#62: Smile
Release Date: September 30th, 2022
Format: Streaming (Hulu)
Written by: Parker Finn
Directed by: Parker Finn
3 Stars
Smile scared the shit out of me. The writer/director, Parker Finn, did this by creating both an atmosphere of horror and an unpredictability in the jump scares, which never feel cheap or unearned. It really is an effective movie in its execution, if not its conception, which is a bit derivative.
I hate to be overly critical of what should be a fun horror movie, but if the movie is going to treat its subject matter in a serious tone, I suppose it should be evaluated critically. This is a movie that uses mental illness and suicide to get to its conceit of some sort of invisible entity that haunts people through the possession of a random stranger or loved one (you can never tell who might be susceptible) and giving the possessed person both murderous desires and a sinisterly creepy smile.
I had no problem with Finn using suicide as a vehicle for his silly plot, but I imagine some viewers probably did. I was also hoping that at the end of the movie it would really be about schizophrenia, and that our protagonist, Rose, actually only thought that she saw people smiling. Make the audience believe, much like Rose, that the evil smiling strangers are out there waiting, but really they’re not; it’s all about the horror of living with a debilitating mental disease. But instead Finn’s evil spirits and possessions are very much real, and he borrows from The Ring and It Follows with the method in which to save yourself.
But enough with the criticism. Actually, one last critique: I didn’t like the set design. Do I take the time to look up who the set designer was just to shit on them? Let’s do it: Thomas Berardi. And according to IMDB, this is the only movie he’s worked on. That makes sense. This is one of those instances where the set designer is doing too much. No detective has that cool of an apartment, that spotless and refined. And Rose’s house? It’s the most modern and beautiful house I’ve ever seen, set in an enchanting, peaceful wooded suburb. It’s screams insecurity on the part of the set design, where they try to make the sets remarkable, rather than create sets that service the characters and the story.
Okay, I think I’m finally done criticizing this thing. I really do think this is a scary, fun movie. And the lead actress, Sosie Bacon, is very good. She has a unique physical screen presence and she gives a performance that elevates the entire movie, since she’s in virtually every single scene. Because of her chops and her decidedly non-Hollywood-female-leading-role looks, I figured she was some no-name actress from Ohio who snagged the lead role in Finn’s low budget short film, Laura Hasn’t Slept (of which Smile is based), and just had that much talent to break into the industry. It wasn’t until later that my friend Bryson told me that she’s the daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick. Hollywood nepo babies strike again.
And here I am getting critical. I think it’s this Mariners’ losing streak that’s putting me in a shitty mood.
See Smile. It’s a great horror movie.
