E129: Smile 2(2024) | Spoiler Review & Discussion

Slash and cast behind a mask. It could be anything, something to make you scream, something you've never seen god lacking knife, you snare can be zomead you iss, you never bed chosen for the Slasher sceed not your right movie space. Don't you from there? Holl faithful Philliston take the Slasher has no tell outcome about until Make Every Death Count? What's happening? Love is what's going on? We gonna get tropical. We're gonna get tropical. Welcome back to another episode of Make Every Death Count, brought to you by the slash Cast Podcast Network. We're your hostess. My name is Riley, my name is Nick. Did that that was crazy? I didn't lose a step. But there was no practice round there. No, there's no practice round there. Just did that. I can't believe I haven't said that in what we got it? Creeping up on a year? Yeah, yeah, eight months, nine months, ten months. Maybe we threw something together in January February this year. But yeah, it has been a minute. If we have recorded an episode of Make Every Death Count, and honest to God, did not practice that intro that just like came back to me was muscle memory right there? So we're right back into it. So make our account where it should be back for good for now. Yeah, that's the point. We got a schedule all out for December, so it should be good, good to go for this month. Schedules should stay open, should keep it going. There's no excuses, all right. Took a while to get all this set back up and get a nice easy recording setup, find the time. But now we've done it and we're here. We're bringing it back, and we figured we bring it back on a relevant movie, a movie that's everyone's been kind of talking about right now. We're a little late to the party, but we're here nonetheless, and that is Smile, to the sequel to the somewhat pretty big hit, give or take for a horror film hit Smile. Yeah, and for those that for that that don't know, okay, about to embark on a world tour global pomp sensation Sky Riley played by Naomi Scott. She's fantastic, experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressure of fame, Sky is forced to face her past. So really, I feelos haven't seen Smile first of all spoilers. We're gonna spoil the hell of this movie. That's what we do on the show. Yeah, Smile Too just came out this week on Paramount Plus. So yeah, so go watch it. Go watch it. Smile one is also on Paramount Plus. Yeah, go watch it. You come up with your own theories on what happened or where it's going, and then come back and listen to ours. But the Smile Smile, the way it works is that it's a It's like a demon where if it takes over or it haunts your brain, basically, it torments you until it breaks you so much that it possesses you and force you to kill yourself. And when you kill yourself, whoever witnesses that then becomes the next victim. And apparently the only way to then beat the demon is to murder somebody in front of and have somebody witness it. That's how it works, and that was explained in the the first movie as well, and this time around the little curveball. To completely beat the demon and not pass it on to somebody else is to kill yourself, but then bring yourself back. Yeah, allegedly, allegedly. We'll talk about that. So Ready directed by Parker Finn. Again, I don't know if you looked into Parker Finn's career, his director is directing career. It's short Smile. It's like a couple short films and Smile and Smile Too. So to come out and do these films. Smile I thought it was a good movie. I mean, we enjoyed it. It wasn't anything groundbreaking, but it was a fun movie. We had a good time with it. Smile Too, a sequel to a movie like that really shouldn't be anything insane. It should do the you know, the same type of formula, do the same type of thing again. Be a little teen teen horror film where it's gonna have some good jump scares and you know, you go in, you have fun time, and you never talked about it. Again, Smile Too is way better than it deserves to be that it should be. Yeah, and just the way that the story goes like it feels like it was shot back to back. Yeah, it just every didn't didn't miss a step, felt like we picked right back off where Smile one ended. Yeah, it had no reason to be as good as as Smile. Yeah, it's what I like about Smile too, and Smile. The first Smile has some of this too, but Smile two really went all in that it's not just a creatively in film and has a fun story to follow, and it kind of plays some mind games with you. It's also like they're trying extremely hard to shoot things in creative ways for how Like they're doing like Oscar type movements here, like things that like you see it what you would because they're like the next level okay, elevated horror, all right, they they're doing wonners. The movie opens on a wonner with Kyle Gllner and it's just one big long take and it has some really cool transitions in there, and it's just like why are we trying so? Why are you trying so? Right? It feels like that and this is just kind of what this genre can be. Right. Smile kind of falls into that. It