Smile Review (James Gatzimas- to be published online)
The latest film to hit theaters, Smile, is one of the scariest movies of its kind. Smile, directed by Parker Finn (He/Him), follows the dark story of a psychiatrist, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) (She/Her), who meets her patient, PhD student Laura Weaver (Caitilin Stasey) (She/Her), who claims to have witnessed her professor commit suicide. She is the only one who is able to see an entity that takes the form of other people while smiling at her. After the appointment between Rose and Laura takes a turn for the worse, Rose’s life turns upside down: The supernatural occurrences Laura faced have gone on to attack Rose. In addition to the supernatural occurrences Rose faces, this harms her relationship with her Fiancé Treavor (Jessie T. Usher) (He/Him) and her sister Holly (Gillian Zinser) (She/Her), whose relationship has strained since their mother’s death.
I found this movie to be very scary. Not only was the concept unnerving, but there were many jump scares which sometimes would throw me off and make me lose track of what was actually occurring in the movie. I can confirm that there are many scenes that are sure to give you the creeps and live up to the expectations of a great horror film.
The premise of this film is rather interesting. It resembles other films like The Ring and It Follows. Nothing is unusual about Parker Finn’s approach, which favors Dutch angles and jump-scares. A scary mix of central performance from Sosie Bacon (She/Her) and a tortured score sure makes quite the smile. The designs for Smile are amazing. It’s a classic horror movie with a focus on story and entertainment at the same time.
Smile has proven to be successful at the box office, with ticket sales between Thursday and Sunday of about $22 million. I praise everything about this film, from the visuals to the jump scares to the sounds to Sosie Bacon’s (She/Her) performance. If you’re a horror film fanatic, then this film is for you.
