A new documentary for Parker Finn’s terrifying horror film Smile gives us an inside look at what occurred on set. The next film is an adaptation of Finn’s critically praised short film Laura Hasn’t Slept, marking the director’s feature film debut. In Smile, Sosie Bacon plays Dr Rose Cotter, a psychiatrist who is present during the horrific suicide of a young lady who claims to have seen a creature that smiled at her from the shadows. Dr Rose starts having hallucinations herself following the horrific encounter, prompting her to look into the widespread trend of individuals killing themselves after experiencing a similar apparition.
In this straightforward yet compelling idea, Dr Rose must race against time to discover the source of the threat and devise a plan to stay alive. Finn stresses in the new brief how Smile was shot to give viewers a continual feeling of “unease,” since the picture deals with psychological traumas that may be just as lethal as physical ones. Finn explains that he was inspired to make the video by the idea that “the evil in the film wears a grin as a mask to cover its actual goals,” which he says makes the experience of watching it feel like “an intensifying nightmare.” Instead of jumping the gun and showing us all the horrors that Dr Rose must through, Smile gradually increases in intensity and scariness throughout.
The setting seems ideal for getting into the spirit of the Halloween season. The Midnight Award, presented by the SXSW Film Festival’s special jury, helped Finn get the financing he needed to adapt his short film Laura Hasn’t Slept into a feature film. Caitlin Stasey, who appeared in the short, will also appear in Smile. Smile also stars Rob Morgan (The Sisterhood of the Night), Kal Penn (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Jessie T. Usher (Dangerous Lies), and Robin Weigert (The Undying) (The Unforgivable). Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, Isaac Klausner, and Robert Salerno are responsible for producing Smile. Executive production is handled by Adam Fishbach.
The film Smile will premiere on September 30
Sosie Bacon’s Dr Rose Cotter begins experiencing terrifying paranormal phenomena after witnessing a baffling and terrible event involving a patient. For Rose to live and get away from her terrifying new reality as an overwhelming horror threatens to take over her life, she must face her troubled history.