Pop stardom looks pretty terrifying in 'Smile 2' and 'Trap'

This article contains spoilers.

This time last year, audiences were flocking to movie theaters to enjoy the presence of a pop star.

“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” just released, prompting Swifties and Swift-curios to descend on multiplexes, friendship bracelets on their wrists. Weeks later, the Beyhive will wear the silver cowboy hat for the release of “Renaissance: A Beyoncé Film.” Participating in one of these concert films means having a great time and basking in the glory of women on stage who seem to be doing the same thing.

Now being a pop star in movies looks a lot scarier.

Horror centered on pop stars is all the rage these days. M. In Night Shyamalan's “Trap,” released in August, the fictitious Lady Raven's (Saleka) concert is an elaborate setup to catch a serial killer (Josh Hartnett). This weekend, “Smile 2,” directed by Parker Finn, follows Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), a troubled Grammy winner with a history of addiction who is possessed by a demon that drives her crazy with violent hallucinations. To his fans and his team, it seems like he's in another, possibly drug-induced spiral, but really a monster driving him to kill himself.

Both these movies are a product of a time when the business of being a pop star is bigger than ever. Events like Eras and Renaissance Tours can be zeitgeist-defining moments as well as a mine for inspiration for filmmakers. Shyamalan was direct about it in an interview with Empire. His basis for the “trap”? What if 'The Silence of the Lambs' happens at Taylor Swift's concert?

But both “Trap” and “Smile 2” prove that beyond the fun of the setup, the life of a pop star is actually thematically ripe for fear. It's a high-pressure job where you never know if you're meeting a fan or a hunter.

“Smile 2” conveys this particularly well when Skye is having a meet-and-greet. He recently became infected with what is known as the “smile entity” after watching his drug dealer gruesomely smash his own face with a dumbbell.

At the event, Skye signed autographs and posed for photos with fans admiring her. But then an uneasy man approaches. His hair is long, his skin is bad and his eyes are ugly. He soon makes a pass at Skye and must be led away. After taking a breath, he returns to his duties, and a little girl in pigtails approaches him. The child doesn't say anything, just wears the terrifying smile of the evil monster infecting Skye. Who is the real villain here? Obese people? The little girl? Or both? We wonder if a fan is crossing a line or someone more sinister.

The interaction calls to mind recent statements by Chappelle Roan, whose album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” turned the upstart into a bona fide sensation this year.

After she released a series of videos in August calling out fans for harassment, she sparked a wave of discussion about whether she was ungrateful for her success. Enthusiastic adoration turned into rapturous criticism. In response, Rowan took to Instagram to denounce what she called “predatory behavior (disguised as 'superfan' behavior) that has become normalized by the way well-known women have been treated in the past.” He added, “Please don't assume you know a lot about someone's life, personality and boundaries just because you're familiar with them or their work online.”

If you boil down Rowan's essence — people who think they're entitled to her affections and her body because she's famous — you'll see exactly what “Smile 2” is portraying.

Being a public figure is scary and it can be even scarier for pop stars. Their fans are particularly passionate and believe they have a personal connection to the artist's music. You can see it in Erin Lee Carr's new Hulu documentary, “Fanatical: Tegan and Sara's Catfishing.” That film describes how indie-rock sister duo Tegan and Sara's original interactions with their followers were tainted by a malicious catfishing scheme in which someone or more people stole their personal information and pretended to be Tegan online. “You get to a certain size and a certain part of your fan base becomes so intense that they ruin it for everyone else,” Tegan says in the movie.

There is a kind of violence to pop fame. In the recently released remix of Charli XCX's song “Sympathy Is A Knife” featuring Ariana Grande, the two voices use imagery that would be right at home in a horror film when they sing, “It's a knife when you finally turn on the top, 'cause the logical next step is They want to see you fall.

Both “Smile 2” and “Trap” tap into the fear that comes from the vulnerability of singing and dancing in front of a large group of people. A pop star can perform for someone whose love and gratitude is unadulterated or for someone who would kill you. Or maybe, like in “Smile 2,” the audience is rooting for you to make a mistake. There are flashbacks of paparazzi images of Skye in a breakdown reminiscent of shots of Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears.

“Smile 2” finally engages and preys on fans in its nasty ending. Despite her efforts to escape the entity, Skye eventually succumbs to it, sticking her microphone in her eyes in front of a packed arena. Thousands of people are now haunted by the logic of these movies.

Being a pop star means participating — sometimes unwillingly — in a kind of mass hysteria, no matter which side of the stage you're on. Perhaps this is why horror captures it best.