By Starly Richards,
Staff Writer.
The genre of horror pushes the boundaries of comfort and provides the rush of adrenaline that people crave in modern media. Over the years the contents of the genre have developed different tactics to scare the consumer.
The Smile franchise has adopted jumpscares and uncomfortable graphics to frighten moviegoers. Movie enthusiast sophomore Lena Meline stated, “Smile 2 definitely puts a unique spin on some more conventional scare methods by omitting suspenseful music before jumpscares and relying on grotesque visuals rather than shock factor.”
After a brief scene to tie up the loose ends left from the original film, there is a cut to the title screen which leads to the introduction of our protagonist, pop superstar Skye Riley. To the host of a talk show, she reveals her return tour from the recovery of a car crash, which was fatal to her boyfriend, and the substance abuse that followed. It is soon exhibited that Skye isn’t fully recovered as she still suffers from chronic pain and copes by consuming hard drugs.
She organizes a meeting with her dealer, Lewis, who was seen inheriting the parasite from the previous movie in the intro, where she witnesses his gruesome suicide and takes on the parasite herself. The movie follows Skye as she spirals into insanity and ultimately dies.
Meline claims, “It works really well as a horror movie. If you want to go and get a good scare you will get your money’s worth. The jumpscares are really, really scary and it’s very suspenseful; it’s directed really well as a horror movie, but as a movie it was mediocre.” The visual representations of the hallucinations Skye experienced were absolutely terrifying. Being unable to discern the delusions presented by the parasite from reality and allowing that to lead to the deaths of not only yourself but countless others is mortifying. However, the blatant advertisement placement for Voss products genuinely hurt and the plot was totally lost.
In the words of Meline, Smile 2 suffered from “bad-side-plot-horror-movie-syndrome.” The movie provided an abundance of outside context, which only served to create plot holes and complicate the blend between the horror aspect and what makes the specific characters essential to the plot of the film.
The actual ending did not do much to save the sequel. In a similar fashion to the original movie, it was difficult to distinguish what was meant to be happening in the story and what was a product of the protagonist’s imagination, which isn’t great for ending a sequel. When setting up another movie to join the franchise, the director should create a plausible ending that the upcoming movie can connect to rather than leaving the movie on a cliffhanger.
Overall, the movie served its purpose as a psychological thriller film and was beautifully directed and produced. It may have done some good to write a background story that properly fit into the pre-established universe of the movie, but it was an entertaining watch.
