Smile 2

I really enjoyed the first movie (even more than I thought I would) so I was really excited for Smile 2 with my nephew last night.  We both loved it and I think it improves upon its predecessor in every way!  Joel (Kyle Gallner), the police officer who witnessed Rose Cotter's suicide, inadvertently passes on the curse to a drug dealer named Lewis Fregoli (Lukas Gage).  Meanwhile, pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is attempting a comeback, including a world tour, even though she is still struggling with addiction and trauma from a car accident that killed her boyfriend Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson). She evades her mother/manager Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt) and assistant Joshua (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) to to visit Lewis for some Vicodin after injuring her back during a rehearsal but she witnesses his derangement and eventual suicide instead.  Skye begins having hallucinations stemming from her trauma but her mother, assistant, and record producer (Raul Castillo) force her to continue preparing for the tour with tragic consequences.  What I liked most about the original is the discussion about the effects of repressed trauma and this adds the element of addiction which is very powerful.  It is also really interesting that Riley is a pop star because she has the added responsibility to carry on and smile for everyone who is counting on her, especially in a scene where she is forced to interact with fans who all want and need something from her, so this takes the central metaphor to a more extreme conclusion.  Scott gives a riveting performance as a pop star and her terror is palpable whenever she is unable to determine what is real.  Speaking of which, there are some truly terrifying sequences and quite a few jump scares for which I was unprepared!  I loved all of the gore so I was a bit disappointed by the restraint shown in the final scene (but this is a minor criticism).  This definitely amps up everything I loved about the first one and I highly recommend it to fans of horror.