyways he ends up shooting the drug dealer because he shoots him. Womp womp, luckily another guy is there behind him sitting there. So he apologizes to him because of what’s gonna happen to him.

Then these men come up outside, and he sees them. He tries to escape…he ends up escaping through the restroom window all the while they are shooting at him….just then a car comes out of nowhere and runs him over, by oh btw This film doesn’t shy away from gore…..we see the outcome.

It’s this giant blood stain on the floor in the shape of a smile, his foot is also severed, although one unrealistic part of seeing the foot is organs are hanging out his foot, right because that’s where organs “hang” out at hehe heh hang out.

See what I did there? Anyways his head is also now squashed and his under a truck, title pops up with loud ass noise. Anyway film officially starts when we follow our main character named Skye Riley (played by Naomi Scott) who’s this pop star who’s recently getting back from a tough time.

Tough time is a massive understatement, what we know of right now is she got on a car crash with her boyfriend in it, thanks to her being on drugs. She survived but has multiple scars on her belly and legs, but her boyfriend named Paul Hudson (played by Ray Nicholson) (yes that’s right Jack Nicholsons son) damn.

Well get into more on that later, also she’s estranged with a girlfriend of hers named Gemma (played by Dylan Gelula) they’ve not talked in 1 year because Riley basically called her a bitch and said fuck off…

Oh yes such a likable character so far. Also her mom is her agent, oh boy can’t imagine having family being ur agent turning out to be a good thing. Try mixing business with family.

Anyways she sneaks off to go see a friend named Lewis Fregoli (played by Lukas Cage) he texts her to come over, and as soon as she shows up he grabs her and aims a sword at her throat.

Hey if I was her I’d leave now. But nope she stays because she really wants medicine from him. He’s a drug dealer. Also, his apartment looks like a mess.

Anyways he tells her to take a seat while he goes to get her meds from the back, honestly Riley leave now!

Anyway, he doesn’t return so she gets up and tries to call out for him, but he comes back running back screaming. Saying get away from me! He then falls to the ground, has a seizure, and dies. He then comes back to life with an eerie smile on his face.

He gets up and grabs a heavy-weight plate, he then proceeds to smash it against his face, then lowers it down and smashes it against his face again. By the third time he does it we see his flesh from his jaw fall off, and his eyes and nose look more skeletal. Then he falls to the ground dead with a creepy grin on his face.

BTW Riley has the most realistic reaction I think I’ve ever seen in a horror movie, she’s lying there in fear for like 7 seconds with a shocked expression, then all of a sudden she scampers backward up to the wall and up it. Then she bends over and vomits.

Uh eww, she’s gonna call the cops but then she realizes if she does that they will see her there and think she’s back on drugs because she’s at a drug dealer building. So she doesn’t call the cops, oh goodie what a likable character.

Anyway I don’t want to waste too much time so what I’m gonna do for the rest of this review is rant about the things that did not work for me. And will mention the important parts within the rant. So here we go.

The reason why the entire second act doesn’t work for me is because it all feels like it’s pointlessly bloated.

For instance, we get an entire scene of her doing signings and photo ops with fans.

Was this scene necessary? Nope, was this scene scary? Nope, in fact it was more Goofy. I mean for instance, one of those sicko fans comes up to her…this greasy-haired guy who looks like he’s not cleaned in a day comes up and basically says I love u Riley. I’ve listened to ur music often, I want u Riley.

Uh ew. Also, he tries jumping onto her during the photo shoot, afterwards, this little girl with pigtails and a creepy smile comes up and never stops smiling.

Riley says she has a cool shirt then signs the shirt, then they take a picture together and the whole time she was just staring at Riley while smiling, heck she gets escorted away with that creepy grin on her face.

Now bet y’all thinking I bet this scene scared this guy, uhhhh nope. Not at all, in fact, I laughed a bit at this scene because the fact she was just staring at Riley with that smile during the photo shoot was funny to me.

Anyways If y’all are curious where this film officially lost me was in this scene right afterwards where Riley is back at her apartment abs she calls up her friend Gemma.

She asks if Gemma can come over which she says yes just give me 45 min, I’ll be over. Then I kid u not folks, while Riley is just walking around she decides to get out a bottle of Voss Water, which btw she drinks through 7 bottles of Voss Water throughout this film. The product placement is absurd.