feels like a movie that falls in line with like truth or dare you know, like that's the say the target audience feels the same. Yeah, but they did a good job, Like they we said this for this first Smile too, Like Smile, but the trailers just appeared to be another kind of teen shitty horror movie. That's gonna be forgotten and no one cares about. But they actually tried, and that is what happens. That's what this. Genre could be. Yeah. Yeah, it pleasantly surprised even with the first smile. Was definitely pleasantly surprised after seeing the trailers. Okay, it looks like it's gonna be another teen crappy movie that we personally do find enjoyment in, right, but it completely blew away those expectations for a lot of people as well. And smile to just continues. Yeah, smile too, I've seen I think some people might be exaggerating a little bit because some people have said it's like the best horror sequel the last twenty years, one of the best horror sequels of all time, game changing things like that. It is really good. I really like it. It has no business meaning as good as it is. Yeah, and I think it does some really special things. It truly earns, it scares. It shows that Parker Finn it probably has a pretty right future ahead of him. I think we're gonna be seeing a lot more Parker Finn here. Yeah he's thirty seven. Yeah, he's a young guy. He's killing it. Yeah, coming in here taking a it's kind of like a really cheap concept. It's like, it feels like a throwaway short film type of concept, where again, just a couple of good scares and you move on to the next thing. But he took it, ran with it, and it made something pretty special here. So I think we're gona see a lot more Parker Finn with some more elaborate ideas. Yeah, so I'm all for it. But yeah, just Smile Too has so many well earned scares, real suspense and keeps you guessing a little bit. But also, let's start for meeting a little bit that we'll start Kyle Goanner. I'm a little upset about how quickly Kyle Gollaner kicks the bucket, but I also understand it because it's required essentially to make this thing working. Yeah, he's also been very busy, Yeah, busy man in a lot of films, a couple this year, I think three or four others this year. He deserves it. Yeah, he's killing it. He deserves it. But yeah, we start right where we left off six days six days later after the events of the first film, and he's just trying to pass on to somebody else so he goes to this drug dealer's house and goes to kill one of his henchmen, if you will, in front of him to pass it on to him. Goes wrong accidentally ends are killing both of them, and then he hasn't going to pass it on to As he's escaping fleeing from other people, he ends up getting hit by a car, which apparently is good enough to count as a suicide. I mean, he ran into the end of the street, not on purpose. But also there was there was someone else in that room that witnessed it, so it should have. Worked, right that, Well, he didn't witness the murder, I don't know, or did he? Is that? So this dude that witnessed that, that's did he did it? Take over? Oh no? Oh man, I'm dumb. That was Lewis, correct, It's Lewis. That's in the That's why he's the drug dealer. Yeah, so I guess it it did work. He passed. But did it work because he saw the murder? Or did it work because Kyle Golder killed himself because Joel ran in front of the car and he witnessed that. Well, yeah, I guess that's true because. If it did work, if he did pass it on to to Louis, to Lewis because he killed the drug dealer, then why do you have to kill Kyle Goldner like that? Yeah he was just busy. Yeah, probably, but either way passed it on to Lewis, and I I will say, I'm a little disappointed with the title card, well kind of because so they did. They had his blood trail make the smile. I was like, oh, man, it'd be cool if they just throw the two over it and run it. But then they cut to like a very Dario Argento kind of you know, Jollo style title card. It's like, oh, that's also cool. So I like that, But then, like, man, I feel like we could have done something cool like Evil Dead Rise type ship right there, yeah, and have the blood trail actually make the title card, but they didn't do that got my hopes up. But at least they still let something cool. Yeah. Yeah, No, I I completely missed me that Lewis was was the guy in the in the in that one shot. I was so distracted by like the cinematography of the opening one one take that I didn't even realize it. And he looks quite a bit different. He does looks quick because he's falling apart next time we see him. Yeah, But there you go. That sets up the story we're going for. Let me cut to Sky Riley. She's pop star. She's looking to make that comeback. She did. She was just in a a year before, was in a car accident. That's I think. Did want the one guy die? Yeah? Her her boy boyfriend, played played by Jack Nicholson's son Ray Nicholson. