Be Excellent To Each Other

It's a stunning escalation of the concept, where the victim is already deeply traumatised and suffering in their life. The opening one-shot sequence is a masterpiece of camerawork and film-making in general. The acting is pretty good for a horror movie, with the Smilers in particular being nice and unsettling (did you know that was Jack Nicholson's son?). That scene with the large group of people moving like a wave through the apartment? That creeped me right out. The ending scene chilled me to the bone with the implications for a further sequel. Is the demon now spread to thousands? Or has it just taken the opportunity to "hide" in the crowd after coming so close to being wiped out by Morris?

HOWEVER! The effects were pretty ropey in places. The monster is fucking goofy looking in a way that it wasn't in the first one. Even this movie is undeniably BIGGER, it somehow feels smaller, with much of it happening inside. This might be a deliberate choice to show the MC's contained and isolated life, but... I didn't like it. But the biggest thing, the thing I couldn't ignore was the IT WAS JUST A FUCKING DREAM moment. Fuck off! At some point in the movie, maybe even as far back as the point of initial infection, Riley has been puppeted through her life by the demon while being tortured internally. I HATE that. How much of the Morris angle is fake? There's no way of knowing, and it bothers me immensely. I'm willing to suspend my cynical mind for a few hours to enjoy a silly horror but when you do that to me, it feels like a slap in the face. Fuck you, movie.

I agree with most of that. I think all the scary stuff totally worked and I thought the lead actress was great. So, for the most part, I really loved it. But yeah the final monster didn't look great. And it all being in her head does make solid storytelling impossible. If I can't believe anything that I see, that's an issue. Also, how the fuck did Lewis even get the curse?

If Morris was entirely fake that's pretty elaborate from the curse demon. Like why create all that narrative when you can just pepper Riley with horrible jump scares for a week? But I think the general feeling is that reality was mixed up until she got that dancer's arm shoved down her throat. Then it's all demon. Until she ends up on stage. How she gets there is super unclear.

I agree that the "arm down the throat" point is most likely where she goes catatonic. Seems to make sense logically, and it's after she meets Morris for the first time.

Lewis got the curse because he watched the Cop murder the two drug dealers at the start. He was there buying drugs. The first movie established that you can pass the curse on without dying by committing a brutal murder in front of a witness