The trailer for Smile basically told us what happens in the movie, so in some ways, it’s predictable. But what’s engrossing about writer-director Parker Finn’s debut feature is that it manages to keep you on the edge of your seat as each scene glides by, making you anxious by the minute until you make sense of what’s going on.
In the movie, Sosie Bacon plays Dr. Rose Cotter, a hardworking psychiatrist who encounters a traumatic experience with a patient, Laura (played by Caitlin Stasey).
(Note: The movie was inspired by the director’s short film called “Laura Hasn’t Slept” which stars Stasey.)
Laura explains how she’s been having visions of people that only she can see—people with creepy smiles plastered on their faces. No one believes her and she’s frightened that something bad will happen to her. She tries her best to explain her dilemma in a manner that’s not frantic. She is aware that she sounds manic, so she musters every bit of cogency she has to get Dr. Cotter to believe her.
Rose responds in the most re-assuring tone and manner, hoping to calm her patient. But then Laura starts screaming in fright when she sees something behind Rose. If you’ve seen the trailer, Laura is then shown with a creepy smile and holding a piece of broken ceramic on her cheek.
It ends there, but we sort of know what happens next especially since the next frame shows a body covered in a smile-shaped blood-stained white blanket.
Soon enough, Rose starts to see things no one else does. She sees something in the dark. She experiences hallucinations and she begins to question her sanity.
She now finds herself in the shoes of Laura (and perhaps other past patients who were desperate to be believed), grasping at straws because no one, not even her fiancé, Trevor (Jessie Usher) and sister, Holly (Gillian Zinser) closest, believes her.
It’s probably the scariest thing for a psychiatrist. To have thoughts and emotions that are real only to you and no one is willing to take you seriously.
This is one of reasons why the movie is chilling.
Unlike the usual horror flicks, Smile doesn’t rely on jump scares and gore to instill fear. Although these are present, Finn made sure not to overuse these, which is good because, at most, these elements can only sustain shock and terror for a few seconds.
He knows how to balance these devices and maximize their usage.
Real terror, the kind that lingers inside your mind and gives you a feeling of dread and an uncontrollable shiver, comes from something much more primal: the disconcerting feeling of being alone in a battle you know you’re more likely to lose.
It’s not even supernatural. And that’s what makes it even more frightening—because it’s so relatable it can happen to anyone. Which is also why we, as an audience, feel the fear. We’re petrified, clutching our knuckles as we watch Rose try to find the answers together with her former flame, Joel (Kyle Gallner).
Bacon’s convincing performance is the anchor of the movie’s scare factor. It is through her that we experience moments of spine-chilling terror. But what she did even better is to allow the audience to better grasp the horrors of mental illness and the trauma that comes with it.
Smile is very good depiction of this. It’s ironic how Finn smudged the idea we have of that one thing we’ve always believed is a cure for any negative emotions: smiling. Turning it into a harbinger of awful news is twistedly funny–another reason why this movie is deliciously terrifying.
Smile is now showing in theaters.