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, you couldn't tell. Later on when he was smiling. I guess I yeah, I guess I could see it. Yeah, But he died and then her friend got severely injured, and then they had like a falling out, and she just was all all sorts of drugs. Life wasn't going well. She's ripping her hair out. But now she she cleaned up, she's trying to make her come back. And because she also was hurting the car accident, she's been dealing with a pain med addiction, one that she hasn't quite trumped yet. Because she's got to go back and get some more Viking in and that's what leads us back to Lewis, the drug dealer, and that's how she ends up getting the curse, so we're following it. Well, it's a cool idea because it's a very realistic and cheeky way to put the curse on somebody who can be seen by millions. Yep, it's not forced, like, uh, if you've seen Trap, I haven't, but I know that's what we get. One of those twenty twenty four movies. We can come back and yeah, I know a little bit about it. Trap. I like Trap for one reason because of Josh Hartnett. Uh, but that's one that feels super forced, whereas this is a completely unrealistic, stupid scenario. This feels like a natural way to take your unrealistic concept and bring it into reality and it makes sense. Yeah, I get it. So honestly, there's I don't want to go beat by beat through this movie because it's essentially now from here on out. And this is one of the biggest complaints I've seen about this movie is that from that moment on no Sky being cursed whatever, up until the point that you get to the end of the movie, it's kind of the same thing. And the movie runs a little long at two hours and seven minutes, but I've seen it twice now and I don't know what I would take out, right. Yeah, I don't know. I mean some people, some people have said that they would take out the flashbacks to the accident, but then at the end we get the reasoning why they left those flashbacks in. Yeah, I don't think it works without them. No. Well, on the topic of those those flashbacks, this is probably one of the biggest points that people have kind of dogged in this movie a little bit, is that once you see them and you see just how awful Sky was, it's really hard to continue to like her as a character. I don't you grow from That's the whole point. She's growing from that. Yeah, but she's still got a little bit of a pain pill addiction afterwards, because of the injuries to the accident. Yes, she's not doing cocaine I drink it anymore, but she's still got a different kind of addiction. Yeah, I don't I didn't find her unlikable after that. I think so either, because it's real, That's what I'm saying, Like, there's something very this unrealistic idea is very grounded in reality. Yeah, and so, yeah, I don't know. I saw we watched a movie. Mike was talking about and how she's just like the fucking worst. After seeing that scene, I think that version of her character is the fucking worst. Yeah, yeah, I agree, that person seems pretty goddamn miserable. She's at the lowest. Yeah, if I were to look at myself, I don't know about one year ago, but like five years ago, i'd hate myself too. You know, you grow as a person, And I didn't really see that. I didn't think that her past took away from her present. I don't agree. Yeah, I don't agree that, but there were there. The flashbacks were the oscar Worthy, you know, performances that they were going for, like having them yell at each other in the car and just the emotions changing throughout that three minute scene. Just seeing every both of them go through every emotion was really well done, especially with you know, Ray Nicholson, who was that's his. I need to watch it again and just really think about him. He really focus on him. Yeah, Like he did a really really good performance for only being in the movie for you know, three minutes other than him smiling. Yeah. Yeah. So there are two main plot points on top of Sky's story here. Well really three two three two we'll go with two. There's Gemma, her friend that was in the car. They have a bad relationship now, and what Sky is hoping to do is fix that because she's going through some shit. So she texts her and Gemma's cool. Mealy calls her. They're good. She comes over, it's like, oh cool, So she still got a friend. That's nice. And then there's Morris. Okay, Morris, his brother, is that right? His brother was cursed, just went through this yeah, eight. People ahead of her something yeah. Something, and ripped his jaw off, and that's when he believed him. And now he's doing anything this power to stop this smile demon from being passed on to the next person. So he texts her, convinced her to meet up, and that's when we established the fact that if she were to safely kill herself and then be brought back, that it would end the curse. Yep. Now those two plot points are important because we go sixty percent of the movie knowing that those characters this establishing a relationship with Gemma, multiple visits, with their conversations with Morris, things like that. Then we get to the closer to the end of the movie and she's like, okay, I'm over it. I'm gonna kill myself. And even if I don't get brought back somehow, at least I'm not gonna spread this thing any further contacts. Morris meets up