By Daryl Johnson
Staff Writer
With a title such as Smile, n the irony of this movie (written and directed by Parker Finn) is that horror movies shouldn’t make you want to smile. This Idea alone was mesmerizing and leads you to wonder, how scary can a smile be? One particular “head case” reaches our main character, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), who is acting as a psychiatrist that decides to take one last call-in patient before leaving the office for the day. Things turn bad quickly, and by the end of this patient's spill of her crazy story, she commits suicide. Two investigators question the doctor, and she says the best thing that she can say about the patient is that she died smiling.
Smile is based on a previous short film, ‘Laura Hasn’t Slept’ that was directed and written by the same director, where a young girl is speaking with a therapist about a reoccurring nightmare similar to what the patient in Smile witnessed.
This movie has tons of jump scares and loud scary sound effects, which add to what would be considered a suspense movie if the antagonist was human being. This movie has the right amount of scare to represent the horror genre in a good way. The plot has a good foundation and enough details to put yourself in the character's shoes. There are a few characters that die out in the middle of the movie to focus more on one person. For that reason, maybe too many characters were introduced.
The main character, Dr. Rose Cotter is the overall best character in this movie. Bacon's reactions to the situations that develop throughout show genuine emotions, which “sell” the movie. Most scenes isolate her, and the other characters get so little screen time, it’s almost pointless to have them in a movie. The guys in this movie are almost similar to background characters which is the one area that gives this movie a one-time watch.
The ending of the movie does make you wonder and leaves the viewers with a never-ending conclusion. This is a good movie, and I give this movie a good solid, overall rating of 3 out of five stars.