grillmasterj

The beginning of the movie takes a little bit too much time in establishing the setup for the rest of the film, and then the ending itself feels rather rushed.

In a way, it's a rehash of the first film in a different context without adding a lot to the lore of how the curse actually works and expanding the range of plot developments (well ok, maybe it does a little bit but it's not really developed that much). That's what I was hoping for in the sequel and sadly, this is where it disappoints. Maybe the idea of the Smile films is to explore an each lead character's trauma, but this sequel should've been able to do both with a bit more script editing(?).

That said, I'm sitting writing out this review trying to relax the knot in my stomach right after watching the film; it has good jump scares and other things that happen that are just really messed up, along with just a tad bit too much gore, lol). And the Naomi Scott's absolutely incredible and believable as the lead character.

All in all, fun scary entertainment but a bit of re-tread of the first film. It'll be interesting to see what happens if there's another sequel.

I like the 70's throwback feel that is heavily influenced by the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but feels very predictable after a slow burn of a start. It's unfortunate that it's fairly familiar territory. I've simply never been a big fan of this sort of horror film bc it feels...nihilistic I suppose?

The film does a great job of creating some sort of sympathy for all the characters in the film besides the evil ones. And it does do an excellent job of creating suspenseful dread. Also towards the end of the film, there's one truly horrific moment that I am going to try and erase from my memory. I'll just say it was nasty, lol, nobody needs to see that sort of thing. Wtf.

Mila Goth does have something special.

I wish the imdb would let people rate with half stars. I'd give this a 6.5.