By Alexis Johnson
After premiering in September 2022, the movie Smile has received a Rotten Tomato critics and audience score of 78%. The movie begins in a hospital where the main character, Rose, works as a therapist. Rose gets an emergent patient, and has an awful experience that ends up traumatizing her.
Taking leave off of work, she begins to experience strange, unexplainable occurrences. As a result, Rose pushes away all of her close relationships, with the only option to face this sinister entity to save her own life.
Smile is terrifying. You can tell the director knew what he was doing with the foreshadowing; there are many scenes with peculiar angles and eerie music while transitioning that build the unease throughout the movie. Additionally, the plot builds at a relatively good pace by not going fast and throwing the audience into the story, and having the jump-scares introduced too early.
This made it so there was a growing fear among the viewers. All the new points and the backstory within the plot made sense, and were fairly easy to follow. The actors also do a good job of portraying the trauma and sense of helplessness within the story, especially the main character Rose, played by actress Sosie Bacon.
Additionally, the hospital patients in the very beginning help lay down the frantic hopelessness of the situation. The only con about this movie is that if you’re familiar with horror movies, it may seem predictable.
OP-ED: I would recommend this movie to anyone who loves horror films. It’s definitely not family friendly, however, if anyone is getting into the spooky season this is a must see.
My only suggestion is that no one should watch this alone. It is enjoyable for both the plot and the terror. Jesse Cronan, a student at LC State, watched the movie as well and shared some of his thoughts.
“I’d say it’s good. Has some nice build into the jump scares,” Cronan said, “The story I would say is good too, following how the main character dealt with the trauma.” When asked who Cronan would recommend this movie to, he said that it is “Definitely a good recommendation to start your night with your friends.”
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