Is this scary Austin hotel stunt related to the “Smile” sequel?

Rumors of an Austin serial killer circulating online are frightening enough. But on Saturday, the ominous sighting of people staring blankly out the windows of a 12-story hotel sparked a very different kind of fear among the city's residents.

A video posted to TikTok shows five people dressed in yellow, who appear to be the only figures viewers can recognize in the otherwise dark rooms of The LINE Hotel.

Hoping for the best, someone in the video explains, “Maybe it's just part of an art exhibit – like they're the art exhibit.”

Another video shows the mysterious people with their hands tied to their sides and an uninviting grin on their faces. As they stare out the window, they refuse to break eye contact with passersby.

The eerie scene shows eye-catching marketing for the upcoming horror film “Smile 2,” which hits theaters on October 18th. The film is the sequel to the box office hit “Smile,” which captivated thrill viewers worldwide in 2022.

Without giving anything away, “Smile” revolves around a therapist, played by Sosie Bacon (Kevin Bacon’s daughter), who experiences haunting hallucinations after witnessing the death of one of her patients.

The upcoming film introduces a new protagonist, pop sensation Skye Riley, who will experience her own inexplicable events.

It's fitting that the marketing for the series is being done in Austin, as it's the home where this iconic project began: South by Southwest.

The 11-minute short film “Laura Hasn’t Slept” ran so that “Smile” could run – and Exceed $200 million at the worldwide box office.

Series director and writer Parker Finn created the short film in 2019 and premiered at the SXSW Festival in 2020. It then won the Special Jury Prize for the Midnight Shorts category and caught the attention of Paramount.

The film production company originally planned to release “Smile” only on streaming, but since the film performed so well in test screenings, it was changed to a theatrical release, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

According to a post on X, additional sightings of the Smile 2 promo were captured in Dallas.

“There was information that I had for myself that wasn't expressed in the first film, which I took advantage of when I had the opportunity to bring it into the new one. So 'Smile 2' shows us new things,” Finn told SFX Magazine. “We felt like we had solved the secret in the first part, but we may have only drawn a single glass of water from the sea.”

Austinites, you can rest easy knowing that this eerie scene is all strategic marketing. But if the characters don't disappear months after the film's release, then that could be a cause for concern.