In an early scene in ‘’Smile 2,’’ the fictional pop superstar Skye Riley is in her drug dealer’s apartment. ‘’Do you believe in weird stuff?’’ he asks her, between doing lines of coke.
You certainly will after this horror romp — writer-director Parker Finn's second movie that suddenly opens up the franchise with the promises of multiple directions in the future. Not for that drug dealer, though: He soon smiles at her demonically as he repeatedly slams a 35-pound gym weight into his head, making it hamburger.
''Smile 2'' lands as unsettling grins are plastered on pumpkins and politicians alike as we approach Halloween and Election Day, and the psychotic, overly made-up leads of ''Joker: Folie à Deux'' have been putting up a brave face at their terrible box-office numbers.
So it's the perfect time for a sequel to 2020's ''Smile,'' which bridged the gap between elevated art horror and straight-out, unapologetic slasher. Finn this time takes on fame, a better tonal fit than the generational trauma of the first. It's a meditation on breakdowns in the public eye, with a side dish of body horror.
We start six days after the last movie but they are barely connected — a single character for a few minutes — as we watch a demon that forces its victims to smile before meeting a gruesome end working its way into the low-level drug game.
The evil entity will eventually glom onto our heroine, Skye, a fictional Grammy-winning pop superstar akin to if Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus had a baby. We meet her a year after a horrific car crash she was in that killed her famous boyfriend and left her with a Vicodin addiction and rumors about whether she had anything to do with it. That drug dealer has now infected Skye, but she has no idea what's in store (or in score, the terrific work of Cristobal Tapia de Veer).
On thing to really beam about is leading lady Naomi Scott going for it all-out, all snot, smeared blood and wide-eyed, full on-fear. Scott manages to pour her humanity into the part — diva, whimpering, defiant, strung out, panicked. She even sings on the soundtrack — songs that are credible hits.
The smile demon collides with Skye as she's about to launch a comeback tour and the pressure is on. Finn is at his best here, mocking confessional TV interviews — a Drew Barrymore cameo, a nice touch — full of self-work and apologies: ''I let you down and I promise this will never happen again.'' Her management demands that she show up ''smile and read from the teleprompter.'' Skye's mom — on the payroll — is little help: ''You need to stay hydrated,'' she tells her after Skye is clearly in torment.