“Smile” Review
Sosie Bacon stars in “Smile” as a therapist tormented by visions that won’t let her go.
When I first saw the trailers for “Smile,” I was prepared to hate the film. I don’t like to judge films based on their trailers but the ones I saw for “Smile” just didn’t convince me that this would be a good film. The idea of characters having creepy smiles while they do terrible things has been done before to laughable results, just ask “Truth or Dare,” and I expected this film to be no different. However, I was surprised by how engaging, serious and, yes, scary the film was. If you are going to indulge in horror this Halloween season, I highly recommend you go to your local theater to see “Smile.”
Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), a therapist at a psychiatric ward, begins to see and hear strange things following a traumatic incident in which one of her patients (Caitlin Stasey) brutally kills herself while having a sickening smile on her face. As the days go on and terrible things happen, Rose begins to discover that these images are part of an evil entity that moves from person to person, showing them terrible things, and that the only escape is either suicide or murder. As Rose hangs onto sanity, she tries to learn more about this entity so she can defeat it.
Writer/director Parker Finn, whose short film “Laura Hasn’t Slept” was the basis for this film, takes a concept that I thought was going to be unintentionally silly and makes a horror film that is captivating from beginning to end. It’s clear that not only does he love horror, but he also respects his audience and wants them to be entertained and terrified.
In particular, Finn’s use of jump scares was excellent as he used them sparingly and built up to them. In many cases, jump scares are the tools of cowards as a way to get an immediate reaction from the audience. They’re often training wheels the film doesn’t need. But in “Smile’s” case, Finn uses them to great effect by using them every once in a while and they did get a very good jolt out of me and the audience I saw the film with.
Writer/director Parker Finn (right) utilized all of the horror tools on his belt to make a surprisingly chilling film with smart uses of jump scares, suspense and atmosphere.
I anticipated so many of the film’s scares to be hilarious based on the trailers but there were some that I found disturbing. At the heart of this disturbance is the entity itself. Parker Finn doesn’t give too much away about what the thing stalking Rose actually is. He only gives clues and shows just how far back this curse has jumped from person to person.
Sosie Bacon’s performance is incredible as she slowly loses her mind due to the visions of the curse. She does things that she doesn’t even remember doing, she has visions, the entity visits her in the form of people she knows and loves and it all is terrifying because we don’t even know what’s real. The idea of her being a therapist, someone who specializes in mental health and is frequently seen as a rational person, is also very clever and Bacon’s performance is a testament to her talent.
Where I think the film struggles is in its second act where there are a few scares that could have been cut strictly because they are unintentionally humorous, notably one in Rose’s car that involves her sister Holly (Gillian Zinser). I think that, if ten minutes had been cut, this could have been a more tightly paced and even more chilling film. But I don’t think this is much of a complaint given that was expecting something completely different than what I got.
Without giving anything away, the ending to “Smile” is absolutely perfect. I loved the way this film left me and I think that so many mainstream horror films don’t have the guts to do what “Smile” did.
If you desire a horror film that will satisfy your lust for cool kills and terrifying jump scares, you’re going to get it but you’re also going to get something smart that will leave you with a smile.
