Smile (2022)
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.jpg) Once you see it, it's too late...
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Smile is a 2022 American psychological supernatural horror film written/directed by Parker Finn as his directorial debut. A follow-up to Parker's short film Laura Hasn't Slept, it stars Sosie Bacon as a therapist who witnesses the bizarre suicide of a patient and then experiences increasingly disturbing and daunting experiences that lead her to believe she is experiencing something supernatural. It also features Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, Kal Penn, Rob Morgan, and Caitlin Stasey, reprising her role from Laura Hasn't Slept. A sequel, Smile 2, was released in 2024.
Plot
A therapist gets haunted by a deity that only she herself can see.
Why It's Not Too Late
- The idea of an entity that manifests itself through people creepily smiling is superb. The fact that it can also cause hallucinations adds to the horror factor.
- Awesome cinematography that darkens up the film and makes camera angles and shots feel realistic.
- Sosie Bacon does an amazing job as Rose.
- Given that it's a follow-up to Laura Hasn't Slept, it has its trueness to the short film's spirit by capturing its likability.
- Tons of scary moments, such as Laura cutting her throat or Rose's nephew getting a dead cat in his birthday present.
- The Smile demon, in its true form, is the stuff of nightmares. It's so horrifying that you can't even tell what the hell it is, and it also has a great design; you can see the eyes and two mouths; it may even be scarier than the Death Angels in A Quiet Place because there is no weakness aside from killing a person in front of another person to have that person be infected.
- Terrifying ending: Rose burns herself in front of Joel in the most terrifying way possible. And this just comes after she was able to let go of her trauma.
- You can't escape your own mind, Rose!
"Too Late" Qualities
- The Smile Entity does feel too similar to other horror movie villains like The Ring and Hereditary.
- The Smiles, while genuinely creepy, may come off as laughable to some since they look like they're just smiling as an expression.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 80% based on 197 reviews and an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Deeply creepy visuals and a standout Sosie Bacon further elevate Smile's unsettling exploration of trauma, adding to the rare feature that satisfyingly expands on a short." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".