Smile 2 4K UHD (2024)

[birdztudio]

if anybody really liked Kyle Gallner from the first one (and also this one) i suggest you find Strange Darling, he and Willa Fitzgerald were pretty amazing in it...

[DaylightsEnd]

Originally Posted by Law212

I didn't like the first movie but I loved this one.

I've heard this sentiment expressed about this film series more than any other horror franchise I can think of in the last 15 years. I totally agree. I hope we see another sequel, and/or would even welcome something totally unrelated from him in the horror genre, because I think this director continues to noticeably improve his writing and filming efforts with his new-found experience.

[rocknblues81]

I liked the first movie.

Aot recent horror movies like Megan, Black Phone, Smile and others kind of fall in the same line. Good, but not great. Smile seemed almost too episodic in places, but Bacon's daughter I think kept it from being better. In movies like this you need either a protagonist that you can root for or at least find interesting. She just isn't.

[seamus11]

Originally Posted by Law212

The opening was so good. Did he walk past a man on fire that only he could see? It happened so fast I wasnt sure.

[Show spoiler]That was hallucination of Rose from the ending of the first movie.

[Lacrymosa]

Originally Posted by DaylightsEnd

I was pleasantly surprised by Smile 2. It was creative, powerfully acted, and entertaining. The script is strong and innovative, with good dialog and a very unpredictable progression of events. I thought the directing, filming, editing, creepy electronica scoring, and aggressive pacing were equally strong. Very good gore effects as well, save just a couple extra-cheese cgi "creature" events that didn't even need to be in the film, but didn't hurt it much, either. The uhd is solid with great black levels and punchy audio, which helps matters.

Actually, the creature effects are practical - it’s actually really amazing how much work they put into it. There are some images online, but there is also a short featurette on the disc that shows it all. That doesn’t change the fact that you found it cheesy of course (I can see why some people feel that way), however I actually think the creature effects in these films are horrifying and are part of the reason I rate them so highly (along with the anxiety inducing build up). They go for something a bit different and jarring, which I love. But our reactions are all subjective of course!

[Law212]

Originally Posted by MuffinMcFluffin

[Show spoiler]If you recall, the first film ends with Rose lighting herself on fire. That is the image that he is seeing.

The shot is kind of weird though because it looks like somebody wearing like a motorcycle helmet with a visor or something, instead of looking like Rose (or a person in general). Probably the only safe way they could safely achieve the shot, even if composited into the oner.

I forgot about that until you mentioned it. It was quick and like you said it looked like a man with a helmet on...

[Law212]

Originally Posted by seamus11

[Show spoiler]That was hallucination of Rose from the ending of the first movie.

Yeah that makes sense. I didnt realize it until someone mentioned it here a bit earlier. Thanks. It was a super cool scene

[Law212]

Originally Posted by Lacrymosa

Actually, the creature effects are practical - it’s actually really amazing how much work they put into it. There are some images online, but there is also a short featurette on the disc that shows it all. That doesn’t change the fact that you found it cheesy of course (I can see why some people feel that way), however I actually think the creature effects in these films are horrifying and are part of the reason I rate them so highly (along with the anxiety inducing build up). They go for something a bit different and jarring, which I love. But our reactions are all subjective of course!

I found the effects mostly good. WIth some not so good.

[Show spoiler]The opening scene where he takes the knife and cuts up the drug dealers brother was not great but not the worst cgi blood ive seen. But he was able to cut through the guy far to easily.

the shot of the main characters drug dealers face when smashing himself with the weight was bad CGi as was some of the effects on the mom when she got cut up. Though the shots of the main girl coming apart were very good. Also the creature looked amazing.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this one. It was well done and the ending....

Also, someone let me know...

[Show spoiler]Was the guy texting her that she met up with saying he can help her even real or just another mind eff by the creature?

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by DaylightsEnd

I've heard this sentiment expressed about this film series more than any other horror franchise I can think of in the last 15 years. I totally agree. I hope we see another sequel, and/or would even welcome something totally unrelated from him in the horror genre, because I think this director continues to noticeably improve his writing and filming efforts with his new-found experience.

I'm in the same boat. I thought Smile 1, though commendable in effort, was stacked with derivative elements and plot points. I predicted where the narrative was going almost scene by scene.

Smile 2 felt more creatively free, and Parker Finn definitely leveled up with potential to just keep getting better and better.

[dubhousing]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

I liked the first movie.

I did, as well, but I agree with the popular sentiment that Smile 2 is a significant upgrade in quality. I like it so much that I've watched it three times already (once in a theater, twice at home).

I think Naomi Scott should have been nominated for an Academy Award, though I understand why she wasn't (a horror film, and a sequel, no less, is a hard sell).

[MuffinMcFluffin]

Originally Posted by Law212

Also, someone let me know...

[Show spoiler]Was the guy texting her that she met up with saying he can help her even real or just another mind eff by the creature?

