Wednesday's Weekly Watch: 'Smile' (2022) directed by Parker Finn

The Introduction

Credit: Indiewire.com

Horror movies that rely on classic horror tropes, such a jump scares, don't generally interest me too much anymore. I often find them lazy and somewhat uninspiring, and typically layered with horror cliches that have been done a million times. However, with 'Smile', directed by Parker Finn, typical horror tropes were used in such a way that didn't feel tacky or cheap. Factoring in the award-winning caliber audio mixing, 'Smile' ended up being one of my favorite horror movies of 2022.

The Review

The hype surrounding 'Smile', at least for me personally and some of my other horror junkie friends, was real. Not because we expected a masterpiece, but because we expected a corny stereotypical big budget thriller that would only offer us cheap scares and something to laugh at. However, upon my arrival to the theatre and the first 20 minutes of the film had passed, I wasn't overcome by a feeling of disappointment or amusement, but intrigue. This intrigue was aided by sound mixing that teleported me to the world of 'Smile', while making any scares I did experience genuine.

'Smile' follows the story of Rose Cotter, a therapist whose patient kill themself in front of her during the opening sequence of the film. The patient was hysterical about a supposed entity that has been following her around, taking the form of people around her and wearing an insidious smile. After the suicide, Rose begins seeing the same "hallucinations" that her patient was raving about. Eventually, Rose connects that dots and discovers that her patient's suicide and her hallucinations are related, and that this chain of killings and hallucinations has been going on for years. Rose needs to find out how to stop the chain from continuing, and losing her own life, before it's too late.

Credit: Bolavip

One of the things I enjoyed most about 'Smile' was the ambiguity of its antagonist. The demon, or entity, or whatever you would like to call it (never given a true name), is formless. The idea of a formless being that takes the shape of friends and family was a haunting concept to consider during the duration of the film. The empty smile the entity would portray was chilling to the core. Additionally, the ambiance set by the film's audio mixing whenever the demon was around completely brought together the entirety of the eerie feeling.

The Rating:

'Smile' was a pleasant surprise for me. A film that I initially expected to land within the 4-5 range ended up receiving a 6.6 from me.