Do you need to watch the first Smile film to understand Smile 2?

Smile 2 is here. The horror sequel is in theaters after months of anticipation. Those who didn't watch the first Smile film may be a bit confused, however. The trailer for Smile 2 appears to have none of the same characters. Instead of following a therapist, the titular affliction is terrorizing a pop star.

So what gives? Is the sequel a clean slate? It can be tricky to determine whether or not you can waltz into Smile 2 without having seen the first film, and make sense of what's going on. That's where we come in. We want to issue a mild spoiler warning upfront, because an explanation of how the films connect requires some discussion of how Smile 2 begins.

Smile 2 picks up six days after the first film

Knowledge of the first Smile film will be extremely helpful in understanding the opening of Smile 2. Joel (Kyle Gallner), a cop who was introduced in the first film, is trying to pass the Smile entity on to a group of criminals. He was friends with Dr. Rose Sutter (Sosie Bacon), the woman who died at the end of Smile, and wants to avoid a similar fate.

Unfortunately, Joel's plans go awry. A shootout between him and the criminals ensues, and he gets run over by a truck. The Smile entity does eventually get passed on, to a drug dealer who witnessed the deadly incident. This same dealer provides pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) with Vicodin before bludgeoning himself to death with a weight and passing the entity onto her.

Smile 2 features mostly original characters

The rest of Smile 2 bypasses the events and the characters of the first film, at which point it becomes a self-contained and gripping horror-thriller. The confusion over who Joel is, if one hasn't seen Smile, is fleeting, as the bulk of the story focuses on Skye and her slowly withering psyche.

In this sense, Smile 2 operates by standard horror film rules. The threat/monster stays the same, there is some loose connection to the films prior to maintain continuity, but ultimately, the story is universal and the conflict is entertaining without having to dig deep into the lore.

Smile 2 is a good time without having seen the first film!