The sweet ‘n’ snuggly Smile Guy Monster is back in Smile 2 ( now streaming on VOD services like Amazon Prime Video ), the sequel to 2022 hit horror flick Smile . Our ever-lovin’ blood-covered skin-who-needs-stinkin’-skin? beast is one of three holdovers from the first movie: Kyle Gallner returns briefly to reprise his role as the guy who inherited the “smile curse,” and writer/director Parker Finn returns behind the camera to hopefully push the concept forward (before he remakes Zulawski’s Possession , which, for my nickel, is a bad idea since the movie should remain in its current, pure, perfect form). The first Smile was a $200 million-grossing hit, with the sequel returning a very good $131 million – and, surprisingly, improving upon the original’s traumacore themes.
SMILE 2 : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? The Gist: We need a brief recap here: You’ll recall that the “smile curse” infects a poor soul who hallucinates awful, awful stuff until they go insane and kill themselves in front of another person, who is then doomed to bear the curse. There’s also a monster involved in this, because without it, you’re just talking about Invisible Shit, and Invisible Shit sucks. Invisible Shit needs a horrific manifestation so it can become a meme and/or a recurring nightmare for people bothered by such things.
You’ll also recall how the star of the first movie, Sosie Bacon, passed on the curse to Kyle Gallner’s character, who turns up in the cold open of Smile .