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The sequel to the hit Smile movie, Smile 2 will release on October 18, 2024. Directed by Parker Finn and starring Naomi Scott, the movie’s premise is about a popular pop singer, Skye Riley (Scott), who experiences strange events when she is about to start a world tour.
The movie focuses on themes such as the negative effects of fame and past trauma. Like Smile, the movie Smile 2, promises to deliver a suspenseful and tense storyline, marked by its unsettling smiling entity.
Viewers who enjoyed the psychological horror element of Smile and are eagerly waiting for Smile 2, can go through the list to watch some similarly-themed movies.
Get Out, It Follows, and other psychological horror films like Smile 2
1) The Lighthouse - Amazon Prime Video
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Since its release in 2019, The Lighthouse has established a cult status in the horror-fantasy genre. The movie is well appreciated for its cinematography and acting.
Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson masterfully play the characters of a young lighthouse keeper Ephraim (Pattinson), and a senior sailor Thomas (Dafoe). While working at the lighthouse, the isolated employees become disgruntled, begin hallucinating, and end up with fatalities.
The movie is a psychological horror that gets progressively thrilling, which is what viewers have come to expect from the Smile franchise.
2) Get Out - Amazon Prime Video
Get Out is a psychological horror movie directed by Jordan Peele. A black man, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), is invited by his white girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), to her parents’ house for the weekend. The initially welcoming atmosphere slowly turns eerie, as Chris notices strange things about Rose and her family. The film has received praise for its handling of issues like class and race.
3) Perfect Blue - Amazon Prime Video
Directed by Satoshi Kon, Perfect Blue, is a Japanese psychological thriller anime that created waves when it was released in 1997. Based on a novel by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, the movie is about a pop star, Mima, who decides to switch her career from singing to acting.
After this change, many strange incidents start to happen in her life, which forces her to lose touch with reality. Like Smile 2, the movie tackles issues like stardom and the perils of parasocial relationships between idols and fans.
4) It Follows - Amazon Prime Video
Starring Maika Monroe, Jake Weary, and others, It Follows, is a horror film directed by David Robert Mitchell. The movie is about a supernatural entity that follows its victims after a s*xual encounter, one such victim is Jaime or Jay (Monroe).
Like Smile 2, the movie has a similar atmosphere of suspense and horror, which builds up progressively. While the Smile movies rely on a figure that shows its appearance, in It Follows, the entity remains unseen.
5) Hereditary - Amazon Prime Video
Ari Aster’s first feature film, Hereditary, is a psychological horror movie that features Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, and others. The movie is about a woman named Annie, whose mother dies suddenly. After her demise, Annie’s family begins to experience strange occurrences, which cause emotional turmoil to Annie and her kids.
The film’s focus on family ties and relationships makes it stand out from most horror films. Hereditary has the perfect balance of horror and psychology, which one will also see in Smile 2.
6) Umma - Netflix
Umma is a supernatural horror film about a single mother, Amanda, who lives with her daughter Chrissy. They are haunted by Amanda's mother’s ghost when Amanda receives her mother’s ashes. Umma is directed by Iris K. Shim.
The movie’s main theme is generational trauma, which is similar to the underlying themes of abusive parenting and family estrangement as seen in Smile. Like Smile 2, the movie is about facing one’s dark past and taking control of it.
7) Gothika - Amazon Prime Video
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, Gothika, is a horror film starring Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr, and others. The movie is about a psychiatrist (Berry), who is sent to a penitentiary after she kills her husband but believes that a supernatural entity possessed her. Similar to the first Smile film, the film's protagonist is believed to be mentally unstable and is misunderstood.
