Smile 2 is an evocative horror flick energized by Skye Riley’s (Naomi Scott) already complicated celebrity status. Following Riley as she tours after only recently reappearing on stage because of cocaine addiction and a fatal car accident that killed her then-boyfriend, viewers see as she struggles with the average celebrity intensities, such as stalkers, unrelenting pressure, and getting used by her loved ones. She ventures through different areas of pop stardom with her mom, Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt), and personal assistant, Joshua (Miles Gutierrez-Riley), struggling to cope with past traumas when constantly in the spotlight. Elsewhere, picking up right from Smile‘s end, cop Joel (Kyle Gallner) from the last film sloppily passes the smiley demon off to a thuggish drug dealer by killing his friend but accidentally kills them both. Before meeting his own skid-marked demise, Joel passes it to a younger dealer, Lewis Fregoli (Lukas Gage). As Fregoli is Riley’s Vicodin dealer, as she’s not allowed strong prescriptions because of her substance issues despite her surgically induced back problem, the demon passes onto her. As she only has a week to live, Riley must learn the differences between actual and demon-induced terrors and stop the demon before he kills her and passes on—a defeat director-writer Finn Parker vyes to avoid, as will viewers.

Smile 2 is everything that a proper horror sequel should be. With jumpier scares, killer performances, a larger narrative, denser characters, and a more profound gaze into the smiling spirit’s abilities and personality, Smile 2 becomes the movie the original Smile wanted to be—a damning, chilling horror flick about an entity using one of the kindest gestures to terrorize and destabilize. Aside from stellar technical detail—twisty camera work, creative kills, juicy gore, and tight editing—Smile 2 strides because of a stronger intertwinement between demon and trauma. The biggest problem with Smile was its underuse of Sosie Bacon’s Rose Cotter. Being a therapist was the primary motivator for her involvement; she understood what happened because she had training, so she could explain it to audiences more quickly than other character types. However, her traumatic past quickly became two-dimensional, side-stepped by the demon’s terrors.

Celebrities are all the more intriguing to pick apart. It’s typical for substance abuse, relationship troubles, and self-esteem issues to skyrocket in as cutthroat an industry as pop music and Smile creator Parker understands how to emulate that. Riley gives off a perfect image, but in her own words, she’s a broken soul who destroys everything around her; she has to drink entire bottles of water every time she wants to use again to remind herself of what she can and can’t control; her back surgery is both physically painful, an ugly scar, and the most prominent reminder of her sins. She’s a perfect candidate for such a demon as Smile‘s because the mental wounds are already ripe for picking at. As it takes on her estranged best friend to tell her, “You’re a horrible person…. No one cares about you,” her insecurities get the best of her, not just the demon. While there could be even more thematic toying, particularly in Riley’s relationships, Smile 2 delivers an intense way to watch someone break down, and thanks to Naomi Scott’s fierce but fractured take, it’s also heart-shattering.

There are also impeccable parallels drawn between substance abuse and the demon through control. One of the most repetitive themes of Smile 2 is control, as it’s one of those ideals that every human wants in their lives. Riley is constantly trying to obtain sovereignty over her life, whether it be from her past, substances, or current unmanageable factors as a pop sensation. While now sober, the demon essentially forces her down a similar path of mentally diminishing addiction. With each appearance, her insecurities direct her more, she reacts more primitively, and she is out of control again (or at least feels like, as one can with drugs). She even talks to herself as one may when damagingly addicted: “We have to end it! No matter what! You’re not in control!” Her path toward lunacy is all the more effective, evolving Smile 2 into a flick about (literally) escaping your demons by understanding and utilizing what you can/not control.

While the last hour feels uneven, many moments could be over the top—a bunch of people holding hands, smiling, cramming through small corridors as one? Yeah, no—and more detail could’ve been extracted from Riley’s life, Smile 2 is an overall petrifying sequel grinning wider than its predecessor. For horror and Smile fans, Smile 2 is both a solid feat on its own and the rare horror sequel that ups its predecessor’s standards.

Opens Friday, 10/18 in theaters everywhere