I think, until or unless a third film comes out and addresses any of this (which it likely won't), writer/director Parker Finn did enough to give us our own interpretation of certain moments. Your above was one of them, and it can be thought up many ways.

[Show spoiler]Allow me to digress though, because remember that Skye meets with Morris twice in the film, so it's worth asking about both encouters.

1) Personally, I believe that Skye's initial meet-up with Morris really happened.

One could argue that any of the information Morris provides could be provided by the Smile entity itself, which is possible since it lived in the heads of all of those individuals before it (as he mentions the cop, doctor, and college professor); however, because she received a text message with a video that Lewis made, I don't believe it is capable of sending physical messages (unless inhabiting another body) or creating an illusion from a vantage point outside of the person who's presently inhabited.

That being said, no one else interacts with Morris in the moment and he does give information that could sound feasible to Skye from the entity (asking her to kill herself), so the meet-up itself could still very well be imagined. There is a deleted scene of Skye's mom in her apartment telling her to stay inside and communicate with her label, etc. as Skye puts on her undercover getup, so I think it's safe to say she went to the meet-up at the very least.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2) I do not think the encounter in the Pizza Hut freezer at Staten Island was real.

Then again, I don't think anything after the encounter with the dancers in her apartment was real (of course that itself wasn't real, but we can probably at least say she had a manic episode in her bathroom, which explains that she was likely the one who trashed her dressing room earlier but we didn't see it), except for the end concert scene. So once you see the dancer's arm go into her mouth, I think that was kind of the possession which took Skye onto autopilot until the end of the film when she is on stage. Everything in between that we saw was a hallucination controlled by the entity.

We've seen the entity control time and events of its host in the movie before, like when Lewis initially texts Skye, when he runs out of his bedroom area wondering where she came from, and between the moment when Skye calls Gemma and then a few short minutes later she's arrived.

Anyway, after the dancer arm thing is the crazy day that follows when she's in the hospital, but if I believe everything afterward didn't happen, this means that Skye wasn't hospitalized (or she was, but once the mom looks like a smiler then we're in hallucination mode), she didn't kill her mom, she didn't break out of the hospital, neither Gemma nor a smiler version of Gemma were with her in the car, and of course she did not meet up with Morris, etc.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now, if somebody were to ask about Gemma...

I have seen countless reaction videos of this movie online, and by the end of the movie all of them arrive at the same conclusion regarding Gemma: "Wait a minute, that means GEMMA WAS NEVER WITH HER!"

Not necessarily! If you follow your own logic after seeing the mom alive at the end, it's that that occurrence in the car (and with the phone call) never happened to begin with, including the phone call from "real Gemma" as "smiler Gemma" is with Skye in the car. So it's entirely possible that Gemma really slept over at Skye's place earlier in the film, obviously with a hallucination in the middle of the night containing the smiler.

Now, if you listen to the director commentary, he kind of suggests otherwise, but not definitively so. He just says that the audience kind of draws new conclusions as the film continues to develop.

[CrimsonLegionVMCXIX]

I prefer 1 over 2, though that may not be a popular sentiment here. However, Naomi was much better than Sosie. 2 felt like it was breaking its own rules just for the hell of it. Either way, I enjoy both of them quite a bit.

[birdztudio]

Originally Posted by CrimsonLegionVMCXIX

I prefer 1 over 2, though that may not be a popular sentiment here. However, Naomi was much better than Sosie. 2 felt like it was breaking its own rules just for the hell of it. Either way, I enjoy both of them quite a bit.

you're on point and i felt exactly the same

[Show spoiler]for the 2nd one i really really liked the opening scenes (Kyle was amazing) but many scenes were too comical for me especially one with all the dancers smiled and kept following Skye, i knew that many people found the scene was really creepy but for me i think it was ridiculous and i couldn't stop laughing... not that i don't like this one though... but i still find the first one had a better tone but yeah i agreed Naomi was freaking amazing in this one...

[Law212]

Originally Posted by MuffinMcFluffin

I think, until or unless a third film comes out and addresses any of this (which it likely won't), writer/director Parker Finn did enough to give us our own interpretation of certain moments. Your above was one of them, and it can be thought up many ways.

[Show spoiler]Allow me to digress though, because remember that Skye meets with Morris twice in the film, so it's worth asking about both encouters.

1) Personally, I believe that Skye's initial meet-up with Morris really happened.

One could argue that any of the information Morris provides could be provided by the Smile entity itself, which is possible since it lived in the heads of all of those individuals before it (as he mentions the cop, doctor, and college professor); however, because she received a text message with a video that Lewis made, I don't believe it is capable of sending physical messages (unless inhabiting another body) or creating an illusion from a vantage point outside of the person who's presently inhabited.

