Writer/director Parker Finn found success in "Smile 2" not by slavishly replicating the thrills of the original, but by taking what made the 2022 original special and amplifying and enhancing virtually everything about it -- it's a bigger,

For decades, scary movies have been one of Hollywood’s most reliably lucrative genres and a mainstay of the independent film business.

I wanted to make sure the human story – the drama – could be its own film without the supernatural influence … It almost felt like we were making two movies at once.”