But then she leaves the empty bottle on the counter because she chugs down the water, u know like a completely sane person. But as she walks away she hears the bottle break into pieces so now she has to clean it up.

Also wait the bottle is made out of glass? Wow that has got to be the most richest person type water I think I’ve ever seen, as she gets a dust pan out…she goes back to the mess and sees that sicko fans shirt she signed earlier on the floor…she follows a row of clothes from the guy in her hallways.

Including a doo doo stained underwear, sigh seriously? Was that necessary? Did we need to see a grown man’s doo doo stained tidy whiteys?

Anyways he’s standing at the end of the hallway fully naked and he runs towards her, Riley runs to the door and opens it….to Gemma at the door, oh and Riley turns around and sees the Voss bottle of water on the table back intact.

Yes, that’s right folks, u heard that all correctly they implemented Voss Water into a jump scare. We’re officially at the point of not caring at all. Hey, kiddos enjoy this jump scare, which is brought to u by Voss Water. Go out and buy Voss Water now.

Yeah safe to say after watching this film I don’t think I ever want to see Voss Water ever again, this film failed to convince me to go buy its brand.

Yeah, the product placement in this film is just frustrating, I’m almost certain in the Smile universe. Only Voss Water exists, and no other water brand. The advertisement became so mind-numbingly bad, to the point I was almost half expecting the demon to come out and look at the camera just to say “Y’all thirsty? Why don’t u have some Voss Water?”

This film borders on feeling like a parody of an infomercial.

Anyway, let me give y’all the notes of the important stuff that happens.

•So Gemma stays the night with Riley (keep this in mind for later).

•Riley wakes up late and is rushed to attend this child support charity she promised to attend and give a speech. She goes on stage but since the demon is warping reality to make her feel insane, the teleprompter freezes so she doesn’t know what to say.

So she starts blabbering on about how she’s a fuck up and her life is a mess and doesn’t be me, sigh this is why she needs a PR manager. Oh wait she has a manager named Darius, but he’s not that useful if u ask me.

Anyways after that happens, which btw doesn’t please anyone. They just all gasp (I mean I would as well) but then she reads off the teleprompter which says “plz introduce and he needs no introduction, plz introduce Paul Hudson” gasps, what the heck is she talking about?

Oh right, the demon is playing with her mind, just then Paul Hudson with this horrific smile appears in the crowd, he gets up and starts walking towards her slowly. Riley has a panic attack and says GET AWAY FROM ME! UR NOT PAUL HUDSON! Btw as soon as he touches her on the shoulder. We see Riley accidentally shove this elderly woman behind her onto a table off the stage.

Hahahahah, sorry I may seem cold but I legitimately found this scene funny, yes I know it’s supposed to be tense. Which it is, but come on she just body-slammed an elderly woman onto a table.

Oh btw remember how I said the demon has been warping with her reality? I kid u not she walks back to her dressing room and sees her assistant walk past her with that horrific grin. She sees her entire room has been messed up, she blames her assistant right at his face…she screams at him.

Yeah she’s not a likable character.

BTW I feel this is the perfect time to mention this now hit if y’all wondering what’s this accident she got into like a year ago that this film alluded to.

Well back then Skye Riley was on drugs (right we’re keeping up so far), one night her boyfriend who’s an actor, Paul Hudson drives her home during the night, on the side of a cliff in the forests/mountain.

During the drive they both get into an argument, Riley starts poking ay him and annoying him. He breaks and says u r a B**ch! The truth is out now! Oh oh! Yeah u know what I don’t blame him for saying that because what happens next after he continues to insult her is just heinous.

She grabs ahold of the steering wheel and drives them off the cliff into trees, where she wakes up with a bone sticking out of her knee eeeeek, and blood coming out her mouth oh and wounds on her…she looks over and sees her boyfriend dead with a hole in his head.

We get this 10 to 12 seconds of the camera focusing on her screaming and crying, this scene was hard to watch. Again this felt realistic, that’s how u would sound like and act like in that position.

Now granted I wish they did cut away, they didn’t need to show that fog 12 seconds. But also I now don’t feel bad for her because she’s the one who steered them off the cliff, our main character ladies and gentlemen. Are we supposed to like her? No one knows!

