Smile 2 - The scoop and digest

Parker Finn returns as writer and director.

Naomi Scott - Skye Riley

Rosemarie DeWitt - Elizabeth Riley

Lukas Gage - Lewis Fregoli

Peter Jacobson - Morris

Ray Nicholson - Paul Hudson

Dylan Gelula - Gemma

Summary

Days after witnessing Rose Cotter's suicide and contracting the Smile curse, Joel attempts to pass it on by confronting a pair of criminals.  One is killed, but his intended witness is shot dead.  Instead, drug peddler Lewis Fregoli inherits the curse and Joel is killed by a speeding truck.

Nearly a year after surviving a car accident (which killed actor and boyfriend Paul Hudson), troubled pop superstar Skye Riley announces a comeback tour.

Secretly taking Vicodin for back pain, Skye visits Lewis for additional pills, but watches in horror as he kills himself with a weight plate.

Skye is soon terrorised by grins and hallucinations, gradually sending her batshit.

Chaos and noise

Leading lady is brilliant as tortured soul and even manages ironic humour.

Silence builds tension and jump scares are initially very effective.

At her apartment, Skye is met by her back-up dancers, who get closer and closer each time she looks away.

Principle smacks heavily of the Weeping Angels in Doctor Who.

Earlier, Skye meets ER nurse Morris, who theorizes the entity requires a living host to survive.  So to break the curse, he suggests stopping her heart and then resuscitating her.

Good luck with that mate, as a defibrillator cannot perform miracles.  Its purpose is to detect irregular heart rhythms and shock them back to normal.

Anyway, skinless creature forces its way inside Skye's body via mouth.  Now possessed, she fatally stabs herself in the eye with a microphone.

(Yawn).

Perfect Blue (1997)

Darren Aronofsky denied Black Swan (2010) was inspired by Satoshi Kon's brilliant psychological horror.

But feature presentation is arguably more of an unofficial remake.

Mima Kirigoe, a member of Japanese idol group CHAM!, retires from music to pursue acting.  When obsessive fan "Me-Mania" begins stalking her, gruesome murders take place, causing Mima to lose grip on reality.

Capping shit off, Skye is approached by Me-Mania's equivalent, a creepy dude called Alfredo.