mixed feelings. this thing 95% rules. if you liked the first, just stop reading and watch this. not exactly spoilers ahead but i will mention the 5% i didn’t like and in my eyes that nod alone will taint your experience
trust me bro just watch it
the great:
- scary. watched like 20 minutes through the waffle pattern of my blanket. easily the scariest ive seen this year. this shit rocks. closet scene. poop stained undies scene. rehab center holding glass at the door moment YOWZA the moments they want to land all absolutely land
- soundtrack. as soon as the opening sequence— which is absolutely electrifying — ends and that first piece of text slaps the screen you know you’re in for a ride. shades of both oneohtrix point never and disasterpeace, and the pop songs go stupid
- tension. vic said something along the lines of “they’re so good at building it up and you can never be sure if they’re gonna let it rip” and i couldn’t agree more
- writing / plot. barring the jarring retcon, i have zero notes. this is a compelling story with pretty great worldbuilding, expanding the potential of the original while fully respecting all of its premises. opening sequence immediately shows you this, but i honestly think the movie might work just as well if you haven’t seen the first — you’d just experience the story from a more pure skye perspective. such a great idea to have the entity latch onto a pop star, and boy do they come up with some cool gimmicks to play the entity into. this whole thing — minus the fking rug pull at the end WHY — is such a tight story. all of the characters and their actions make perfect sense in a way that really does not happen for the vast majority of horror movies. most of em just get something close enough to logical then hope the viewer can stretch their suspension of disbelief for the moments that don’t stick
- featuring emma chamberlain x thunderbolts florence pugh mashup
——— ending discussion below ———
but man do they spit in your face with that ending. how do you explain skye’s moment of regaining control? why the entire pizza hut sequence at all? is morris completely hallucinated? surely not, because he reveals information to skye that could not have been hallucinated, but then again — for what purpose is the pizza hut scene orchestrated by the entity??
so dumb. if the last 100 seconds of your movie includes a “by the way the last 45 minutes was a dream sequence”, then you’d better be able to back it up with an explanation.
but for smile 2, i legitimately think the most generous interpretation of the ending is that they showed us what the real ending would look like, but couldn’t follow through with that because they want to make smile 3 and thus the bad guy can’t die
^^ this is so distasteful to me but again this thing absolutely crushes otherwise please watch it and tell me i’m wrong about the ending ugh
mixed feelings. this thing 95% rules. if you liked the first, just stop reading and watch this. not exactly spoilers ahead but i will mention the 5% i didn’t like and in my eyes that nod alone will taint your experience
trust me bro just watch it
the great:
- scary. watched like 20 minutes through the waffle pattern of my blanket. easily the scariest ive seen this year. this shit rocks. closet scene. poop stained undies scene. rehab center holding glass at the door moment YOWZA the moments they want to land all absolutely land
- soundtrack. as soon as the opening sequence— which is absolutely electrifying — ends and that first piece of text slaps the screen you know you’re in for a ride. shades of both oneohtrix point never and disasterpeace, and the pop songs go stupid
- tension. vic said something along the lines of “they’re so good at building it up and you can never be sure if they’re gonna let it rip” and i couldn’t agree more
- writing / plot. barring the jarring retcon, i have zero notes. this is a compelling story with pretty great worldbuilding, expanding the potential of the original while fully respecting all of its premises. opening sequence immediately shows you this, but i honestly think the movie might work just as well if you haven’t seen the first — you’d just experience the story from a more pure skye perspective. such a great idea to have the entity latch onto a pop star, and boy do they come up with some cool gimmicks to play the entity into. this whole thing — minus the fking rug pull at the end WHY — is such a tight story. all of the characters and their actions make perfect sense in a way that really does not happen for the vast majority of horror movies. most of em just get something close enough to logical then hope the viewer can stretch their suspension of disbelief for the moments that don’t stick
- featuring emma chamberlain x thunderbolts florence pugh mashup
——— ending discussion below ———
but man do they spit in your face with that ending. how do you explain skye’s moment of regaining control? why the entire pizza hut sequence at all? is morris completely hallucinated? surely not, because he reveals information to skye that could not have been hallucinated, but then again — for what purpose is the pizza hut scene orchestrated by the entity??
so dumb. if the last 100 seconds of your movie includes a “by the way the last 45 minutes was a dream sequence”, then you’d better be able to back it up with an explanation.
but for smile 2, i legitimately think the most generous interpretation of the ending is that they showed us what the real ending would look like, but couldn’t follow through with that because they want to make smile 3 and thus the bad guy can’t die
^^ this is so distasteful to me but again this thing absolutely crushes otherwise please watch it and tell me i’m wrong about the ending ugh
1
