‘Your mind makes it real…’
It’s so seldom that a film actually scares me that when it does happen, it really sticks with me. The last film to properly get under my skin was Hereditary back in 2018. Until now…
After witnessing a traumatic suicide, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) begins to feel cursed. Despite boasting a support network including her self involved sister Holly (Gillian Zinser), her distant fiancé Trevor (Jessie T. Usher) and her condescending therapist Madeline (Robin Weigert), Rose begins to sink deeper into the depths of her illusion.
Thanks to some wonderful viral marketing, it has become well known that the curse in this film is passed on by a poor soul who commits hideous acts whilst smiling beatifically. This is unnerving to say the least. And the smiling is only half of it. First time writer-director Parker Finn has crafted a film that is an attack on the senses. Smile is deeply psychologically scarring. It’s haunting on a metaphysical level. It’s deranged and disturbing in equal measure. And if that doesn’t do it for you, it also has some of the greatest jump scares ever committed to film. I was in bits throughout the whole goddamn thing. I’ve never held my wife’s hand so hard in my life. Honestly, this is a horror film that is genuinely frightening.
That’s not all it has going for it, however. Finn has a great eye for a memorable shot, and Smile is visually inventive throughout. It also boasts an Elizabeth Moss-like performance in the leading role from a deeply affecting Sosie Bacon, and the supporting cast do a good job in grounding the film in its more surreal moments, particularly Kyle Gallner as an ex-boyfriend and confidante, and Kal Penn as a sympathetic boss. Aside from the cast, the sound editing is phenomenal, to the point where it genuinely should be winning Oscars. It won’t, of course, but it absolutely should. So much so that I would say that it is vital that you go and see this in a cinema. Watching at home just won’t do it justice.
Sure, this is a film that wears its influences on its bloody sleeves. The Ring, It Follows and The Babadook all loom large, as does Candyman and the Final Destination franchise, but the difference is that Smile goes to places that none of those films dare to tread. This really is as dark as mainstream horror movies get. A truly disturbing piece of work.