Culture / Film

The internet has found its next favourite horror film, and it revolves around smiling

WORDS Jasmine Pirovic    PHOTOGRAPHY Instagram    PUBLISHED Wed, 5 Oct 2022 - 9:23 am

smile film

Genuinely good horror films can feel few and far between these days. If it weren't for Jordan Peele, we'd be stuck with the jump scares from normal life to tide us over. But for all the recent filmic flops, like Don't Worry Darling and Blonde, we've hit the rare occasion where the internet agrees on one thing: Smile is good.

Drawing on concepts from 2014 hit It Follows and The Invisible Man, Smile is the work of director Parker Finn. The film opens with Dr Rose Cotter, a psychiatrist mid-session with her distressed patient Laura. Sosie Bacon leads as Dr Cotter, who you may recognise from Mare of Easttown and 13 Reasons Why, and just like her dad Kevin, it appears she too has an aptitude for horror.

As the scene progresses, Laura ultimately takes her own life in a grisly suicide, with a creepy smile etched along her face in the process. It's haunting for many reasons. Especially as Dr Cotter begins to see the smile everywhere she goes.

Although the plot doesn't require much guesswork, the internet is intent on the world knowing it's really quite a good film. Which tracks, especially if we consider the fact that Smile was created on a budget of $17 million, and the film broke even during the first weekend of its release, collecting $22 million in theatres across the US.

What makes it an intriguing watch? Aside from being a well-put together scary flick, the film touches on intergenerational trauma and inherited mental illnesses in a way that's surprisingly considered.

Bacon is joined by fellow actors like Australian favourite, Caitlin Stasey, as well as Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner and Rob Morgan. You don't have to wait to catch the film at your local cinema either, it premiered in Australia on September 29, so you can experience the smiling face of evil firsthand.

Until then, watch the trailer for horror film, Smile, below. And continue reading for some of our favourite reactions from Twitter.

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Image: @caitlinstasey

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