Content Warning: Smile contains strong references to suicide and mental health.

If you’re looking for a new terrifying movie to watch this upcoming Halloween, then Smile has all the jump scares and fright that you could want from a horror. Released on the 28th September 2022, Smile, directed by Parker Finn, tells the story of Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) who, after witnessing a traumatic incident involving her patient, begins to experience creepy occurrences – ones which are parallel to what her patient revealed she was experiencing before she died.  

The film does not start on the expected action which adds an element of suspense to it. Unlike some horrors which start immediately with an incident to show us where the film is going, Smile starts off by showing Dr. Rose Cotter extremely over-working herself in the psychiatric hospital she works at and dealing with a patient. There is an incident with a phone ringing and I thought this was going to be the start of something creepy, but instead it is just the tool that keeps Cotter working. It is not until the next scene that the incident with a new patient occurs – the incident which triggers the series of events that causes Cotter to see people creepily ‘smiling’ at her. For those who had watched the trailer beforehand, starting in this way keeps us more suspenseful and anticipated for how the plot of the movie begins. 

Compared to many horrors that I’ve watched recently; Smile takes its tropes to the next level and leaves you jumping out of your seat with unexpected jump scares. There were moments when you thought a jump scare was coming so you’d half look away, but the jump scare didn’t come, so you’d sit back in your seat and keep watching and then suddenly a creepy face would appear and your heart would skip frantically. I am not keen on jump scares in horrors, as often I find them too predictable, but it is clear with the position of the jump scares to see that Finn had thought deeply about how to test the audience’s predictability of a horror.

All of the actors played their roles well, especially the psychiatric patients which, in some films, can feel forced, but here it felt very much emotionally believable. However, Sosie Bacon played the character of Dr. Rose Cotter perfectly; she was portrayed as a well-kept, hard-working woman to begin with and throughout the film she deteriorated into this on-edge terrified woman – the way her character was presented depicted the trauma that she had gone through and the downfall of her mental state. 

There is one scene involving a birthday party that completely shocked and upset me; it was unexpected although my partner saw it coming. It made sense due to this animal appearing in earlier scenes; we had a feeling something would happen but definitely not in the way it did. Warning: If you love cats, maybe close your eyes on a certain scene involving a birthday.

Smile is also undeniably paced well; it does not leave you waiting too long for something creepy to happen and whilst you are waiting, more of the plot line is building up and Dr. Cotter’s mental state shows the realistic progression of the situation getting worse too. The plot is engaging because of Dr. Cotter’s breakdown of her relations and because, without giving away any spoilers, there are many questions of how this movie could end, with there being a way she could escape her own fate.

The only confusion of Smile was the ending. Towards the end, the action is heightened and it appears that Dr. Cotter knows what she must do to change her own ending. However, Finn plays with our own minds and uses a vision to make us think this is the end but then it is just Dr. Cotter imagining this scene. We then move somewhere else and something happens to make us think that this must be the end, and then it isn’t. 

Whilst it is a clever idea to give us multiple potential endings and to play with our minds and keep us in suspense, it was at times confusing and the ending itself was rather disappointing. It left questions about another character too and what would happen to the ‘smile’ curse; this is usually the case for horrors leaving us with this uncertainty, but it still made it frustrating. 

Verdict:

Smile is an unpredictable, creepy horror that is paced and plotted impeccably to keep audience members on their toes. While the film does follow a lot of typical horror tropes, it attempts to break away from this by creating surprising jump scares and unpredictable strands of the plot, as well as creating a drawn-out ending. The ending is frustrating for those who want all the answers of a film, but the film as a whole delivers in being a gripping horror that is definitely a must-watch this month.   

Rating: 9/10 

Smile is out now in cinemas

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