YadA YadA in the process of also escaping a private hospital. I don't even know what those what that is, but yeah, she gets Gemma to help her and bring her to Morris so that she can do this and kill herself. And we got all that, and while in the car with Jemma, she gets a call from Jemma and it's her saying, Hey, sorry, I didn't know what to say after you texted me or after I heard your voicemail, and you know, we left off on a bad foot. I just don't know if I can forgive you. It's like, huh, I thought. You spent the night at my house the other night, right, And she's like, I haven't been to your house over a year. Yeah, Like we haven't even talked. So you go this whole movie thinking Gemma has been there for her and it's talking to her, and the whole time it was the demon fucking with her. And you know what, like it that moment when you realize that you look back. You remember when that night after she spent the night and she was late for her rehearsal and her mom comes in, is like what the fuck? And she's like, I'm sorry, and she goes walks away and she goes hey Elizabeth. Yep, Elizabeth drinks and Elizabeth doesn't say respond. Because she wasn't real. Yeah, no reason for that to be that good. Why did the demon say hi to Elizabeth? Though? Was it like a warning Hi? It's like, hih, Elizabeth, see you soon. Probably or just or just to make us freak out. It worked the move it's constantly I don't know if because it is like kind of like six cents a little bit where you're looking too deep. He might there might be some hold or back to the future. It's like, I don't know if that makes much sense, right, And maybe that's what the high Elizabeth is a little bit. It's like just kind of covering up a little bit. But then yeah, so this this whole time, Gemma, Nope, like it's it wasn't her and it was all just one big trick by the Spiral Demon. But she still continues on, gets to Morris, and then as Morris kills her, essentially puts her to sleep. She's going one on one with a smile demon in her dream state whatever, and it looks like she's gonna kill herself and she's gonna beat it, and it looks like it. We're like, oh, okay, we did it. And then the demon's like, dude, none of this is real, right, like all that I made, all of this, and it's like, yeah, she's and then all of a sudden we cut and she's on stage, performing in front of thousands, tens of thousands of people and kills herself on stage. Yep. Yeah, which again makes you think, like, was Morris real the entire time? Was he was he actually at that bar talking to her the first time? By my long, my long ass explanation of all that, just to get the context out of the way, was so we could talk about this, yeah, because this is like, to me, is my numbing a little bit? So the text and we know that this demon's been fucking with her to a very elite level. I feel like I will we hasn't always done this to this level to fuck with people. Also, this early on, like when the Jema thing happened, it felt really early on in this process it's supposed to be like a seven day thing, slowly fucking you up, but immediately it's like, hey, here's a fake person, here's a fake old friend. Well yeah, and at and at the very beginning, Lewis was possessed by the demon and sending texts that he didn't know he sent, but he did. He looked at his phone and said, I don't remember texting this. Yes, how does if the demon can god? Because there's so many things like when she killed her mom. She kills her mom inside of that little private hospital thing and it looks like she's we see it as a mom killing herself, and then all of a sudden she noticed that she's got glass in her hand. It's like kind of a reveal that she killed her momp but none of that happened. All bullshit. She yeah, yeah, because her mom was alive at the end at the concert. The rules of the Smile Demon are a little weird. Well, and is the Smile Demon really thinking ahead? Like, okay, I got to Lewis. Oh, Lewis knows Sky Riley, I can use her to get in front of everyone, had to, So it's thinking that far ahead and sending text to Sky well, I guess, sky text said text of the deepmon text said Lewis. And opened the door. I guess. But they're like, oh, okay, and yeah, it's sending texts from Gemma and calls from Gemma and Gemma, Yeah, sending texts from Mom, sending texts from uh from Morris. Was Morris real at all? Because because when they're at the at that bar and she's talking to Morris and then finally she gets recognized, she gets up to leave, and the people, of course she's famous, so the people, you know, kind of turn towards her and no one even gives a fuck about Morris. And Morris just kind of sits there at the bar and just like, well, she's leaving. Yeah, was he real at all? Or was he actually real in that moment? But then at the end he was. I feel like they intentionally because we don't see Morris interact any other characters in the whole movie nope, So I feel like they were intentionally keeping this conversation open. They wanted you to second guess whether or not he was real. I don't know it if Morris, So if you're like deep diving into this, like things