Can a Smile Be scary?

At first glance, it seems strange to make smiling the premise of a horror movie. After all, smiles are associated with happiness, sunshine, and rainbows. But, as the characters in this movie find out, smiles can also be horrifying.

Smile is about Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), a therapist who works at a psychiatric hospital. Rose’s life is turned upside down after a horrifying encounter with Laura Weaver (Caitlin Stacey), a deeply disturbed grad student who claims that she is being stalked by an invisible supernatural entity. After a brief and heated conversation, Laura has a seizure and collapses. Dr. Cotter calls for help, but Laura suddenly stands up, flashes a terrifying smile, and graphically slits her own throat.

An Unstoppable Curse

Understandably shaken by the experience, Rose takes the rest of the week off from work, but her problems are just beginning. Rose is plagued by terrifying nightmares and hallucinations. Her fiancée Trevor (Jessie T. Usher) is entirely unsupportive. He thinks that she’s overreacting and questions her sanity.

Rose knows that Laura’s troubles began after she saw her professor commit suicide. She performs some research and realizes that Laura was the latest in a long line of people who have become victims of an apparent curse. This hex, of course, has now been passed to Rose. None of the curse’s victims lasted more than a week before dying. Can Rose figure out a solution before it’s too late?

We’ve Seen Most of this Before

Smile has many similarities to the acclaimed 2014 horror film It Follows. The villains in both movies are shapeshifting supernatural monsters who target specific individuals on a 1 X 1 basis. Both films feature a curse that is passed from victim to victim. In It Follows, the curse is transmitted through sexual contact. In Smile, it is passed to the person who witnesses the previous victim die. The main characters both attempt to trace the history of the curse in order to find a way to break it.

Parker Finn, a first-time director, has succeeded in making a creepy and atmospheric film. But he relies too much on jump scares. Stop us if you’ve seen this before: Character A thinks that she hears something strange, so she goes to investigate. She discovers that the noise was made by something innocuous, sighs with relief, and then the villain jumps out and attacks her. If you’ve watched a decent number of horror movies, you’ve seen this countless times. It isn’t scary, just predictable and numbing.

Smile’s effectiveness is also limited by its bland characterization. It’s easy to feel bad for Rose, a hardworking therapist who genuinely cares about her clients. But the supporting characters are boring and shallow. Trevor, especially, is annoying and cliched. His character arc (such as it is) follows the typical “partner of the main character who doesn’t believe them until it‘s too late” routine. The characters in “It Follows” were far more interesting than anybody in this movie.

A Creepy Conclusion

Smile finishes strong with an eerie and memorable ending. In fact, this is one area where the film surpasses It Follows. While It Follows concluded with a bizarre denouement that somewhat strained the film’s credibility, “Smile” doesn’t fall into the trap of overthinking things. It ends with a logical and straightforward conclusion that is the inevitable result of everything that has occurred throughout the film

Rating:

Smile is an effective and creepy horror movie, but its reliance on cliches prevents it from achieving true greatness.

Rating from 1 (avoid at all costs) to 10 (masterpiece) 6.5/10