'Smile 2' has a brutal ending that blows the horror franchise's potential future wide open

• "Smile 2" has a memorable, perfectly bonkers ending.
• How it ends leaves nan doorway unfastened for nan franchise to continue, arsenic does its box-office success.
• The first movie was a box-office deed successful 2022, and nan sequel is search good too.

One of nan astir anticipated horror movies of nan twelvemonth is yet successful theaters. And boy, does it unrecorded up to nan hype.

"Smile 2" is nan sequel to nan 2022 movie "Smile," which starred Sosie Bacon arsenic a psychiatrist named Rose Cotter who finds herself nan unfortunate of a curse aft witnessing a diligent dice by suicide.

That diligent had antecedently watched different personification dice by suicide, and nan movie yet reveals that there's an unexplained supernatural entity haunting its victims by taking nan shape of various smiling people. The animal mentally and physically tortures its chosen unfortunate for respective days, earlier yet possessing nan unfortunate and forcing them to termination themselves successful beforehand of different personification — who, successful turn, becomes nan adjacent unfortunate successful nan chain.

The first movie was nan characteristic debut of filmmaker Parker Finn, who returns arsenic nan writer-director of nan sequel.

Here's what to cognize astir nan "Smile 2" plot, that wildly twisted 3rd enactment and ending, and nan early of nan series.

Warning: Major spoilers up for "Smile 2," including nan ending.

'Smile 2' has a caller main character: popular prima Skye Riley

"Smile 2" initially opens connected a characteristic we met successful nan first movie: Kyle Gallner's Joel, a constabulary serviceman and Rose's ex-boyfriend who witnessed her decease by self-immolation astatine nan extremity of nan 2022 movie and thereby inherited nan curse from her. It seems astatine first arsenic though he'll beryllium nan personification we're pursuing successful nan sequel, but that's a misdirect.

In reality, Joel is only successful nan first fewer minutes of nan movie, wherever we spot him termination a supplier dealer's lackey successful an effort to relieve himself of nan curse by passing it connected to different personification (the first movie established that nan only loophole for escaping nan Smile Entity involves sidesplitting different personification yourself and making judge personification sees it). Things spell sideways almost immediately, erstwhile Joel accidentally shoots and kills nan supplier trader himself, past is tally down and killed by a car erstwhile he flees nan supplier dealer's gang.

A caller character, low-level supplier trader Lewis (Lukas Gage), is nan unwitting recipient of nan curse aft he accidentally sees Joel termination some nan trader and his lackey erstwhile he's stopping by to prime up drugs. But Lewis, too, isn't agelong for this world; he's only nan conveyance by which nan entity's curse is passed connected to our caller starring woman — troubled popular prima Skye Riley (Naomi Scott).

When we first meet her, Skye is simply a recovering supplier addict. After a car clang near her severely injured and killed her boyfriend, character Paul Hudson (played by Ray Nicholson, nan boy of Jack Nicholson), who was driving, she's preparing for her comeback world tour. Still successful chronic symptom but incapable to get a expert to prescribe her painkillers owed to her past constituent misuse, Skye turns to her erstwhile precocious schoolhouse classmate Lewis to get Vicodin.

Lewis is connected nan tail extremity of nan Smile Entity's curse erstwhile Skye arrives astatine his apartment. Strung retired connected coke and wildly paranoid aft days of seeing nan smiling creature, Lewis abruptly (and graphically) starts grinning astatine Skye earlier calmly smashing his ain look unfastened pinch a gym weight.

Though we don't spot nan entity onscreen, viewers who person seen nan first movie admit that Lewis was possessed, and has now passed nan curse onto Skye. Now, Skye must woody pinch a literal demon connected apical of her metaphorical individual demons: specifically, nan intelligence wellness problems that person led her to push distant everyone adjacent to her.

That includes her mom-manager Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt), her saccharine and well-intentioned adjunct Joshua (Miles Gutierrez-Riley), and her ex-best friend Gemma (Dylan Gelula), who trim ties pinch Skye correct earlier her near-fatal mishap nan twelvemonth prior.

The 'Smile 2' ending features twists upon twists

Throughout nan film, Skye contends pinch being haunted by nan entity, which often takes nan shape of her overzealous fans (including 1 creeper from a meet-and-greet who attacked her). She gets support from her erstwhile friend Gemma, who amazingly easy agrees to forgive Skye for her toxic behaviour passim their relationship erstwhile Skye reaches retired for thief successful nan early days of nan curse.

Meanwhile, Skye is besides receiving incessant matter messages from a alien who tells her that they cognize she was astatine Lewis' flat nan nighttime he died. After a disastrous kindness quality leads to a meltdown erstwhile nan entity takes nan shape of Skye's dormant boyfriend, she yet agrees to meet pinch nan texter and learns he's a imaginable ally: Morris (Peter Jacobson), an ER nurse, who tells her that his relative was besides a unfortunate of nan Smile Entity further backmost successful nan chain.

Upon meeting, Morris tells Skye that he believes nan only measurement they tin extremity nan entity for bully is to extremity Skye's bosom while she's unsocial successful a room, temporarily sidesplitting her and thereby depriving nan entity of a big to jump complete to.

Initially, Skye is horrified by nan suggestion. But things quickly get moreover worse for her. Later, she returns to her apartment, wherever she's confronted by nan entity, which has taken nan shape of a swarm of her fans. They onslaught her, and 1 reaches its manus into her mouth, apparently to person her.

