6.5/10
This reminded me of It Follows and Fallen (‘It Fallens’?) in the transcendence of infection through slight encounter to inflict trauma by passing from host to host. This sequel upped the scale which I enjoyed but made it feel slightly more disjointed than its predecessor. I really felt the desperation of Skye Riley and almost couldn’t watch a few of the public freakout scenes from second-hand embarrassment (but I cringe at that stuff pretty easily). When a starlet contracts the smile demon, she loses her grasp on her second chance at people pleasing via massacring personal relationships on a pop star world tour.
Loved the deaths and the quick flashbacks to other fatalities. Also, that beginning was next level with poor Kyle Gallner trying to pass on his demon. Hated the melding of hallucination with reality constantly causing me to question every interaction; it got tiresome by the third act but I did love the play-out of the entity tormenting poor Skye. Was easily predicable by the end and felt it could’ve played more into a finale than the concept of another sequel.
#smile2#saycheese#dontsmile#dontyoudarecrackasmile#frowns#starletdownfall#demons#horrorfilms#horrmovies#horror