The 2010s, as the 1980s are linked with slasher movies, will be remembered in horror history for the prevalence of trauma metaphors. The new Paramount wide-release horror film “Smile” fits right in with its PTSD-induced cousins, despite being released on the eve of a new decade. The difference is that in this case, the monster is not a metaphor at all; the demon (or bad spirit, or whatever it is; the film is ambiguous on this point) genuinely feeds on and spreads pain. More specifically, whatever it is that follows Dr Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) around the entire runtime of “Smile” enjoys the taste of people who have witnessed the suicide of another person—a gruesome, painful, bloody suicide, by garden shears and oncoming trains and the shattered fragments of a ceramic vase in a hospital intake room. Shortly after being transported to the mental emergency department where Rose works, Rose meets Laura (Caitlin Stasey), a PhD student who is scared that someone is trying to get her and is shivering and terrified.
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Having seen one of her professors kill himself with a hammer four days prior, Laura claims that “it looks like humans, but it’s not a person,” and that this entity has been following her ever since. Laura turns to Rose with a crazy grin on her face and slits her own neck at the end of the long conversation scene that starts the film. Everyone would be shaken by this, but Rose feels it more keenly because her own mother committed suicide many years ago. The film’s most insightful theme is the aftereffects of trauma and the associated shame and fear: Trevor, Rose’s (Jessie T. Usher) boyfriend, says he has looked up the hereditary mental disease online, and the film is filled with derogatory references to persons with mental illness.
Rose is more troubled by the possibility that her hallucinations, time loss, and emotional instability have an internal source than by the thought that she is cursed by the same creature that killed Laura. At least until it’s too late, everyone around Rose, including Trevor, her therapist Dr Northcott (Robin Weigert), her supervisor Dr Desai (Kal Penn), and her sister Holly (Gillian Zinzer), seems to think the problem is more neurochemical than supernatural. Laura’s case has been given to the one person who believes Rose: her ex-boyfriend Joel (Kyle Gallner). Their hesitant reuniting sets up the film’s mystery, which accounts for the bulk of “Smile’s” lengthy (but not excessively so) 115-minute running time. The film’s plot has many of the standard elements of a supernatural horror mystery, from an initial Internet search (the modern-day equivalent of a library scene) to an in-depth interview with a traumatised inmate who survived an encounter with the evil force (or forces) in question. A cluster of related incidents in Brazil is briefly mentioned, setting the stage for a potential continuation.
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The unrelenting, oppressive gloominess of “Smile” works to the film’s advantage; in this movie, pets and kids are as at risk as anybody else, and the film’s horror elements are violent and distressing to fit the film’s bleak themes. Bacon’s unsteady, sensitive performance as Rose bolsters this unflinching sensibility. She yells “I am not insane!” at Trevor, then apologises mumblingly as she looks shamefacedly down at her shoes. At another, her wan smile at her nephew’s birthday party serves as both a bleak counterpoint to the sick grin the entity’s victims see before they die (hence the film’s title) and a relatable moment for viewers who have grudgingly muddled through similar gatherings in the midst of a depressive episode. Although having an engaging protagonist and competent camerawork (the colour scheme of lavender, pink, teal, and grey is tasteful and very of the moment), “Smile” is ultimately let down by the fact that its central conceit is not as novel as it first appears.
Based on a short film that took home a jury prize at SXSW 2020, this is writer-director Parker Finn’s first movie. Within two years, in the midst of a pandemic, Paramount was able to turn it into a non-franchise wide-release movie. Nevertheless, “Smile” relies much too heavily on formulaic mystery structuring and on horror themes and images taken from famous successes like “The Ring” and “It Follows” in order to stretch the premise from an 11-minute short into a nearly two-hour movie. Because of its proximity on the “it’s actually about trauma” continuum and its obvious debt to David Robert Mitchell’s 2014 picture, “Smile” isn’t as refreshing as it could have been if it had broken the mould more brazenly. It does debut Finn as a competent horror director, one who can build a jump scare with finesse and has the ability to leave audiences feeling unsettled and distressed, all of which are assets for a picture like this. Horror movie lovers who are anticipating the release of an “original” feature film may want to lower their expectations. The film’s debut at Fantastic Fest on September 23 was attended by the reviewer. It will be released to the public on September 30.