that don't make sense. When Morris is explaining what happened to his brother, he says his jaw was ripped off in the parking garage, and then it shows the shot of him ripping the jaw off, Like why would we see that if it wasn't a real story? Right, those kind of things if you want to over be over picky about it. But I don't really understand the rules of what the Smile Demon can and can't do, because it seems like it can't possess you and kill you until you're at a very specific mental state. I don't know what it's not, like it's a meter that we can see in action, but it seems like he has to break you down before he can take over your body, and you know, open your goddamn mouth up and all that shit. Well, and that's what happened at the end of Smile one as well, right, they opened they opened her mouth and climbed it. So I understand and it being able to make you see and hear things, but why can't it at times make you do things like like Lewis Well, I guess no, he wasn't possessed because that's what it was happening at that time. When he's choking and ship. So if it hasn't possessed you yet, why is it able to make you text people when one can it do that? One can't do that, you know, because if that's the case, just freaking grab a gun and kill them, like on day two, brother, we can move on to people a lot quicker. So I don't know, I'm just curious, or it's it's a demon that just fuels on fucking with people, like it just wants to make you nuts. I don't know, I just. Were the rules. We got to talk to Parker about this, but yeah, Morris alive real, who knows. We need we need to watch it and analyze it frame my frame. Yeah, I personally I like the twist. I dig that kind of writing. I love cycle logical horror. And it's even more fun to me when a movie that you think you're on top of, you think you know what's happening, all of a sudden throws a curve ball and you're like, oh shit, this whole time I was wrong. And that's exactly what they did with Gemma, and I thought that was so cool and creative and yeah, it's just a and then you can go back and watch this movie and you have no idea what it is real and what's not. Like, what we have to assume is that eighty percent of the actions that she had in this movie or bullshit, because she was able to present herself in a good enough way that her mom put her back on stage in front of tens of thousands of people, right right, she had to be functioning. Did she trash the dressing room? Did she go to the hospital? No? I don't think she did, right, because because in the hospital, her mom's like, no, we're gonna take it easy, and then tomorrow you're gonna go on stage for the tour. So she must have actually been there. Yeah, did she ever if she was in the hospital, did she ever leave it? Or she just truly blacked out for a week? Yeah? Like what happened? First? The mom? Dude, the mom? If assuming all that conversation was real and forcing her onto stage, I understand that she's already she's not gonna get another opportunity like this is it? Right? But for the love of Christ, she's this bad and you're going to force her on the stage was kind of driving me nuts. But there are Hollywood moms like that. Man, they exist. Look half the fucking Nickelodeon stars over the years. Yeah, they exist, They're out there. It's just damn. Dude, At what point is the movie all in her head? All in Sky's head? At what point? Yeah? When when do we fall out of reality? I have to watch it again? Yeah? And then a lot of people didn't like the ending, said it was a cop out. But how is this cop out? What would you what would what do you want? Well, and that that was the whole thing that the end of Smile won. It didn't end on a happy note. She killed herself, She burned the burned herself in front of Kyle Goldner. Yeah. So now at the end of Smile two she kills herself, Which how is it a cop out when it sets up an amazing third movie. She just killed herself in front of hundreds of thousands of people, who now all I guess, have the Smile demon in them. So now this next movie is gonna be like the Purge. It is all hell breaks loose because hundreds of thousands of people are killing them to. You every week, do you do you want another movie? I do? Now I do. I I want to see how crazy this next movie can go because every seven days, one hundred thousand people are killing themselves. Yeah, the idea like that. The idea is cool, The concept is cool. I just don't know how you take what is this really in depth psychological horror that connects you to a character and you kind of watch them break and become something else and to the point where it's making you believe certain things and not. I don't know how you do that with a large cast with a lot of people. And I kind of the reason I like the ending of Smile too is I was like, good for them, we didn't need a resolution, Like there is no resolution the demon one, and to me, there is no stopping it now, Like you can if assuming the rules of the curse are what we learned and Smile to where the only way to beat it, or at least from you passing it on, is to kill yourself and come back alive or