SMILE review
The horror movie Smile is based off a short film produced by the director Parker Finn called Laura Hasn’t Slept. Finn had such positive feedback from the short film that he decided to further it and make it a movie working with Paramount+ to stream it. After releasing the movie for test screening, the reviews came back so positive that they decided to release it in theaters and hold off 45 days to release it on Paramount+. The hype and positive reviews for this movie definitely are accurate. As a horror fanatic, I can honestly say that this movie is worth the hype.
Laura Hasn’t Slept, the short film that inspired Paramount+ to work with Finn in making it a movie, is also worth the hype. For an 11 minute film, it tells a huge story. The main character is the same actor in the short film as in the movie, Sosie Bacon, and she plays her role so well and creates such a believable fear that freaks that audience out even more. Obviously, the monster featured in the movie is significantly more terrifying than the one in the short film, but the initial smile presented by these monsters is equally as terrifying.
Movies that scare me are hard to come by but the fear captured in this movie from the amazing actors especially the main character combined with the anticipation that each scene brings, creates such a scary feeling to everyone in the theater seats.
Throughout the movie viewers watch Bacon playing therapist Rose Cotter after she watches one of her patients commit suicide in a odd way. After the incident, Dr. Cotter is then on edge for the entirety of the movie. She hears things in her home, she has her home security alarms go off, and just random things keep setting her further and further on edge. As the movie continues we learn a little bit more about what is making her on edge. Which is such a great way to build anticipation, it doesnn’t jump straight into seeing the monster consistently and makes viewers almost as confused as the main character.
Dr. Cotter starts to do her own personal investigation which the audience gets to follow and learn about with her, furthering the fear both in the characters and the viewers. This such an important key to me, obviously everybody has their own opinion but personally, if I know everything before the main character does, the story just doesn’t seem as scary as if I’m learning at the same pace as the characters.
This movie also has so many thrilling jump scares. Not the kind of jump scares where you know it’s about to happen, obviously there are those moments, but more times than not, you either aren’t expecting it at all or you’re expecting it to happen soon and then the story continues and then the jump scares hits, still catching you off guard.
To wrap up how good this movie genuinely was, it wasn’t a cheesy happy ending where she wakes up and it’s all a dream or your typical ending. Right at the end viewers are hit with a great plot twist and then and ending that actually feels like it fits the plot. It isn’t a heroic ending where she’s now deemed a super hero. I encourage anyone and everyone to watch the movie and the best part is the ending so I don’t want to give it away, but I will say, it is so worth watching through till the end.
