Review: Is Horror Movie ‘Smile So Dumb That Its Actually Smart? Who Knows!
Writer-director Parker Finn's feature debut, The Smile , has a long list of horror movie trends and the thinnest premise ever, grounded in both historical and contemporary. In his 2020 short Laura Didn't Sleep, Finn weaves the latest hot topic of horror, horror, into a story built around a chain of deadly curses like The Ring, It Follows, and She Dies Tomorrow. “All it takes is a simple smile to transfer the curse. It is, but it's the toothy grin with the jaw down and the eyes up that conveys something more sly than friendly.
This film is at its best here, but Finn is enhanced by Charlie Saroff's stunning cinematography, Cristóbal Tapia de Vir's haunting and effective soundtrack, and Suzy Bacon's starring role. Oh, we will dance, we will be satisfied, we will be satisfied.
In 1942, horror producer Val Luton created what is now known as the Luton Bus in the movie Cat People. If you've ever seen a horror movie, you'll know the moment when the tension slowly builds, and when the scream from the source turns out to be harmless, it sends popcorn: the phone ringing, the house alarm system, the bus brakes; It's a technique Finn uses liberally in "Smile" to almost comical effect.
In the way that Smile sees trauma as a source of horror, one wonders if Finland is bucking the tendency to describe the whole point of horror films as being "about trauma" (see: Interview for Every Last Girl by Jamie Saw Lee Curtis, which was published recently.years in the "Halloween" franchise). Smile's main character, Rose Cotter (Bacon), is a therapist who is cursed by a young woman (Kathleen Stacey) after witnessing a suicide. The curse of death is like contagious PTSD. anyone who sees a suicidal person motivated by this "evil spirit" will bear the curse and must overcome it.
Finn keeps following the "smiley" line, which makes us wonder if the movie is stupid or just really stupid. Finn Robin Weigert, the leading therapist representative (see Big Little Lies ), portrays Rose's therapist, who speaks to her calmly, giving her disturbing voices an ultimately menacing air. As Finn delves into the childhood trauma that Rose has yet to face, he is portrayed as bright and literally hilarious. But does Smiley smile with us when we laugh at nasal expressions, images and themes? This is the biggest question in determining quality.
In the end, we will never know the answer to this question, and the conclusion shows that it is the continuation of the content that betrays the internal logic of the film, no, "Smile" is not completely in on the joke, or at least refuses; do that. . Show it. However, Bacon's performance, along with Finn's meticulous craftsmanship, manages to sustain the tension and the audience's attention for the nearly two-hour duration of this horror extravaganza, which is vague and somewhat laugh-out-loud funny.
Kathy Walsh is a film critic for Tribune News Service.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
