Smile 2 (2024) is a psychological horror movie directed by Parker Finn, starring Naomi Scott as Skye Riley. Let’s look at how the story fits the Save the Cat beat sheet as a ‘Monster In The House’ story.
Warning: Spoilers for Smile 2 ahead.
Prologue (Intro Tag)
The Prologue (or Intro Tag, as in ‘tagged onto the beginning/ending’) isn’t a typical beat in Save the Cat (STC). Horror often has this initial beat to give a taste (usually of blood) of the events to come, but sometimes it’s used for story world context. It’s the scary version of Romeo and Juliet’s chorus prologue, or those soulful muses from Hercules.
Traditional STC often calls this the ‘Opening Scare’ for horror and includes it in the Opening Image. However, a movie like Sinners doesn’t include a scare and is more context/lore. Smile 2’s Prologue doesn’t contain our protagonist. Personally, I like calling this beat out separately, reserving the Opening Image for our protagonist (or hero, as STC uses). I like thinking of Act I as the first real focus on the protagonist’s story, and separating this beat apart helps keep that distinction.
Smile 2’s Prologue begins with a cursed Joel (from the first Smile) holding a delivery driver hostage to gain access to a drug den where he attempts to get rid of his curse. His plan to curse someone goes south when the dealer dies. As luck would have it, Joel’s accidental killing of the dealer transfers the curse to bystander witness Lewis Fregoli (a rule defined in the first movie). Joel attempts to leave, is chased by other dealers/criminals, and escapes, only to be struck and killed by a car – leaving a bloody trail in the shape of a smile.
Act I
Opening Image
Skye Riley is a pop star giving an interview at the start of a career comeback tour. She’s trying to move forward from a dark past that includes substance abuse, mental health struggles, and the death of her boyfriend.
Theme Stated
In a clever reversal on a supporting character stating the theme to the protagonist, Skye herself states it while giving her interview.
“I was dealing with a lot of stress and pressure from the demands of the tour, and I should have asked for help. Instead I drowned it all out with drugs, alcohol, and a lot of bad decisions, and I let myself get completely out of control.”
She apologizes to everyone involved in her career, vowing not to let any of them down again. She forces this belief out, clearly struggling with it, and she should struggle – she wants to believe it, but that’s not what she needs.
Skye doesn’t need to relinquish her well-being for her career, she needs to set aside her career for her well-being!
She’s already experienced what happens when her career takes over, even acknowledged it, but now she’s doubling down. She states her break has made her truly appreciate life; how do you appreciate life if you set it aside for your career?
Ironically, Skye’s own song that plays one scene later contains the lyrics ‘lost in a spiral’, ‘keep making old mistakes again’, ‘if I don’t stop I’ll end up dead’.
Setup
Skye’s world is chaotic. She has lingering scars – physical and emotional – from the car crash that took the life of her boyfriend and traumatized her. Her body is crumbling under the strain of tour prep and she’s secretly using Vicodin to numb herself. She has an overbearing mother (who is also her manager, oof) and a record label that isn’t shy about using her for their own desires.
After accidentally dropping the last of her Vicodin down the drain, Skye reaches out to her dealer, revealed to be Lewis from the Prologue. Lewis happily invites her over, but when she arrives he’s crazed and confused. He eventually calms (well, calm as Lewis could be in this situation) and goes to retrieve her drugs…
Catalyst
…but when Lewis comes back he’s attacked by some unseen assailant before growing a large smile and brutally ending himself with a weight plate. Skye is traumatized as she witnesses the whole thing in shock (look away, girl!).
As Catalyst’s go, there’s no turning back now. The image of Lewis’s death and escaping a crime scene, her world has forever changed. She can’t go back, there’s no removing that event from her life and the memory from her mind.
Debate
Will she tell? Skye chose not to call for help at Lewis’s death (remember how she said she should have done that last tour?!), and this Debate is all about her trying to maintain status quo – tour prep, photo shoots, etc. – in the wake of trauma. She considers texting an old friend she’s fallen out with, Gemma, but decides not to. Can she remain composed under the added trauma and stress?
I like this Debate because it’s subtle. ‘Will she tell?’ or ‘How will she live with this?’ isn’t directly questioned, and it’s not even a question Skye definitively answers. We already know she won’t tell, she already knows she won’t tell, she told us that’s who she is.
STC often explains the Debate as a beat where the character makes a decision in the wake of the Catalyst, but Smile 2 plays the Debate more reactionary than decisive (though this beat is traditionally both). In a way, this is the perfect horror push into Act II, as our protagonist has followed the path leading them into the tension and suffering of the new world – or as we horror fans like to call it, Fun and Games!!
