A slick, high-energy sequel that leans harder into pop-star psychodrama than the first film, with strong lead work, punishing sound design, and a glossy nightmare atmosphere. It’s more effective as a stress-fueled celebrity horror ride than as a puzzle-box mystery.
About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.
Director
Parker Finn
Cast
Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage
Curator Review
Verdict
A slick, high-energy sequel that leans harder into pop-star psychodrama than the first film, with strong lead work, punishing sound design, and a glossy nightmare atmosphere. It’s more effective as a stress-fueled celebrity horror ride than as a puzzle-box mystery.
Best for
viewers who like horror about fame, performance, and public breakdowns
fans of loud, jump-scare-driven theatrical horror
people who enjoy stylish, music-adjacent psychological horror
audiences looking for a strong central performance in a genre film
Skip if
you want tightly explained supernatural rules
you dislike relentless jump scares and sensory assault
you prefer subtle, slow-burn horror over glossy chaos
you were hoping for a warm or campy music-industry drama
Overview
Smile 2 takes the franchise’s basic idea and gives it a more vivid, more exhausting engine: a pop star whose life is already collapsing under scrutiny, pressure, and old trauma. That setup gives the film a stronger emotional spine than a standard haunted-celebrity premise, and Naomi Scott carries a lot of the movie’s tension with a performance that keeps shifting between control, panic, and performance mode.
Worth noting
Parker Finn stages the horror with a polished, aggressive style. The movie is built around jolts, distorted perception, and a sense that every public space can turn hostile at any second. It can feel overstuffed and a little slippery in its logic, but the audiovisual craft is the point: this is horror as a tour stop from hell.
Bottom line
If the first film felt like an effective concept proof, this sequel feels like a bigger, meaner showcase. It’s not especially interested in clean answers, but it is interested in making anxiety feel contagious. For viewers in the mood for a glossy, high-decibel nightmare with a strong lead performance, it delivers.
Top Letterboxd reviews
jer ☘️ (4★) · 25523 likes
This happens when you don't thank Beyoncé
Sydney🚀 (3★) · 18306 likes
Naomi Scott is so good in this but the most impressive part was how she was continuously just downing entire bottles of Voss water like a fucking champ
ash (2.5★) · 16170 likes
This is going to ruin the tour
corey👻 (4★) · 14648 likes
lady raven and skye riley cunty world tour when
tcd98 (4★) · 12980 likes
Who wants to live that badly
Themes
celebrity pressure, trauma and repression, performance anxiety, loss of control, public image vs private collapse, supernatural horror, psychological deterioration, fame as a nightmare
Topics
psychological horror, supernatural thriller, celebrity culture, pop music, performance anxiety, trauma, jump scares, stylized horror, body horror, 2020s