Smile 2 Director Reveals What Inspired Franchise’s Creepy Grin

The horror film Smile by first-time director Parker Finn already played on the concept of looks that kill. Because of the success of the original horror movie, Smile 2 will present those killer smiles at a pop concert. If you’re curious where the franchise’s creepy grin came from, allow the Finn to give you the answer.

The first movie of the franchise introduced audiences to a grin that you don’t want to look at for too long, or you’ll endure haunting hallucinations as a result. In Smile 2, a pop star experiences the infamous curse that follows her on her world tour. Director Parker Finn recently explained the source of the terrifying look’s inspiration and how to pull it off.

“I find what you want to do is smile actually in a friendly way; you don’t want to overexaggerate it, you don’t want to strain your face, but it’s all about disconnecting the eyes from the smile, and then about how you position the head,” said Finn to THR. “There’s a bit of a head tilt that happens; there’s the famous ‘Kubrick Stare,’ we sort of leaned into that idea, and then it becomes all about the filmmaking tools [of framing and design].”

You may remember that famous “Kubrick Stare” coming from Jack Nicholson in one of his best movies, The Shining. In the intense trailer of Smile 2, there’s an actor who perfectly resembles Nicholson’s smile from the Stanley Kubrick film. That would be his son, Ray Nicholson, who has a part in the horror sequel. Channeling his father in Smile 2’s promotional posters, the 32-year-old actor apparently did his creepy grin scenes in one take.

The future of the Smile franchise

As for if Parker Finn envisions a future third Smile movie, he told THR he feels very confident.

“There’s so many exciting roads that Smile could go down. We’ll have to see how audiences react to Smile 2, but I think that’s what’s great about Smile is there’s an opportunity to tell all different kinds of diverse stories and sort of place ourselves in different worlds that Smile then comes in and invades.”

Each new movie of a horror franchise certainly has the potential to up the stakes that’ll make audiences want more. If you’re ready to go face-to-face with more creepy grins, Smile 2 hits theaters on October 18