whatever that is. There is no way to stop it now. It's just not possible. And so what they're gonna have to do and Smile three, if they continue on this line, is create a whole other piece of lore that says you can defeat the demon as a whole, all all together if you do this very specific thing, here's the fucking necronomicon, you know, like it's gonna have to be something so forced. And that's what I like about Smile Too. And it's, like I said, we're falling. It's a realistic concept inside of an unrealistic world, or the other way around, unrealistic concept inside a realistic world. You just can't do that with Smile three. I don't think I. Want one more because at the end of Smile one, Okay, the only way to beat it is to kill myself when no one's around. Yeah. Well nope, that didn't work. The demon out smarted you. Yeah, because now they just waited until Kyle Gollner showed up until you kill himself. Okay, the Smile too, Like, okay, the way to do it is to kill myself. Oh wait, none of this was real. I'm one of the demon is one two steps ahead already always Yeah, So Smile three going batshit insane. Where a hundred thousand people are killing themselves every week, every seven days, there's gonna be a way we can stop it for good. I want I want Smile three to end with no again. No, no, the world is over. Yeah, that's that's what I want. I trust, I trust. Yeah, I'm I'm okay with if they do another one. I'm gonna watch it, and I'm sure they canna do something cool with it. But part of me kind of wants this series to end, and we always are left with that ending a smile To assuming that the demon just took over the world. Yes to me that that's the only thing that could happen here without doing some sort of like crazy here's a spell. So you hear what Parker Finn said about the future. So in September twenty twenty four, he confirmed plans to continue the franchise with a third film, saying, we've maybe only scooped a single glass of water out of the ocean. I think it's really fun to imagine a lineage of smile movies where each one becomes more off the rails than the previous one. I don't agree with that. Do three make it batshit insane and call it how do you get? How do you keep going? First of all, man, the analogy of a cup out of an ocean after what Smile To is is a crazy thing to say. Let's be realistic here, Let's be realistic here Parker. Okay, it might be a small glass of water out of a small pond, not an ocean. All right. I don't like the analogy. Uh yeah, I don't know. I just I can't imagine them making a sequel that is as good as Smile Too. Again, I can't imagine them doing that again. And I think as you get more and more bonkers with bigger and bigger cash, you start losing what is the psychological suspense that they have here, and I think that's what made Smile to work so well. So I don't know, you're basically certain kind of going into another genre kind of you know, like happy happy that thing. Yeah, like it kind of we're changing genre. So I want I want one more. I want it to be that insane pick up. Six days later, all these people start killing themselves and and go one more. Yes, we finally got it this time, But then they don't. The Demon is still one step ahead, and now it is world domination. And that's where I want to see it end, because there's no way you can do Smile three and have it actually defeat the Demon at the end. Right after one and two, there's no way, right the Demon one you. Got something really creative in your pocket. I just don't know how you write something that makes sense out of it without being a complete cop out. Did we see Did we see Kyle Gollner take his last breath? Uh? No, we saw his body in several pieces on the road. So but. Like I said that, maybe the only reason that the demon curse thing was spread was because of his death to Lewis, I don't know if Lewis saw the murder, right, but I have a feeling that that's what it was. I feel like that was the point. Yeah, because he might have seen the one dude take his. Last breath yet, right, Yeah, he had to he was in the room. Well I didn't he like walk out of another room though, And I don't know, Yeah, I don't know, but either way it worked. I want smiles through smile three to just yeah, to go bonkers, but that I don't want anymore after that. Yeah, I guess it just depends depends on how it's written, what it establishes. Obviously, if it's a movie with a one hundred and thirty seven million dollar budget, how much money did it make? What it is one hundred, one hundred and thirty seven million, That was the budget. That was the budget. I don't like it anymore all of a sudden, one hundred and thirty seven million dollars. No, that's boute. Now about to say, bro, that's no twenty eight. That is twenty eight? Okay, how about it? Do they had over one hundred million dollars to make a horror movie? I'm fucking twenty eight million dollar budget, one hundred and thirty seven box office. That's pretty good and our horror film, I. Mean the plus your rentals got a lot of rentals. Yeah, a lot of people have been talking about it so that they're going to keep doing