• Riley goes home and packs up ready to leave to go get the help of this man she met at a bar earlier whose name is Morris (played by Peter Jacobson) (or as I refer him to as “that guy from House M.D”).

Right so backtracking a bit, Riley gets these texts from an unknown person telling her we’re u at Fregoli’s apartment that night? U r in danger.

Does she ever tell her mom about this? Hell nope, what an idiot she is. She decides to go meet him at a bar. He explains to her that his brother died from this curse, he tore his lower jaw off (don’t worry the camera goes to that scene showing us that).

He explains he has a plan to kill Riley temporarily for 9 min then revive her because he believes without a host the demon will die, then he can revive her, don’t worry he’s a nurse. But she refuses to go with this plan.

Until now after her body slams (sorry if my thoughts seem scrambled, that’s because I’m remembering things as I’m typing).

But I mainly don’t plan to go back and reorganize it because I want to make everyone feel slightly confused just like this film does to the main character Riley.

Ohhh what’s reality or not? Anyways so she goes to the restroom and tries to open up Tylenol but it drops everywhere, then she breaks and tosses things around. She slumps over onto the ground and pulls a chunk of hair out of her head, yep she’s going nuts. Do u blame her though? When no one is listening to her, or can’t see what she’s seeing.

Anyways she heads to her shoe closet and turns the lights on but ends up getting jump scared and sees multiple human demons who are grinning at her. Btw this entire scene is stupid, she’s moving backward while trying to keep eye contact with them all while they turn their heads to her.

As soon as she runs and even moves a bit they start moving in a choreographed way as if they are about to do interrupt dancing.

Yep, they walk through her hallway towards her all while holding their arms out as if they are doing interrupted dancing. Is this supposed to be scary?

Anyways they eventually grab her as she tries to leave and that creepy sicko fan shoves his dirty hand down her throat, uh ew.

She wakes up in a psychiatric ward in her own personal bedroom, with an IV in her arm. Eeeeek I hate needles I have a fear of them.

Anyways her personal assistant is standing near her asking if she needs anything, all the while Voss Water is visible in a mini fridge. God damn, how many times is that gonna show up in this film.

Here we go again I guess, anyways he leaves and Riley and her mom get into a massive argument….she just wants her mom to be a mom for one second, she can’t go do any showings she says. Her mom booked this day off for her to recover.

Just then the mom starts yelling and breaks down saying I gave up my time and life to help get u where ur at! And u just want to throw ur life away!. Well go ahead u do that then!

Just then a horrifying grin comes across the mom’s face…..no no no no, the demon starts laughing at Riley by saying no one loves u, ur alone. Then she goes to the window and breaks the mirror. Grabs a piece of glass and starts brutally stabbing herself through the face, neck, and her eyeball out of her socket….ehhhhhhhh.

BTW I covered my eyes at this scene, not just because the mother stabbed her eyeball out and I get squirmy when it comes to anything involving eyeballs. But all the while the mother is doing this to herself, Riley is trying to yank her IV out of her arm so she can escape.

I don’t want to see that, ewww ewww my skin just crawled when I typed that, the whole idea of anything being jabbed into u and going under ur skin just makes me creeped out.

Anyways as she makes it to the door she notices blood all over her gown and she’s also holding the glass in her hand.

Wait so she killed her mom? Yikes, no time to hesitate though she has to escape without anyone seeing she murdered someone. So she,

• puts a blanket over her mom’s corpse.

• tells her assistant who’s about to open the door, to go get her a soda and make it a surprise.

• puts on a shirt over her gown.

• head downstairs in the lobby where everyone is, she’s trying to make it to the fire exit.

But as soon as she’s close, her assistant notices her and notices blood. He says call for help! She has blood on her!

Sigh, as people surround her, including an officer. She grabs his gun and tells them to get back all the while she walks to the fire exit. Her assistant says think about the performance, and Riley says “Fuck the performance!”

As she makes her way outside she sees Gemma outside…..she runs up to her limo and aims a gun at the driver to demand him to get out.

Gemma joins and rides Riley, Riley tells her to drive to this place called Stanton Island, Riley tells her to get out she doesn’t want to ruin her life.

