What is behind a smile? Is it genuine happiness or a mask we wear to conceal something that hides skin deep? A new horror movie called Smile seeks to answer those questions, and while the movie has a unique and exciting premise, the execution is not up to par. It’s a movie with plenty of ideas but lacks the creative intellect to capture the audience’s attention.
The movie takes place in New Jersey, where a young woman named Laura (Caitlin Stasey) is admitted to a psychiatric ward after experiencing paranoid delusions. Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) meets with the young woman to assess her dilemma. During this meeting, Laura claims that something is following her and that whatever it is, takes the shape of people that only she can see. Sooner or later, Laura will die, terrified of her impending doom. Dr. Cotter tries her best to reassure Laura that everything will be fine, but everything dramatically changes.
Laura goes into a psychotic episode where a vase shatters after Laura throws herself onto the floor screaming. Laura grabs a shard of glass and brutally commits suicide in front of Dr. Cotter, leaving her in shock. Every patient is different, but Rose hasn’t seen this level of violence before. She attempts to continue working despite the disastrous incident that just occurred. It seems like a freak occurrence, but Rose experiences the same ordeal.
We learn that whatever happened to Laura is now happening to Rose. Devastated by seeing someone graphically kill themselves, Rose is now experiencing delusions. Hearing things that simply aren’t there, seeing people with that strange smile that Laura displayed during her death, and having visions of a tragic event that happened in her youth.
What is happening to Rose? Is it a disease? A somehow contagious psychosis? We aren’t sure, but the idea comes full circle and what it turns out to be is a winning idea for a horror film. Basically, upon seeing the death of someone, whatever caused their demise is now passed onto you. What is this thing? It’s the trauma and guilt that we all experience in our lives. Yes, it sounds complicated, but I’ll briefly explain. Rose suffered a traumatic loss that strained her relationship with her sister Holly (Gillian Zinser). The thing, or entity, consumes that underlying guilt and exposes it in the worst way possible, leading the victim to kill themselves to relieve themselves of the pain in their past. This is a very good idea, but sadly, the movie can’t determine how to represent the threat outright.
The movie suffers from two fundamental flaws. An overuse of dream sequences and jump scares. These two things have been a “go-to” for horror movies, and it eventually wears us down. Smile does have a legitimate reason for using these tropes, but it isn’t effective. We understand that Rose is trapped in this horrifying ordeal and that she can’t distinguish what’s real and what’s not. Generally, we should get a feel for when we are entering the dream world, but the movie relies on scaring the audience with boo moments to bring us back to reality. It was a frustrating time at the theater, and the audience in attendance was laughing during those times. In that sense, the movie becomes more of a joke than something to take seriously.
If any of this sounds familiar, then you would be right. Films such as The Ring, It Follows, and 1408 explored these ideas, but those films were well-directed, so the audience could understand what was unfolding. As said before, Smile has such a good idea, but the movie becomes a chore to watch that boredom sets in instead of genuine thrills. Sosie Bacon does a good job exemplifying the fear of what is happening to her. Her character hardly has any friends to turn to. Her fiancé Trevor (Jessie T. Usher) does barely anything to assist her in her time of need. Her therapist Dr. Northcott (Robin Weigert), tries talking to her about her situation, but when Rose asks for medication, her therapist is reluctant. The only friend in her life is Joel (Kyle Gallner), an old flame who’s a cop investigating Laura’s suicide.
Several characters to sift through, but the movie focuses on Rose, who wants to know what is happening and why. We slowly get the answers, and this story is an adaptation of a short film from writer/director Parker Finn. This movie marks his directorial debut, and while his short film was indeed short, Smile can’t justify its nearly two-hour runtime. It’s a drag, and while I appreciate the dark tone, underlying themes of grief and trauma, Smile isn’t effective as a horror film. It’s a working idea that needs a better direction. We get countless scenes of dreams, boo moments, and wondering what this is all for. It’s a tedious exercise.
Score 1.5 out of 5
Smile has potential, but it’s bogged down by a slow pace, uninteresting backstory that provides no additional substance, and too many horror movie cliches to count. I think there were at least five dream sequences in this movie, and every single one left me emotionless. I could care less about a movie that lacks genuine suspense and resorts to all these pop-up scare monsters like riding a carnival ride. We know they are coming and aren’t surprised when they arrive.
Despite a good premise, decent enough acting from its cast, Smile left me expressionless. The direction isn’t focused, the scares are predictable, and worst of all, Smile has no suspense that keeps us interested. I was hoping this movie would be exciting, but all I got was an empty two hours that almost put me to sleep. That’s not what a horror movie is supposed to do.
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