Less frightening, but still plenty to smile about

The shapeshifting demon of Smile and its new sequel, Smile 2, is like an internet edgelord of evil: not only does he revel in the plight of his triggered victims, he counters that feeling with a sneer, an IRL emoji of “u. “Fear, brother?” Malice. Parker Finn's mercilessly unnerving horror sleeper introduced this unholy troll – a trickster phantom who kills his host through grisly, involuntary suicide and is then passed on like a virus to any unfortunate witnesses. Along the way, the monster takes on various human forms, each with a shit-eating ear-to-ear rictus. Rather, there is something sarcastic about this expression, right? “Don’t worry, be happy,” it grins at the growing fear.

If you've ever felt the pressure to turn that frown upside down in public appearances, you might be able to see a little of yourself in that exaggerated smile. A little less comprehensible, at least for most of us, are the emotional circumstances that “Smile 2” captures in its funhouse mirror. After all, the cursed heroine of this bloody, spirited second installment, also written and directed by Finn, just happens to be a pop star as big as Ariana. For her, this cruel Joker ray is the face of fame – of an industrial machine that demands she is always there, of a paparazzi that always says “cheese,” of screaming fans who combine their own joy with hers. This time the bogeyman paints the grotesque underside of the showbiz dream in pearly white. Talk about a resonant angle at the end of a summer ruled by Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Charli XCX.

The perfectly named Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) catches the self-harm spell after landing a front-row seat to her Vicodin dealer's face-shattering makeout session with an iron weight. The monster hit the jackpot of the troubled psyche with Skye. The star is still recovering from a car accident that almost ended her life and career – a coked-up joyride that killed her movie star boyfriend and which Finn shows us in terrifying nightmare flashbacks arranged by old Smiley . In addition to her injuries and newfound sobriety, Skye must contend with a pushy stage mother (Rosemarie DeWitt), who is now old enough to play the mother of a thirty-something – enough to frighten any actual thirty-something she still thinks of the titular bride of Rachel Getting Married), a demanding record label boss (Raúl Castillo), and her guilt over a friendship she torpedoed in the year of her narcotic life. And of course there is the pressure of a comeback tour starting within a few days.

The best moments in “Smile 2” deal with the special pressures of music business stardom. There's a great scene, hardly supernatural in nature, in which Skye – her mouth smeared with blood-red lipstick – has to make some encouraging remarks at a charity event, and when the teleprompter freezes she launches into an uncomfortably honest, off-the-cuff speech that would make that happen Make the supposedly confessional Taylor Swift blush with second-hand embarrassment. A previous encounter with a crazed stalker at a meet-and-greet illustrates that when you have a chart-topper to your credit, danger comes with just a smile. Watching the film, you might be thinking of Amy Winehouse one minute (Skye's mental and physical well-being always takes precedence over her obligations to the machine), and the newly and uncomfortably famous Roan the next.

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