Smile - Movie Review

Smile begins strong, it has a creepy setting and story which begins with our main character, Dr. Rose Cotter (played by Sosie Bacon) Visiting mental patient of hers, as she is a psychiatrist. This first patient of hers, he believes a monster is following him, and what I like about this is how ambiguous Smile is, for he is not the one who passes curse onto Rose, it is actually her second patient, Laura Weaver (played by Caitlin Stasey) who is haunted by the demon. So it leaves us wondering whether or not Rose's first patient is just crazy, or if he too is cursed by the demon, this and many other questions are never answered, leaving us in the dark with only the fear of the unknown to comfort us! After Laura's suicide in front of Rose, whilst under possession of the demon, this triggers the demon to attach itself to her and soon a bizarre series of hauntings begin to take place!

Unfortunately, this is where I think the film begins to fall apart a little bit. As Smile is riddled with awful horror clichés! The Jump scares are predictable and they are rarely frightening, it follows a generic plot of "everyone thinks I'm crazy, so I must prove the demon is real by investigating it's origins" I've seen this plot done a million times, and better before in films like; Drag Me To Hell, The Invisible Man, even Slender Man has done this before, it's not the most original story-line. In-between horror scenes the film is just a predictable bore and it's no surprise when she finally tracks the demon origins and how to stop it in the 3rd act. Although, there are a couple of interesting psychological horror moments and some decent gore effects here or there, that do save this movie from total failure.

It's the grand finale which will stick with viewers however! Although the mystery plot is somewhat overplayed, Smile decides to go strongly against your expectations! Without spoiling anything, this movie does not have a happy ending, in fact, the ending is the most horrifying part of the whole experience! Unlike most horror movies, where the monster is defeated and the protagonists get away, quite the opposite happens in Smile. You may think it's one of those fake out endings upon reading this, you know the type, where they actually do exorcise the demon, but it somehow un-explainably returns in a jump-scare? That's not what happens here! Instead Rose's plan to defeat the demon doesn't really make sense, I supposed this was bad writing to begin with, but the film brutally confirms this is intentional, for her failed attempt at defeating said monster only results in a truly terrifying finale where the smiling demon finally reveals itself. Precise to say, this doesn't end well for any of the survivors involved! I've tried not to spoil too much of this movie, for it's finale really does deserve to be viewed without spoilers, however I don't think this movie is the perfect horror people are making it out to be. It has a creepy opening and a terrifying finale, but the second act really drags and I'm afraid to say it really lets the movie down!

One more critique I have before my final verdict:

Although a lot of the demon kills and monstrous moments are gory and creatively horrific, you can clearly tell everything it is computer generated. It all looks so fake and unconvincing, which is actually quite sad, for if this movie had practical effects (like 1980's horror flicks), it could've been a true horror classic in my eyes. It's like the 2011 Prequel to The Thing, the original 1982 version is still considered to be one of the most grotesque horrors to every grace the silver screen, yet the modern Prequel looks awful in comparison because it's clearly all CGI, ruining the grit of the original. Smile is still a horrifying watch, but it could've been so much more if they actually used classic practical effects.

Although I didn't hate Smile, it still leaves a lot to be desired, from it's computer generated effects to it's more boring plot and horror clichés, the film just struggles to keep a float. It does have a haunting opening and finale however, which is why I think so many enjoy this movie. It's still very much worth a watch! It's just not quite perfect. Smile is a 3 Star Movie in my opinion.