'Smile 2' and 'Trap' Turn Pop Stars Into Final Girls, Expose Horrors of Fame

Photo Credit: Barbara Nitke

In a year where conversations about the righteous parasociality that fans feel towards celebs like Chappell Roan spark headlines nearly every day, two major films — Smile 2 and Trap — use major massive music tours as a method of delivering intense scares and thrills. Both turn pop girls into final girls, revealing the hidden barbarity behind celebrity hyper-exposure.

Celebrities are expected to give their fans an exact blend of authentic, private access and a curated, uncontroversial brand — we want to feel like we know what it's like to be a beautiful, talented, rich person, but we reserve the right to criticize how they behave and perform if we have problems with it. Every time people get snippy at the opinionated (and usually correct) statements by Chappell Roan, Phoebe Bridgers, or Charli XCX about their own fans, they’re met with a backlash from people who think they’re owed access into their fave’s life, and that their intrusive input deserves to be seen as valid and valuable.

But just because someone’s famous, it doesn’t mean they wield total control over their artistic, financial, or political choices — and considering how the music industry has historically treated female artists, you’d think more people would be sensitive to the vulnerability that comes with being a young pop star. Smile 2 and Trap see our lack of sensitivity and call us out on it — providing invasive, anxiety-inducing, and unforgiving glimpses at the unseen vulnerability of celebrity.

For Skye Riley, a pop idol mounting a comeback from a traumatic and public tragedy, being haunted by a grinning, murderous demon would be a lot easier if she wasn’t super famous. Smile 2 expands the original’s blend of genre gimmicks and aggressive scares, examining all the ways that being a celebrity gets in the way of a vulnerable person’s safety and wellbeing, and Naomi Scott (Aladdin, Charlie’s Angels) is responsible for one of the most intimate and grueling portrayals of a celebrity forced to consider their image while they’re being turned into a victim.

The first time we meet Skye, she’s doing a conscious image-rehabilitation campaign (on The Drew Barrymore Show, no less) where she catches her fans up on her tumultuous year out of the spotlight. At the height of her substance abuse, Skye burned a lot of personal bridges and was involved in a horrific car accident that claimed the life of her actor boyfriend (Ray Nicholson). Since the accident, she’s been through arduous physical therapy, an intense rehab program, and a lot of grief-stricken guilt.

Through a cruel streak of fate, she falls prey to the Smile demon, who feeds off her trauma by whipping up terrifying visions of familiar faces trying to kill her and themselves, all while wearing fixed, unfriendly smiles. Skye is in the precarious position of needing the approval and admiration of the general public, which means she has no choice but to perform an exhaustive commercial tour, be graceful in every interaction, and let herself be watched, followed, and scrutinized way more than any vulnerable person should be. Every time her manager mother (Rosemarie DeWitt) and record label chief Darius (Raúl Castillo) remind her to smile, we’re palpably aware that — no matter what joy Skye’s music brings to her fans — what’s being asked of her has less to do with her health, and more to do with generating the most profit. While there’s no denying Skye’s life is full of luxury and wealth, her inner world feels more closely situated to the piercing anxiety and constant disorientation of horror movies.

Smile 2 is not the only 2024 horror film about the violence of celebrity (hello MaXXXine and The Substance) but its focus on the ways that popstardom can erode agency makes it stand out. Like Smile 2, M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap mainly takes place in dressing rooms, arena floors, and backstage areas, as dorky dad Cooper Abbott (Josh Hartnett) takes his superfan daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan) concert, only to realize he’s walked into an FBI sting operation to catch local serial killer The Butcher, Cooper’s murderous alter ego. When he realizes that he can only be protected with Lady Raven's prestige and influence, he takes her captive to get him away without arousing suspicion — she becomes a passive, valuable object to be used for his violent ends.

Clearly, Smile 2 and Trap are most interested in using their arena tour settings for suspenseful, often funny thrills, but the visceral way we react to seeing an artist have her safety violated over and over points to an increased awareness with the mechanics of popstar life. Don’t believe us? Look no further than both films’ “meet and greet” scenes, where the tension underpinning Skye and Lady Raven’s commitment to their brand and their fans is brutally exposed.

Skye Riley and Lady Raven each meet effusive, awestruck fans and have to suppress a growing panic that violent intent is simmering beneath the pleasant interaction — and they can do little about it. Scenes like this have an unsettling resonance with today’s pop culture audience; five years ago, musician and YouTuber Christina Grimmie was fatally shot at a meet-and-greet event by a gunman with a violent, unstable obsession with her. Both Smile 2 and Trap are far too theatrical to be read as a direct parallel to Grimmie’s attack, but they do expose how a fan interaction can turn unbalanced and dangerous in no time at all.

These fictional pop stars (and most of the real ones) come with tons more security than the ordinary people who pay to meet them, but a pop star’s behavior is far more controlled. After all, meet-and-greets are transactional — the customer has bought a relaxed, friendly experience with someone who has to be automatically nice to everyone for the sake of their brand and the terms of the sale they've made. It’s not beyond belief for Skye to look past all the red flags when she’s mainly worried about failing those around her.

Even pleasant interactions can turn an artist into a target, and both Skye and Lady Raven feel the strain of wanting to flee danger while being confined by social and financial constraints. The term “industry plant” is thrown around whenever fans feel like a pop star has inorganically expanded their base, but it implies a young artist faces little resistance to build an image within a culture that loves the novelty of new talent, but automatically assumes the newcomer doesn't deserve opportunities or kindness until proven otherwise. Even Taylor Swift has expressed frustration with being expected to weigh in on serious matters while feeling like she can’t safely do so – what must it be like for young artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo who have less control over their image and are less protected from unfair and excessive criticism?

As the more playful and less gruesome film, Trap turns the restrictions of celebrity behavior on their head as the film progresses, as Lady Raven’s agency makes a stunning return in the final third. She realizes the only way to undermine Cooper’s authority is by being the most revered and famous person in his family home, where she makes use of a fan livestream to free the Butcher’s victim. But with its oppressive tone and fatalistic third act, Smile 2 is more reminiscent of the 2018 psychological drama Vox Lux, written and directed by Brady Corbet, the filmmaker behind this year’s festival darling The Brutalist.

Natalie Portman stars as Celeste, who as a teenager was her classroom’s lone survivor of a school shooting, and the film explores how imperfectly pop music tries to “heal the world through music.” The corporate demands of the industry can leave a sincere, hopeful artist feeling lacking and trapped in their popular but ultimately “poppy” art. Despite how garish and heightened these films can get, the way they confront their pop star characters with victimhood and agency always feels real and dangerous; Smile 2 and Trap stress that it’s rarely the arrival of a deranged killer or monster that puts a pop star in danger, but rather the conditions of their work and the expectations of their fans.

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue

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