A therapist witnesses the bizarre suicide of a patient, and finds herself overwhelmed by increasingly disturbing and dark, daunting visions, believing that she is next.
Smile owes a great debt to It Follows (2014), which was about a young woman being pursued by a relentless supernatural entity. In Smile, the supernatural entity produces an unsettling smile or grin on its victims faces.
Not enough is made of this as if the film-makers were scared to overdo it. This original element should have been used more effectively to induce panic but instead the film is over reliant on jump scares and sudden, disturbing imagery.
Too often than not, it seems like these events aren't actually happening, that Sosie Bacon's trauma filled therapist, Rose is simply hallucinating them. See: her sister's twisted neck and the psychiatrist attack.
Bacon is superb elevating proceedings by at least a star (or a FG) and Smile is well shot with inventive camera techniques. But it still wastes its clever (but derivative) premise on nightmarish visions, instead of the unsettling psychological horror is should have been. The uneven ending sadly falls back on common horror tropes.
Wipe that smile off your face.
FG FG (FG)
DIRECTED BY: Parker Finn. SCREENPLAY BY: Parker Finn. BASED ON: Laura Hasn't Slept by Parker Finn. RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes. CERTIFICATE: 15 / R. USA.
