Smile (2022)

Succeeded by: Smile 2 (2024)

	Directed by: Parker Finn	COUNTRY USA Genre Horror NORWEGIAN TITLE Smile RUNNING TIME 115 minutes
	Produced by: Marty Bowen Wyck Godfrey Isaac Klausner Robert Salerno
	Written by (based on his own short): Parker Finn

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Rose Cotter	Sosie Bacon
Joel	Kyle Gallner	½
Trevor	Jessie T. Usher
Dr. Madeline Northcott	Robin Weigert	-
Laura Weaver	Caitlin Stasey	-
Dr. Morgan Desai	Kal Penn	-
Robert Talley	Rob Morgan	-
Holly	Gillian Zinser	-

Review

Parker Finn is the name of the young filmmaker behind this surprisingly effective supernatural horror flick. The basic concept here is about to turn into a subgenre of its own – as with successful films such as Ringu / The Ring and It Follows, the premise is inspired by the game of tag in that the characters “inherit” a curse from a previous victim. When it works as well as it does in Smile and did with It Follows, it’s because the filmmakers are able to make the threat palpable, almost corporeal; you feel it closing in and the deadline approaching. So even when Smile resorts to its cheapest shots of jump scares and an ending which perhaps isn’t the film’s most inspired feature, Finn is still able to retain a sense of integrity to his story that not too many films in this genre can match. Sosie Bacon, daughter of Kevin and Kyra, gives a very effective, physical performance in the lead.