Which Gemma says fuck it. Ride or die! And here comes a major plot twist. So while Gemma is driving. Riley gets a call from Gemma. Dun dunn dunn! She calls up and Gemma says what’s with the weird texts u been sending me? Which Riley says did u sleepover last night at my place?

Which Gemma says no I’ve not been there since a year ago when u told me to fuck off. Dunnn dunn dunnn! So wait who is riding the car? Oh right, it’s the demon.

Yeah so she never called Gemma and they never made up, she imagined she did. This was all happening in her head. Which then brings up the million-dollar question of how much of this film was in Riley’s head?

Anyways she takes control and drives to Stanton Island, where she meets Morris. She gives him a gun and says if this doesn’t work I want u to kill me. Promise me u will!

He says I promise, then they enter this abandoned pizza building, and he takes her into the cooler. He plans to killer her temporarily and let the cold in that room preserve the brain so she doesn’t die permanently.

He asks her to put on a pink gown. She changes out of her bloody-stained gown. He asks Jesus that’s a lot of blood! Are the cops gonna be after u?

She gets dressed and lies down on the table. He puts a thermometer in her mouth then he leaves and says I’ll be right back I have to grab something.

Uh huh sure. Oh, he puts a thing in between the door otherwise they’d be locked in…. Anyway she waits and Morris doesn’t return. Instead, this smiling demon of her past self from the car accident appears over her. Then she falls onto Riley.

Riley tries to run for the door but it shuts on them, uh oh. Guess now Riley is left to deal with Riley? Huh, that’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.

Anyways the demon pins her onto the floor after trying to make its way to Riley with a broken leg. The demon tells Riley to look at her! Where we see the demon’s eyes change to these milky white eyeballs and now she has rows of teeth in her mouth. Like multiple rows, uh yikes.

Anyways, Riley picks up the shot and injects her neck, the demon starts screaming. But then it starts laughing, turns out there was no needle this entire time, she was hallucinating everything. What?

Then the demon shoves Riley into a pod and says break a leg, she then walks out onto a live concert in this outfit she said she won’t wear, earlier because it reveals her scars which she doesn’t want people to see. I can understand why, anyways in the crowd we can see her mom and her assistant?

Wait what? The mom is alive? So then what was? Ehhhh? Yeah so if y’all haven’t caught on basically this movie just said almost everything we’ve seen up to this point did not happen, this was all in Rileys head.

But the issue is this brings up so many questions, non of which are good questions.

Question 1. When the hell did the demon officially take control to the point it made the last past days of hers all an hallucination?

Question 2. If this film was all an entire hallucination. Then what the hell was Riley doing this whole time? Was she in a coma? Was she unconscious?

If that’s the case the hell would her mom allow her to go on stage at the end? How’s it no one would have been concerned about her mental health?

Question 3. So wait if that entire middle act was a hallucination, then why the heck would the demon pretend to conjure up a guy who wants to help Riley. Who tells her there’s a way to kill the demon, then oh yeah ride her to the location to stop the demon?

That be like if superman decided to fly himself to a planet filled with Kryptonite because he just wants to. While fully aware that this will kill him.

I don’t think I can express enough how stupid this is, I am left speechless at this point.

Anyways Riley sees a clone of herself in front of her, this clone tears her scar open and the this celestial demon comes popping out of her….the demon enters into Rileys mouth.

Riley then falls onto the ground and dies, everyone is getting worried, she then gets up and smiles at everyone with that horrific grin. She then off screen while the camera is focusing on the crowd

Jams her microphone into her eyeball. Killing herself, but now the entire audience have just witnessed this death accure so that means this entire group of people are infected with the demon curse.

Wait if that’s the case, does that mean the next film will be an epidemic type of story? Have we gotten to the point we’re an epidemic world wide smiling demon disease is the way to go here?

I’m not sure I want that, but also this brings up another question. If this demon could have done something like this before at this big of a scale. Then why the hell didn’t it do this before? Why bother with that at home mom from the first Smile movie?

How about take ur smiling ass self out there and go infect a giant group of people in the first place? Anyways the film is done, thank u. I can now finally stop thinking about this film. And it’s endless amount of Voss Water advertisement.

Speaking of I think I’m gonna go drink some water, I’m thirsty. How strange, anyways till next time.