Smile (2022)

Smile (2022) Full Movie

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Director: Parker Finn
Writers: Parker Finn
Release Date: September 22, 2022
Language: English, Spanish

REVIEW: Initially appearing as a standard spookfest, at its core, ‘Smile’ offers a disturbingly creepy proposition. Writer & director Parker Finn takes an otherwise comforting facial expression - a smile - and weaponises it effectively. He creates a constantly eerie atmosphere with chilling sound design, interesting camerawork that often keeps you guessing, and some disconcerting visuals likely to leave a mark. While most horror fare tends to abuse the jump scare tactic, Finn sets them up well enough to be often unpredictable.

Built around Dr Rose Cotter’s experience as a psychiatrist dealing with mental illness, the screenplay delves into her psyche, especially her history of family trauma. Everyone around Rose thinks she’s burnt out or reacting to past trauma, except for her and the audience. It’s a tried and tested formula in the genre, but Sosie Bacon is authentic and compelling in the lead role, making Rose Cotter easy to sympathise with. Jessie T. Usher convincingly plays her fiancé Trevor, with Kal Penn going against type as her concerned supervisor Dr Morgan Desai. Some other performances are frightfully freaky as well, but Sosie Bacon carries most of the film.

After its first grisly encounter, the plot loses steam with a pace likely to test some viewers’ patience. The conclusion may also be unsatisfactory and suffers from Hollywood sequelitis, leaving the door open for the grim grin to continue terrorising its unfortunate victims. Rather than further exploring the psychological impact of certain events, Parker Finn resorts to imagery to make the film unnerving. Try as he might, the writer & director cannot escape genre tropes and struggles to keep things fresh and engaging throughout. But as his first full-length feature movie, Finn proves to be a talent to watch out for. His skills, combined with Sosie Bacon’s work, make ‘Smile’ an anxiety-inducing horror watch that should make your skin crawl.