The Evolution of Viral Horror: How Smile Redefines Fear

If I’m home during the weekend, there’s a good chance I’m hunting for a solid horror movie to sink into.

I’m usually a bit behind – I only just started The Conjuring franchise last month.

Smile caught my attention when it first made waves, but I hesitated, worried it might lean too heavily into gore (I can handle a good jump scare, but excessive blood and visceral gore? Not so much).

What I crave is a well-crafted story with a satisfying payoff. Thankfully, both Smile and Smile 2 delivered exactly that and gave me a lot to chew on.

And I’m glad I waited and could see them both back-to-back seeing as they follow on from each other.

When Smile hit cinemas in 2022, it didn’t just make audiences squirm, it made them grin nervously at the screen, wondering if they, too, might be next.

That eerie, stretched smile became instantly iconic, cementing Smile as a fresh new nightmare in horror’s ever-expanding viral subgenre.

And now Smile 2 is available to stream and still being discussed heavily on forums. Smile 3 is reportedly in development, and writer/director Parker Finn seems eager to keep the franchise’s sinister energy alive.

With production expected to start in 2025, it’s clear that Smile isn’t a one-off scare-fest, It’s a franchise with teeth. And gums.

But why does this subgenre of “contagious horror” get under our skin?

What makes Smile stand out among viral horror classics like The Ring and It Follows?

And what does the evolution of these films say about our collective fears?

I have some thoughts.

Trauma as the Ultimate Contagion

At its core, the Smile franchise is about trauma as a force that spreads, infects, and ultimately consumes. Not just a malevolent entity.

The curse isn’t passed through objects or touch but through witnessing a brutal suicide, forcing the victim into a week-long spiral of paranoia, hallucinations, and despair.

The only way out is a rather unappealing, gruesome choice: take your own life in front of someone else, forcing them to inherit your nightmare (or murder someone else and end up behind bars for the rest of your life).

Unlike other viral horror films, Smile makes emotional pain the infection vector.

Dr Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) in the first film and Lady Gaga-esque pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) in the sequel aren’t just fighting supernatural forces.

They are battling the insidious ways trauma embeds itself in relationships, careers, and personal identity.

One Reddit user summed it up perfectly: “The horror that really gets to me is when something is watching me, stalking me, messing with me—and I can’t see it, but I know it’s there.”

That’s the Smile experience. An invisible force digging into your psyche, making even the friendliest face a source of terror.

From VHS Tapes to Smiles: The Evolution of Viral Horror

Viral horror films have always reflected the fears of their time, constantly adapting their transmission methods:

The Ring (2002): A cursed VHS tape that dooms its viewers unless they copy and share it. This is a perfect metaphor for early digital anxieties as the internet began reshaping media consumption.

It Follows (2014): A supernatural curse transmitted through sex, tapping into fears around intimacy, STIs, and the growing prominence of dating apps.

Smile (2022): Trauma as a contagious force, mirroring today’s increased awareness of mental health struggles and vicarious trauma.

One Reddit commenter described Smile as “a more accessible version of It Follows,” reinforcing how each new viral horror entry refines the formula for a new audience.

Changing the Rules: A Final Destination Parallel

If Smile is evolving, it’s doing so in a way that mirrors another long-running franchise: Final Destination.

The trailer for Smile 2 teased what some critics saw as a risky move—suggesting that the curse might be escapable through temporary death and resuscitation.

This idea echoes Final Destination 2 (2003), where characters attempted to cheat death by briefly dying and coming back.

Meanwhile, Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025), the upcoming sixth entry, is generating major buzz for its return to form.

Like Smile, Final Destination has had to evolve its rules to keep audiences engaged.

But as ScreenRant warns, Final Destination eventually became “messy and hard to follow” as its mythology grew too complex. Could Smile fall into the same trap?

Like a virus mutating to stay ahead of immunity, viral horror films must constantly refresh their mechanics.

The question is: will Smile 3 build on what works or overcomplicate itself?

Body Horror Meets Viral Contagion: The Substance and Smile 2

In a fascinating twist, Smile 2 has been drawing comparisons to Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, a film deeply rooted in body horror.

While The Substance isn’t viral horror in the traditional sense, both films explore self-destruction as an inevitable outcome.

In The Substance, a washed-up actress consumes a mysterious product that lets her create a younger, “better” version of herself, leading to horrific consequences.

Smile 2 places Skye Riley in a similarly fragile position. Her celebrity status and public scrutiny make her an ideal target for the Smile Entity’s psychological torment.

Both films ultimately ask: What happens when the thing infecting you is…you?

Smile 2 turns trauma into a mirror, distorting reality until the protagonist can no longer trust her own mind.

This crossover between viral horror and body horror suggests the genre is mutating in new and exciting ways.

Viral Horror in the Age of Social Media

Unlike The Ring, which was about passive media consumption, Smile reflects the dangers of active participation—sharing trauma, and spreading fear.

The Smile curse doesn’t just require a victim; it requires an audience.

In an era where deepfakes blur truth and catfishing distorts identity, Smile taps into modern anxieties about deception.

If anyone can wear a smile, how do we know who (or what) we can trust?

The Impossible Escape: The Horror of Connection

One of the most disturbing aspects of viral horror is its inescapability. Just as we can never truly disconnect from the internet, Smile victims find themselves trapped in an unbreakable cycle.

The Ring forced characters into moral dilemmas: do you save yourself by dooming someone else?

It Follows presented an endless game of hot potato, where survival meant passing the curse to an unsuspecting lover.

Smile goes even darker: the only way to escape is through an act of extreme violence, leaving a permanent scar on someone else’s psyche.

In the world we live in, where bad news spreads faster than good, where trauma is documented in real-time, Smile resonates because it suggests that once fear takes hold, there’s no going back.

What’s Next for Viral Horror?

With Smile 3 on the horizon and Final Destination: Bloodlines poised to revive another contagious horror classic, the genre is evolving yet again.

Possible directions for future viral horror could include:

1. Curses that spread through AI-driven content and deepfake technology.

2. Horror that preys on specific online communities, amplifying their worst fears.

3. Entities that adapt and mutate based on their victims’ responses.

But one thing remains certain: viral horror thrives because it mirrors our anxieties about connection, information, and contamination.

Whether it’s a haunted VHS tape, a supernatural STD, or a smile that dooms you, these films remind us that in a hyperconnected world, nothing stays contained for long.

And that’s a rather terrifying thought isn’t it?

Why Smile Stays With You

Maybe that’s why Smile works so well. When you have finished watching it, it creeps back into your thoughts when you least expect it to.

Every forced grin from a stranger, every shadow in a dark room, suddenly carries an extra layer of unease.

Horror movies come and go, but the best ones change the way you see the world, even if just for a little while.

And for me, that’s exactly what Smile has done. I know I’ll never look at a smile the same way again.