That being said, no one else interacts with Morris in the moment and he does give information that could sound feasible to Skye from the entity (asking her to kill herself), so the meet-up itself could still very well be imagined. There is a deleted scene of Skye's mom in her apartment telling her to stay inside and communicate with her label, etc. as Skye puts on her undercover getup, so I think it's safe to say she went to the meet-up at the very least.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2) I do not think the encounter in the Pizza Hut freezer at Staten Island was real.

Then again, I don't think anything after the encounter with the dancers in her apartment was real (of course that itself wasn't real, but we can probably at least say she had a manic episode in her bathroom, which explains that she was likely the one who trashed her dressing room earlier but we didn't see it), except for the end concert scene. So once you see the dancer's arm go into her mouth, I think that was kind of the possession which took Skye onto autopilot until the end of the film when she is on stage. Everything in between that we saw was a hallucination controlled by the entity.

We've seen the entity control time and events of its host in the movie before, like when Lewis initially texts Skye, when he runs out of his bedroom area wondering where she came from, and between the moment when Skye calls Gemma and then a few short minutes later she's arrived.

Anyway, after the dancer arm thing is the crazy day that follows when she's in the hospital, but if I believe everything afterward didn't happen, this means that Skye wasn't hospitalized (or she was, but once the mom looks like a smiler then we're in hallucination mode), she didn't kill her mom, she didn't break out of the hospital, neither Gemma nor a smiler version of Gemma were with her in the car, and of course she did not meet up with Morris, etc.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now, if somebody were to ask about Gemma...

I have seen countless reaction videos of this movie online, and by the end of the movie all of them arrive at the same conclusion regarding Gemma: "Wait a minute, that means GEMMA WAS NEVER WITH HER!"

Not necessarily! If you follow your own logic after seeing the mom alive at the end, it's that that occurrence in the car (and with the phone call) never happened to begin with, including the phone call from "real Gemma" as "smiler Gemma" is with Skye in the car. So it's entirely possible that Gemma really slept over at Skye's place earlier in the film, obviously with a hallucination in the middle of the night containing the smiler.

Now, if you listen to the director commentary, he kind of suggests otherwise, but not definitively so. He just says that the audience kind of draws new conclusions as the film continues to develop.

wow. yeah its a lot to think about. I love it. Need a second viewing soon for sure.

[Show spoiler]Because of the text messages at the end, i got the feeling Gemma was always fake... but maybe those messages were fake. geez.

[dubhousing]

Originally Posted by MuffinMcFluffin

I think, until or unless a third film comes out and addresses any of this (which it likely won't), writer/director Parker Finn did enough to give us our own interpretation of certain moments. Your above was one of them, and it can be thought up many ways.

I agree with you on

[Show spoiler]Morris being real. He never reveals himself as being a "smile" demon, for one. If he were, he would have revealed it at some point. Also, he explains the chain of the curse and how it came to Sky, which isn't something Sky would know - and, like you said, it's unlikely one of the "smile" demons would have revealed that, or even known it.

I can't reconcile why he disappears, though.

[Kubrick0730]

PBWA5EUJUG7DFCQ3

Enjoy.

[MifuneFan]

For anyone wondering, it was redeemed instantly by a bot.

[MuffinMcFluffin]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

For anyone wondering, it was redeemed instantly by a bot.

Is that really a thing, or is that made up? I'm bad at detecting sarcasm.

If that's the case, then we should have to CAPTCHA it somehow, or have people request PM's to you (unfortunately you'd get flooded).

[MuffinMcFluffin]

Originally Posted by dubhousing

I agree with you on

[Show spoiler]Morris being real. He never reveals himself as being a "smile" demon, for one. If he were, he would have revealed it at some point. Also, he explains the chain of the curse and how it came to Sky, which isn't something Sky would know - and, like you said, it's unlikely one of the "smile" demons would have revealed that, or even known it.

I can't reconcile why he disappears, though.

To be clear to my own quote by the way, when I parenthetically said "which it likely won't," that wasn't in reference to a third film coming out, but rather a third film addressing Skye's storyline and the ambiguity surrounding it. The third film will happen.

Now, in response to you...

[Show spoiler]I still ponder over whether the smiler entity can maintain knowledge of previous hosts and use that against a new host, or it can only use what its current host knows.

I do not think the Pizza Hut moment was real though, since I don't think Skye did any of the stuff since "killing her mom."

The whole freezer scene was strange, though. Why would Morris ditch her? Was he just intent on killing her, thereby killing the entity? Was he really going to come back, but then the entity took over her mind? It was just a strange occurrence overall, but I also don't think it was real.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by MuffinMcFluffin

Is that really a thing, or is that made up? I'm bad at detecting sarcasm.

If that's the case, then we should have to CAPTCHA it somehow, or have people request PM's to you (unfortunately you'd get flooded).

Definitely looks to be a thing. Every code posted is redeemed pretty much instantly based on the redemption timestamps. Unless there's human lurkers who are just constantly insanely fast at redeeming everything, I have to assume there's bots using scripts to redeem codes as soon as they're posted anywhere.