Written And Directed by Parker Finn
Rose: "This isn't real! You're not real!"
The Creature: "Your mind makes it real."
This was one of the most talked about horror movies of last year and one I had been meaning to catch up on. I kept seeing that one image of that woman smiling, which did have the desired creepy effect. Now it was time to see if this movie lived up to that image.
The woman in question being a patient called Laura Weaver (Caitlin Stasey) who has been visiting her therapist, Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon). Laura kept trying to tell Rose of the people she was seeing and the creepy smiles on their faces. Then Laura made that creepy smile herself and killed herself in front of Rose.
It's from that point that everything that could go badly for Rose, does go badly then. Laura's curse quickly became Rose's and she spent the duration of the movie in constant terror. A terror that no one else seemed to take seriously.
The people in Rose's life being her fiancée Trevor (Jessie T. Usher), her sister Holly (Gillian Zinser), boss Dr Morgan Desi (Kal Penn) and her own therapist, Madeline Northcott (Robin Weigert). None of them believed Rose when she tried to tell them about her curse and Rose found herself more isolated as the terror continued.
The only person who did believe was her police detective ex boyfriend Joel (Kyle Gallner) who helped Rose uncover the patterns of previous victims of the same curse. All of whom with gloomy outcomes, which even Rose couldn't avoid.
The final act has a suitably creepy confrontation between Rose and the trauma feeding demon. It's not a good ending for Rose but the obvious sequel bait with Joel has its own potential considering how much he knows about the demon going forward.
- There's a prequel short film called Laura Hasn't Slept, with Caitlin Stasey as Laura first experiencing the curse.
- Originally aimed as a streaming release but got a theatrical one and now a sequel will be released October 18th 2024.
- The victims were all people who witnessed death, including Rose herself.
- Chronology: It came out in October 2022, so I assume around then.
Smile has certainly made a name for itself and it's a very strong debut for Parker Finn with a strong lead performance from Sosie Bacon. It does meander a bit at times and some of the jump scares have been done better elsewhere but I liked a lot of what this movie did.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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