★★★½
Sosie Bacon, daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick, finally gets her own star turn as Rose in the horror film Smile, written and directed by Parker Finn in his first full-length feature film. Rose is a psychiatrist who witnessed her parent's murder and is now entrenched in her own sorrow as she empathetically explores the depths of pain and agony of her patients. She is the therapist to a traumatized patient Laura (Caitlin Stasey), who divulges that she is being stalked and tormented by a shapeshifter. Rose attempts to console her but is soon taken down a twisted path that leads her to find anyone who has the same shared experience.
This is a film for any horror junkie. It takes the path of such greats as It Follows and The Ring. The audience is treated with respect, almost as if the writer knows that they know what will happen to the characters, so Finn considerately lets everyone in on the joke. There is a pet in the horror movie (so we know what’s going to happen.), there are plenty of effective jump scares, and the color pallet is one that disturbs. If some ways, the filmmakers have put the audience in a mental hospital.
With so many movies that rely on special effects, almost all of the effects in Smile are practical. The actors create those frightening smiles using their own facial muscles. It’s scary and proves that there is something frightful about using one’s body to create a nightmare. The camera angles create a world of panic, so the audience feels the stress of each character and the creators of this film have effectively created a 116-minute panic attack.
What is extremely effective, especially for a 2022 audience, is that this movie is not just about blood and guts. It touches on actual themes of mental illness, stability, and loss. We understand more about ourselves and the masks we put on daily after seeing the film. The audience that I shared the theater with actually talked about the movie, not just the gross-out factor. That is what makes this script an excellent addition to the horror canon and one that will take its rightful place as a memorable film in the 21st century. For those who can see in the movie theater, the smiles that light up the screen may have them awake at three in the morning and distracted the next day.