When Skye awakens, she's successful a backstage rehab facility, being watched complete by her mother and Joshua. Left alone, Skye and her mother person a confrontation wherever her mother rails against her for letting everyone down by asking to cancel nan tour. Soon, Skye's mother is revealed to beryllium nan entity successful disguise, which we spot stab itself many times pinch a surgery shard of mirror.

Skye goes to fly earlier realizing she's covered successful blood: It looks for illustration she killed her ain mother, contempt Skye (and nan audience) seeing nan entity stab itself.

In a panic, Skye flees nan infirmary aft a confrontation pinch Joshua, immoderate doctors, and rehab security. She runs into Gemma, who was en way to nan rehab installation to sojourn her, and steals an Uber driver's car astatine gunpoint to caput to Staten Island; having tally retired of options and not wanting anyone other to die, she's agreed to meet Morris to enact his scheme to extremity her bosom to conclusion nan entity.

Gemma hops successful nan car pinch Skye, insisting connected sticking pinch her and saying she's her "ride aliases die." The heartwarming infinitesimal is trim short erstwhile nan real Gemma calls Skye connected nan phone, revealing that nan entity has been Gemma each along: Gemma ne'er really called Skye backmost aliases came to spot her aft Skye's first voicemail apologizing for their falling retired a twelvemonth earlier.

The entity vanishes aft taunting Skye by telling her that Gemma hates her, revealing that Skye, not Gemma, has been driving nan car nan full time. Skye arrives astatine nan abandoned Pizza Hut that Morris has rented retired — its freezer, he says, will let them to get her assemblage somesthesia debased capable to forestall encephalon harm while they extremity her bosom for 9 minutes.

Morris sets everything up successful nan freezer, which conveniently has a doorway that will only unfastened from nan outside, past leaves to spell "get something." At that point, Skye sees nan type of herself critically injured aft nan car clang suspended from nan ceiling: It's nan Smile Entity, having taken nan shape of her past self.

The entity-as-past-Skye taunts Skye, telling her, "You'll ne'er flight who you genuinely are connected nan inside." Skye fights disconnected nan animal and manages to get her hands connected nan injection to extremity her ain heart. This appears to work, arsenic nan entity shrieks — only to uncover it's yet different fakeout and nary of this conflict has really happened.

"You're not successful control. I am," it says, earlier pushing Skye done a doorway that reveals she's really connected shape mid-performance connected nan opening nighttime of her tour.

Skye's very overmuch live mom and Joshua are successful nan audience, appearing to propose that it wasn't conscionable nan erstwhile segment successful nan freezer that wasn't existent but everything that happened astatine nan backstage rehab installation too, including Skye's evident execution of her mother.

A horrified Skye looks retired connected nan massive, cheering crowd from nan stage, past sees nan entity (now appearing arsenic a double of her existent aforesaid successful her performance outfit) successful beforehand of her. The double tears unfastened its scar and nan entity emerges from its corpse, climbing into Skye's rima and possessing her.

The movie past cuts to nan audience's perspective, wherever it appears that Skye is having a seizure onstage; nan entity isn't visible to them. The concerned assemblage cheers erstwhile Skye recovers and gets up, a wide grin covering her face.

Having successfully possessed Skye, nan entity forces Skye to termination herself connected shape successful beforehand of thousands of fans. We don't really spot Skye termination herself, but nan camera remains focused connected nan horrified reactions of nan performance attendees watching it happen. In nan last shot, we spot Skye, lying dormant connected stage, pinch her sparkling microphone stabbed done her eye. A literal mic drop.

What does this mean for 'Smile 3' and nan franchise's future?

The first "Smile" movie was a box-office smash backmost successful 2022, making complete $217 cardinal worldwide. Deadline moreover named it one of nan year's astir valuable blockbusters successful position of profit. It doesn't look that was a one-off either; "Smile 2" is search good truthful far, topping nan first film's debut pinch a $23 cardinal opening. That each makes it difficult to ideate Paramount wouldn't want to bid much sequels if writer-director Parker Finn is game.

The ending of "Smile 2" cleverly opens up nan world of nan franchise truthful that early installments could spell successful immoderate number of directions. Now that an arena afloat of fans person witnessed Skye's decease astatine nan hands of nan entity (plus nan millions much who astir apt watched it streaming), it could conceivably infect any, aliases all, of them, theoretically spreading its curse worldwide.

(And possibly wiping retired humanity successful nan process? Who's to say!)

Finn besides avoided a communal genre pitfall: overly explaining nan quality of your monster. Viewers extremity "Smile 2" conscionable arsenic clueless astir nan quality of this animal arsenic they were astatine nan extremity of nan first movie. None of nan characters person immoderate thought what this point is, aliases whether it has immoderate weaknesses that would let it to beryllium defeated, and neither do we.

Hopefully, Finn will proceed to stay astatine nan helm of nan franchise should it continue. He's already said he's sewage plans for a 3rd movie lined up, though "Smile 3" hasn't been officially confirmed yet.

"There are immoderate ideas that I deliberation are very exciting. I deliberation it's really nosy to ideate a lineage of 'Smile' movies wherever each 1 becomes much disconnected nan rails than nan erstwhile one," Finn told SFX Magazine.

"Smile 2" is now successful theaters.