The best new horror movie for Halloween comes with high reviews

In the October leading up to Halloween, we’ll see a number of high-profile horror films trying to make a name for themselves, and one of them is Smile 2, which hits theaters tomorrow, October 18th.

The horror film is a sequel to 2022’s “Smile,” in which a demonic presence infects people, causing them to smile creepily before committing violence and spreading to the next victim. It gained widespread attention through viral marketing that hired actors to smile creepily while freezing in place at places like baseball games, which made it onto television.

Now Smile 2 is here and is rated quite well. Many reviews I’ve seen say it’s better than the original and improves in every way, but… the numbers say it’s exactly, er, 1% better than the original. “Smile 2” currently sits at 81% on Rotten Tomatoes and does not yet have an audience rating, and “Smile 1” had an 80% critic rating and a 77% audience rating. Here are a few of the reviews:

• Bloody Disgusting: “It’s not just the sequel’s razor-sharp and imaginative bloody horrors that surpass its predecessor, but also a deeply complicated heroine that defines the edgier style of horror.”
• IGN Movies: “From the writer and director of the 2022 horror film “Smile” comes a solid sequel that brings to life the suicidal hex phantom of a pop star, played by Aladdin actress Naomi Scott – in a highly explosive, committed performance .
• The Wrap: “Smile 2 is more of the same. Much more. But it’s just as scary, and this time it’s livelier and funnier, proving that the premise holds up and also has a certain malleability.”

And here’s another negative for a bit of consideration:

• Kristomania: “What started out as an inventive little horror film turns into a boring, generic drama with a runtime so bloated that you wonder if everyone has simply forgotten what kind of film they are making.”

The bloated running time is two hours and seven minutes, which is admittedly on the high end for a horror film, although barely The tedious.

This is an interesting twist for actress Naomi Scott, best known for her role as Princess Jasmine in the live-action adaptation of Aladdin. Needless to say, it’s quite a change for her to turn to this genre. The original film didn’t have a very well-known cast, but it’s interesting to go back and see Kyle Gallner in it, starring in Strange Darling, in my opinion the best horror film of all in 2024.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the original Smile. I thought it was okay, but kind of a poor man’s version of It Follows, and it’s probably outside my list of the 100 best horror movies of all time (I’ve seen a lot of horror movies). I’ll probably watch it while streaming, but given that it’s October and the first film did well, I’d expect it to do solidly in theaters.

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