Act II
Break Into Act II
The new world begins as Skye plunges into a world of scares, starting with a meet and greet that turns awkward with a few unique fans, including a little girl with a wide grin – just like the one Lewis had as he died. Using STC terms, Skye accepts the call to action to ‘continue her comeback tour while holding this great secret and maintaining her composure’, a modified version of her original goal of simply pursuing the comeback.
B Story
Skye reaches out to Gemma and the two reconnect. Skye confesses her secret of witnessing Lewis’s death to Gemma. Unfortunately for Skye, she’s already cursed (already committed the Sin, in STC horror terms), so confession won’t save her.
Fun and Games
Spoops! Skye continues tour prep but is constantly assaulted by visions, time slips, and flashbacks to her car accident. The longer this goes on, the more the veil slips and Skye’s composure (and reality) crumble. This is the promise of the premise: ‘About to embark on a world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events’ (IMDB).
Midpoint
Uh-oh, the false victory! In Smile 2, the false victory occurs when Skye meets Morris. Morris dumps a whole lot of info on Skye (it’s… a lot, tbh), and it doesn’t exactly seem like a victory; after all, Skye’s in the middle of a PR nightmare in the wake of her speech at the children’s event.
So how’s this a victory? Well, Skye has been struggling for three days trying to understand what’s going on, and prove to those around her that she isn’t using or “crazy”. This Midpoint is proof; someone acknowledges her story and believes her. Plus, Morris even tosses in something extra, a way to beat it and survive… probably!
Bad Guys Close In
Not only does the entity torment Skye further, but the other bad guys ratchet up their efforts. Her flashback reveals the dark events leading up to the accident, and her overbearing mother pressures her into continuing the tour against Skye’s well-being. Skye is beginning to recognize a change must be made – she must put her well-being ahead of her career and take control of her life.
All Is Lost
Skye’s mother tells her that if she were to cancel now ‘there are no second chances, this is it’. Her career will be over, the label will sue her, etc. Skye finally realizes there’s no asking for help – the one person that should care for her the most, her own mother, refuses to prioritize her well-being over her career.
Originally, Skye just needed to get through this tour, but now she realizes there’s no way that can happen. There’s no escape from her mental health issues (internal), and no escape from her career (external).
After Skye’s mother stabs herself repeatedly with a mirror shard, it is revealed Skye is actually the one holding the shard. Was it the entity? Was it Skye? What the heck is even real right now?!
Dark Night of the Soul
Metaphorically, Skye’s choice to put her well-being first IS the shard that she feels kills her mother. In her Dark Night, Skye reflects on everything that has happened to her to force her hand, in both this decision and her mother’s death. How will she ever recover from the disappointment she causes others by choosing herself?
Act III
Break Into Act III
On her way out of the hospital Skye yells ‘Fuck the tour!’ (character arc a-ha!) and knows her only solution is Morris’s plan (plot a-ha!). But the entity isn’t done with her – surprise, Gemma and Skye never reconnected, the entity was Gemma all along!
Finale
Gathering the Team
Skye drives herself to New Jersey where she meets Morris, who reveals a makeshift operating room in an abandoned Pizza Hut. Morris and the location are both forms of team (or resources) gathered to end this once and for all.
Executing the Plan
Skye prepares to be (temporarily) killed. She changes into a hospital gown, lays on the icy cold table, and awaits her death. However, Morris suddenly steps out to “get something”. C’mon Morris!
High Tower Surprise
Surprise, the entity is here, and it looks like Skye’s past self! Time for a showdown – new Skye versus old Skye.
Dig Deep Down
After the entity stuns Skye with some big eyes (and rows and rows and rows of teeth), Skye closes her eyes tightly, refusing the entity’s call to “Look at me!”. When Skye finally opens them again, she’s filled with fight, and uses her teeth to chomp down on past Skye’s fingers.
Execution of New Plan
Skye’s iron jaw move is super effective, and it’s enough to stagger the entity back so she can get the syringe that will stop her heart. She quickly grabs it, and injects it into her own neck! Skye wins! Wait, you said this is a horror movie, and the protagonists don’t always win…?
Final Image
After confronting the entity face to monstrous face on stage, Skye recovers and stands, revealing a huge smile. We know what’s coming, and the movie ends after Skye ends herself in front of her adoring fans (look away, people!), with a final shot of a microphone stabbed into her eye. In the end, Skye put her comeback first, and her career (symbolized by the microphone) killed her.