it if it keeps making money. Obviously. I I'm just glad that horror like this still exists, you know, we have the horror genre is pretty special right now. A lot of people want to mint that your old school horror fans that are like it was better than the eighties. I hear you. I look at my office. Have you ever seen my office? I agree, I hear you. But I think the genre is finding its place inside of pop culture. Like it's falling right in line with like Oscar movies, things like Terrifier three, another one that has really no business being talked about on a person a person basis like this. It's something that forty years ago would have only the tiniest little cult following, like a sleep away camp, you know, But here it is making millions and millions of dollars. It's pretty nuts. And then you smile too, and you have your your ari asters out there and things like Jordan Peel, like the genre is doing better than it really ever has. It's making a lot of money. Did you know that they made a made a EP of sky Riley really? Yep. It's got six songs on it. Well, it's a piano version, but it's got songs that she was singing in the movie and NAMEA Scott sing them. So oh that's nice. Yeah, that's fun. We're having fun. That scene where she was playing on the piano, I thought we're gonna get a whole musical moment right there. Uh that that's on the EP. That's three minutes and fifteen seconds. Yeah, I thought we're gonna get a whole thing there and then cut it off. It was like probably the right choice. Yeah, I yeah, I like I said, I want smile three. I want it to be crazy. I want I want the demon to win. We don't get happy endings. Okay, we haven't gotten any so far. No need, no need. The ending I thought was way better than a Smile one. I agree. So just yeah, just completely being like you you thought, yeah, you thought they actually had an upper rand here. There was such an emphasis on the creature at the end of Smile one, and I didn't, I really thought, because this is I'm circling back to this concept for the twentieth time. I think what makes Smile work is that it is this unrealistic concept inside of a realistic world, and the second that big ass creature gets involved, you're like, oh, we're watching a creature free a creature feature all of a sudden, and it just kind of takes me out of it. But when you keep it inside of humans and it's humans just manipulating the mind and things like that, that is cool as shit. And that they stuck with that through the end. Don't Smile too, And I dig it. So I'm cool with the brutal ending. And and like I said, I don't need a sequel, honestly, like I'm gonna watch it. I mean, honest I will spend my money on it, but it's I just don't think you need one. I just I like the idea, Like, that's it. They just took over the fucking world, dude, that's it. I want to see. I want to see how they how they go at having hundreds of thousands of people kill themselves every seven days. I want to see how how they can respond to that. It would be the apocalypse. It's gonna be coming apocalyptic film. I'm down. I'm down for it. What do you how do you write that? God, I don't even know where I would start. I don't know. That's why they make the big bucks. So smile too. On IMDb has a six point nine out of ten Rotten Tomatoes eighty six percent certified fresh from critics, and then audience is eighty one percent. Yeah, what would you give out a ten? Fuck? I think I'm going eight and a half. Yeah, I was good. I'm biking him right like an eight. I was thinking seven and a half. But I just think it deserves a little bit more credit than that. Yeah, I saw shout out to my friend Stereo Crow. I've seen a lot of people will describe it as mid I he first all, I hate that terminology, but I just think a movie that is going above and beyond in this genre to take really cool cinematic styles and bringing into this space. And actually, like Jordan Peele's doing the same thing. It's like taking this elevated filmmaking and bringing it into a genre that is notorious, especially this teen type of jump scare genre, notorious for being dog shit and making it good I think is something that should be applauded, whether you like it or not. Yeah, Like I think a Parker Finn in what he's doing here is pretty special. So just smile and smile too, especially could have been yeah truth or Dair Escape Room. Yeah, your slender Man's like that. It's that genre. That is the genre we're in here, but take you to leave it. It's meant to target a teenage audience, you know, the so your girlfriend over there jumping in her seat into your lap, you know, And it's that's what these movies are made for. It's just to hit hit you a crazy jump scares a high schoorers are gonna watch on a Friday night, yep. But they they're doing something way more elevated and beyond that. Yeah, I'm trying to see what Smile one got. Smile one on Rotten Tomatoes got a seventy nine percent certified Fresh and a seventy seven audience, so it it's better, better scores all around. Yeah, all, I think I said this earlier, but there's no real cop out jump scares, like they are jump scares, but they're