‘Smile’ delivers amazing scares and chills

The month of October is finally here and two things automatically come to mind: the Halloween season and horror movies. Usually this time of year I catch up on a few older horror films (yes, big fan of the genre, right here) and some recent ones as well.

This past weekend, I had the chance to check out the latest chilling movie from Paramount called ‘Smile.’ And, if you really enjoy some amazing thrills and very unexpected jump scares, then this is definitely the movie for you!

After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can’t explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.

‘Smile’ is definitely one of those horror-thrillers that doesn’t rely on mainly cheap, generic scares. The latest horror flick delivers a lot of tense scares and a good amount of suspense.

From the very start of the movie, it holds your attention and the scares start right away. Just like other movies in the genre, ‘Smile’ does have a few moments that can be on the predictable side. But, even if a couple of those moments are predictable, they can still give you a bit of a fright.

Throughout the movie, the atmosphere can be really eerie, which makes ‘Smile’ even better. All of the scares are genuinely solid and the performances are rather good for this genre. And, of course, got to mention the “smile.” Indeed, the “smile” that is shown during the movie can be sort of silly at times. Yet, it also gives out a really creepy vibe. And, the ending is something that you don’t see coming. It’s definitely a tense and shocking way to end this awesome horror flick.

So, if you are looking for something with some great scares, thrills and edge of your seat moments, then I highly suggest you check out ‘Smile’ while it’s showing at the Dietrich.

The cast: Sosie Bacon as Rose Cutter; Kyle Gallner as Joel; Caitlin Stasey as Laura Weaver; Robin Weigert as Dr. Madeline Northcott; Jessie T. Usher as Trevor; Judy Reyes as Victoria Munoz; Rob Morgan as Robert Talley; Gillian Zinser as Holly and Kal Penn as Dr. Morgan Desai.

‘Smile’ is written and directed by Parker Finn, making his feature length film debut.

In June 2020, Paramount Pictures announced that Parker Finn would be

making the big screen adaptation of his own short film ‘Laura Hasn’t Slept.’ The short film also won the Special Jury Recognition Prize for SXSW’s (South by Southwest festival) Midnight Short category.

For marketing the movie, during several MLB games, several actors could be seen with the signature eerie smile from the movie and wore shirts with the movie’s logo. ‘Smile’ was originally slated for a streaming release on Paramount Plus. But the studio eventually decided to release the film theatrically because of strong results from test screenings.

‘Smile’ earned decent reviews from critics and had a $22 million opening weekend.

‘Smile’ is rated R for strong violent content and grisly images, and language

and has a running time of 115 minutes.

https://youtu.be/-8d987Wtkxs