The first 7 minutes of 'Smile 2' will make you smile - literally

Want a sneak preview of the hit horror sequel Smile 2? Then you’d better be happy to see it!

Shortly after releasing in theatres last month, Paramount Pictures made the first 7 minutes of their Smile (2022) follow-up publicly available online (for over 18s that is, given it's R-rated).

The catch?

You have to smile the whole time you watch it. And the website for watching the clip uses your front-facing camera to ensure that if you stop, the video does too.

It's a delightfully creepy and jaw-aching experience.

But if you're a die-hard fan of the franchise, making your face go numb for a bit is a worthy price for getting a slice of the film.

What's the deal with Smile? It doesn't really sound happy...

Without getting too spoiler-y, the Smile franchise revolves around a curse that breaks victims' minds by making them hallucinate.

And that hallucination involves seeing people non-stop staring at them while giving big, full-teeth grins.

Doesn't sound so cheery now, does it?

This immersive promo for Smile ties directly to that spine-tingling idea of someone gleefully(?) staring you down, the corners of their mouth staying eternally curled.

We, the audience, saw plenty of creepy smirks during the first instalment. But, thanks to this spooky new offering, we can now give a disturbing smile back and even be rewarded for it.

Not a promo worth frowning about.

Even if you don't know the franchise too well, most avid moviegoers at least understand that the films involve people smiling for eerily long times.

Offering fans a chance to mimic the most definitive aspect of Smile and giving them an incentive to do it makes this incredibly fictional universe feel more grounded.

And if you're like me, you watched the video and imagined you were instead smiling and staring at a person. If that idea doesn't make you shudder, not much else will!

One possibly unintended consequence of this trailer is that many people (myself included) learned that smiling for 7 straight minutes is really hard.

I was ready to buckle in for the whole clip, but I only went about 40 seconds before needing to rest my jaw!

I suppose in an unintended yet twisted way, this memorable promo taught fans that the long-lasting smiles you see in the movies are totally inhuman.

Almost as if some powerful, supernatural forces beyond our comprehension are needed to hold a grin that long...

Anyway, be sure to wear a big smile today!

-Devin, Writer