they build to them, they build to them, and they never do fake jump scares because there are a couple of moments actually where this is what I thought I did really well too, And they rely on silence and when when man, you know, someone's thinking, someone's using their nogging, when they're having something pop out, and it's it just stays silent, or you're in a really suspenseful moment instead of having a riser, you know, having a score rise, they just cut it down by just being the moment and that. Yeah that'll fuck with you. The the suspense and smile too, Yeah, crazy good. Yeah, they do a good job of misdirecting you quite a bit too. I mean even even in the scene at the at the fundraiser where she's standing up there and she sees uh Ray Nicholson. Yeah, and he stands and he's walking towards her like it's light. It's not dark. Pitch Black, you can't say no, it's bright. There are so many people around, and just seeing him get closer and closer and smile and seeing her emotions and freaking out and everyone's like, what the hell is she freaking out about? Like, oh, it was so good, so well done. Yeah. So we've been you know, we've been applauding the filmmaking itself, but this movie doesn't work without good performances. You really need someone to go all out on it, and he only's got crushed it killed it. Yeah, she's fantastic. So it's too bad we can't get more of her because well within this franchise, right because I think she brought to the next level. She's why we're talking about it, right. Well, even Susie Bacon and Smile one she. Had to carry. Yeah, I mean both both the movies were carried by their lead. Yeah, and they both. Didn't really wantful job names, Scot especially Yeah. Just yeah, because because Susie Bacon is in a situation Smile where she is a doctor, you know, and uh, to be to follow someone that's so broken in this movie and has to its has to be a normal person a pop star while also being fighting trauma and drugs. It's like a lot. It's a tough thing to pull off, and she dialed it so absolutely. That is one of the main reasons this movie works. Yeah, I haven't seen too many, too many movies this year, but especially too many movies that came out this year. But yeah, I think Smile Too is clearly on top for the ones I've seen now I haven't seen. My list is night Swim. Dude, that one's close to the top, and Lisa Frankenstein. Night Swim is another good example of one of those movies. Right, and Lisa Frankenstein is completely different. That's all you've seen this year of horror. Oh to get give you a little, little little gist horror. I watch twenty twenty twenty three horror movies in twenty twenty three, twenty of them this year. I've seen three, yep, one of those years movies in general, because I've been I've been very depressed. In twenty twenty three, I watched ninety nine films that does not include rewatches ninety nine in twenty twenty four, twenty seven. But now that things are sort of slowing down and I feel a little better, I want to try to watch six movies a week, whether that's one every day with one day off or or multiple. I want to I want to try, Like, I'm really gonna try to grind out these twenty twenty four horrors because Abigail I heard it's fantastic. Yeah, like Abigail, it's a fun one. I want to see, even the shitty ones. I want to see the shitty ones to watch Oddity, that's that's one, the substance. Yeah, I haven't watched the Substance. Ye, Like, there's quite a few on my list that I really want to watch. And yeah, we might get to some of those reviews in January of like movies we we didn't cover right away, yeah, so uh so yeah, but but yeah, this one's definitely at the top of the you know, of the three that I watched huge, love it, love it huge. I don't. I don't even I don't. I didn't follow my uh after using right now letterbox I did. I did not update my letterbox in real time. Maybe in twenty twenty five. I still use letterbox just because I have really bad ADHD. No, it's nice to have and I don't remember what I watched this here, so it'd be nice to uh to actually keep track with it. Yeah, maybe maybe next year. Maybe next year. It's my New Year's resolution, keep track, keep track, keep track of what I watched. Yeah, I definitely want to get back into watching more movies. I've been so adhd YouTube shorts and YouTube pilled this year. Just watch it slop that I really need to sit down and watch the movies that that everyone's talking about. Yeah, but that's what the podcast is good for. Correct, that's what we'll be doing, guess her. Okay, I guess that's gonna wrap up this episode of Make Every Death Count. If you're interested in seeing the video version of the show, ever, you can do so to coming a member on the YouTube channel, follow us on socials. That's all I really got, Okay, but that is always Thank you guys so much for listening. Hey, we'll talk to you next time. Bye. I know you're gonna forget. To hide your rise. From the movie screens, toderies from the Horror Screen Hall of Fame for villains, watch. Them take a ball. This slasher has no doubt beil Go all about to Make Every Death Count