Synopsis- After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can’t explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.
Director- Parker Finn
Cast- Sosie Bacon, Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey
Released- 2022
Smile, directed by Parker Finn, is the sort of high-concept horror that feels like it’s taking its cues from the same handbook as “The Ring” or “It Follows” – films where a curse or sinister force is passed from one person to the next. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but there’s something to be said for a film that takes a well-worn premise and spins it with enough confidence and dread to keep you nervously glued to your seat. That said, it’s also a film that sometimes feels like it’s smiling through gritted teeth, unsure of whether it wants to subvert or just recycle the tropes it so clearly adores.
The film centres on Dr. Rose Cotter (played with wide-eyed intensity by Sosie Bacon), a therapist whose life spirals into a waking nightmare after witnessing a patient’s horrific suicide. This event sets off a chain of eerie encounters, as Rose begins to see people around her flashing unsettling, Joker-like grins before meeting their untimely ends. What ensues is a fairly predictable descent into paranoia and dread, with Rose becoming increasingly isolated as her friends and family (including an underused Kyle Gallner as her ex-boyfriend) chalk her spiralling fears up to her own unresolved trauma.
There’s no denying that “Smile” is effectively creepy in parts. Parker Finn shows a deft hand with jump scares – there’s a scene involving a car window that’s destined to leave audiences jolted out of their seats – and the pervasive sense of unease is palpable. The visual motif of the unsettling, rictus grin works well enough as a symbol of hidden malevolence lurking beneath the surface, and the film uses sound design and disorienting camera work to ramp up the tension, often making the mundane seem deeply sinister.
But here’s where the film falters: it’s far too eager to reveal its hand. We know exactly what’s coming at every turn. From the ghostly smiles to the creeping sense of dread that stalks Rose, everything feels like it’s been plucked from the “horror movie greatest hits” collection. At times, it feels as though Finn is content to rely on these well-worn tricks without pushing his concept into more interesting territory. This is a film about trauma, we’re told repeatedly – but much like “The Babadook,” a far more effective exploration of grief and loss, it struggles to dig deeper into the psyche of its lead character beyond surface-level scares.
Sosie Bacon’s performance is what holds “Smile” together. She plays Rose as a woman on the edge, teetering between reason and madness, and she grounds the film with an emotional intensity that elevates the more generic material. It’s a shame, then, that the supporting cast often feels like they’re in another film – they’re there to either dismiss or freak out in equal measure, rarely given anything substantial to do.
Overall, “Smile” is an entertaining enough horror flick, but it doesn’t quite live up to its own ambitions. It’s unsettling, it’s eerie, and it will certainly give you a good jolt at the moment – but it never manages to carve out a space of its own in a genre already packed with far more memorable terrors. Three stars – and a mildly unnerving smile.
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