It’s possible to check out the opening minutes of “Smile 2” online for free if you’re willing to be a bit creepy.
Paramount set up a website on Halloween where visitors could watch the first 7 minutes of “Smile 2.” The trick to get access to the opening is to flip on your camera and hold a smile. If you stop smiling at any moment during the clip, the camera registers it and the video cuts off. The pause video only continues once you put a smile back on your face.
Crack and hold a smile and watch the first seven minutes of the film here.
The film is a sequel to Parker Finn’s 2022 original “Smile.” The films follow people dealing with repressed trauma in their past being haunted by visions of people following them around with rictus grins until it eventually drives them to kill themselves. The first film follows a psychiatrist but the sequel focuses on a rising pop star haunted by the smile. Here’s the official logline:
“About to embark on a world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her past.”
The entry was another success story for the series and for Paramount. It pulled in $23 million opening weekend. TheWrap reviewer William Bibbiani said the horror sequel was more of the same but that didn’t mean that was a bad thing.
“‘Smile 2’ is more of the same. A lot more. But it’s just as scary, and this time it’s feistier and funnier, proving that the premise has legs and also some malleability. Whether or not there’s any hope for the rest of us there’s still hope for the ‘Smile’ franchise, and in a world full of misery and malignancy, at least that’s one thing we can grin about.”
“Smile 2” stars Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Peter Jacobson.
