Teah Harris
Staff Writer
“Smile” does a perfect job at executing a horror movie, while still delivering a well developed plot
“Smile” is the newest horror film that will leave the viewers with fear and a sense of unease driving home.
Parker Finn, the director of this thriller, came up with the movie idea because of his fascination with sinister similes. He casted Sosie Bacon, as his main character who plays Rose throughout the movie. Kyle Gallner, playing Joel, becomes victim to the Smiley being at the end of the movie. Robin Weugert playing Dr. Madeline Northcott is Rose’s therapist, Caitlin Stasey, playing Laura Weaver is Rose’s sister and finally Jessie T Usher, playing Trevor, is Rose’s fiance.
“Smile” is a two hour movie that did not disappoint. The movie was made to such perfection that even the first 10 minutes released a sense of unease through the body. The jump scares, gore, soundtrack, violence and suspense created a unique and unnerving ambiance resulting in something different, more alarming than what can be expected with a typical horror movie.
The directors didn’t hesitate to make the most skin crawling horror movie of its time. It jumps straight to the plot without hesitating, setting the tone that the movie is ready to scare the viewers. We learn quickly that our main character Rose, a clinical psychologist, is experiencing intense hallucinations after seeing one of her patients kill herself right in front of her while smiling in the most sinister way. Hours later Rose starts to see smiling figures that play with her mind. Throughout the entire movie we watch these figure infiltrate her mind before the evil being consumes her.
The jump scares that this movie presents itself with is unmatched. There are countless times when the music is calm and then a sudden bloody face is smiling at the audience on the screen. Characters turning corners and screaming, making the viewers jump, because they just saw the ominous smile glaring into their soul.
The amount of gore that this movie portrays is beyond compare. Given the bloody smiley faces, gruseome suicides and just overall amounts of blood, is something that really adds to the moive. Without all of these well crafted, but horrible events, the movie wouldn’t be as effective as it’s presented today.
Every sucide that takes place can be seen as more brutal than the last. The movie takes us through an evil greater than what anyone is able to comprehend. The Smiley being attaches itself to people with trauma playing with their mind as they experience terrifying hallucinations of human-like people smiling at them. Once they have seen a sucide performed right in front of their eyes, it’s only a matter of time before their death day is next. This suicides consist of, slitting of neck, lighting of face with fire, slicing face with gardening scissors and so much more.
Well made soundtracks are essential to complete a good horror movie. Without the intense music following the characters as they are about to see or do something unthinkable diminishes the whole point. “Smile” did a prominent job at adding intense music even when nothing was happening to keep the viewers on their toes. Not only that, the film would incorporate calm music and once the viewer’s guard was down, if almost in an instant, a head would fall from a body. For the duration of the film the audience held their breath as the creepy music set the tone for what was about to happen next.
Looking to see some violent senses, well “Smile” offers just that. The movie portrays numerous violent scenes throughout the two hours. From cutting off a character’s face, burning someone in a house fire, lashing out at characters and so much more. The movie offers a great story line to follow, but the sense of the killings is very violent and may not be friendly to all viewers.
The element of suspense is what differentiates this film from any other horror. Without the intense amount of suspense the horror movie would lose all purpose. “Smile” doesn’t disappoint. The movie has the audience at the edge of their seat the whole two hours.
The creators put a twist on each category making it more powerful then what can normally be expected. The plot was very creative and incredibly unsettling.
“Smile” is an R rated film that can be seen in all theaters.
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