When the horror histories of the 2010s are written, the decade will be associated with trauma metaphors the way the โ80s are with slasher movies. And although it comes on the cusp of a new decade, the new Paramount wide-release horror movieย “Smile” fits right in with its PTSD-induced kin. The difference here is that the monster is barely a metaphor at all: The demon, or evil spirit, or whatever it isโthe movie is vague on this pointโliterally feeds on, and is spread by, trauma.
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Specifically, the vague something that dogs Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) throughout โSmileโ likes the taste of people who have witnessed someone else dying by suicideโgruesome, painful, bloody suicide, by garden shears and oncoming trains and the shattered fragments of a ceramic vase in a hospital intake room. Thatโs where Rose briefly meets Laura (Caitlin Stasey), a PhD student whoโs brought to the psychiatric emergency ward where Rose works, shaking and terrified that something is out to get her. โIt looks like people, but itโs not a person,โ Laura explains, saying that thisย thingย has been following her ever since she witnessed one of her professors bludgeoning himself to death with a hammer four days earlier. At the end of the extended dialogue scene that opens the film, Laura turns to Rose with a psychotic grin on her face and proceeds to slit her own throat.
This would unsettle anyone, but it especially bothers Rose given that Roseโs own mother died by suicide many years earlier. That lingering trauma, and the fears and stigma that surround it, form the filmโs most intelligent thematic thread: Roseโs fiance Trevor (Jessie T. Usher) admits that heโs researched inherited mental illness online, and harsh terms like โnutjobs,โ โcrazies,โ and โhead casesโ are used to describe mentally ill people throughout the film. The idea that she might not actually be plagued by the same entity that killed Laura, and that her hallucinations, lost time, and emotional volatility might have an internal cause, seems to bother Rose more than the concept of being cursed. The people around Rose, including Trevor, her therapist Dr. Northcott (Robin Weigert), her boss Dr. Desai (Kal Penn), and her sister Holly (Gillian Zinzer), certainly seem to think the problem is more neurochemical than supernaturalโthat is, until itโs way too late.
The only one who believes Rose is her ex, Joel (Kyle Gallner), a cop whoโs been assigned to Lauraโs case. Their tentative reunion opens the door to the filmโs mystery element, which makes up much of โSmileโsโ long, but not overly long, 115-minute run time. The filmโs storyline follows many of your typical beats of a supernatural horror-mystery, escalating from a quick Google (the internet-age equivalent of a good old-fashioned library scene) to an in-person interview with a traumatized, incarcerated survivor of whatever this malevolent entity actually is. Brief reference is made to a cluster of similar events in Brazil, opening up the door to a sequel.
โSmileโsโ greatest asset is its relentless, oppressive grimness: This is a film where children and pets are as vulnerable as adults, and the horror elements are bloody and disturbing to match the dark themes. This unsparing sensibility is enhanced by Baconโs shaky, vulnerable performance as Rose: At one point, she screams at Trevor, โI am not crazy!,โ then mumbles an apology and looks down at her shoes in shame. At another, her wan smile at her nephewโs birthday party stands as both a bleak counterpoint to the sick grin the entityโs victims see before they die (thus the filmโs title), as well as a relatable moment for viewers who have reluctantly muddled their way through similar gatherings in the midst of a depressive episode.
Sadly, despite a compelling lead and strong craft behind the cameraโthe color palette, in shades of lavender, pink, teal, and gray, is capably chosen and very of the momentโโSmileโ is diminished by the sheer fact that itโs not as fresh a concept as it might seem. This is directorย Parker Finnโs debut feature as a writer and director, based on a short film that won a jury award at SXSW 2020. To spin that into a non-franchise wide-release movie from a major studio like Paramount within two yearsโin a pandemic, no less!โis an impressive achievement, to be sure.
But in padding out the concept from an 11-minute short into a nearly two-hour movie, โSmileโ leans too heavily not only on formulaic mystery plotting, but also on horror themes and imagery lifted from popular hits like โThe Ringโ and โIt Follows.โย David Robert Mitchellโs 2014 film is an especially prominent, letโs say, influence on โSmile,โ which, combined with its placement on the โitโs really about traumaโ continuum, make this a less bracing movie experience than it might have been had it broken the mold more aggressively. It does introduce Finn as a capable horror helmer, one with a talent for an elegantly crafted jump scare and a knack for making a viewer feel uneasy and upset as they exit the theaterโboth advantages for a film like this one. But fans excited to see an โoriginalโ horror film hitting theaters should temper those expectations.