Smile (2022) Review – A Surprisingly Effective Study In Trauma And Psychosis

Welcome to Knockout Horror. We are catching up on more horror movies I have missed today as we’ll be looking at 2022 horror hit Smile.

I judged the trailer too harshly

Honestly, I had absolutely no interest in watching this movie back when it released. I remember catching the trailer in the cinema and thinking that it looked like one of the cheesiest horror movies I had witnessed in a while. The stupid focus on characters smiling, the over-the-top jump scares, the general tropeyness – this was a horror movie that, in my opinion, had absolutely nothing to offer me and I wasn’t about to give it the time of day. I’m happy to report, I was wrong!

First I have to point out just how popular this movie was. It took $217 million at the box office on just a $17 million budget and people had a lot of good stuff to say about it. The sequel is releasing within the next few months (check out our review of Smile 2) and I doubt that will be the last we hear from the franchise.

“Honestly, I had absolutely no interest in watching this movie back when it released… I’m happy to report, I was wrong!”

Directed by Parker Finn in his feature-length debut and following up from his short movie Laura Hasn’t Slept, Smile follows the story of therapist Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon). Rose witnesses the bizarre suicide of a patient at her mental health facility. After, she begins to experience changes in her life that seem an awful lot like the ones related to her by that said patient. Is it all in her head or is she headed for a similar fate?

It’s actually pretty damn good

Smile really isn’t all that bad of a horror movie. Sure, it’s not fantastic and it isn’t exactly laying any new ground for future horror to come. It does enough right to be an enjoyable couple of hours of viewing, though. This slides right into that category that movies like Sinister and The Conjuring fit into: Hollywood horror that doesn’t demand too much and makes for a perfectly entertaining option for both fans and non-fans of the genre.

Scares are fairly effective, the story is interesting enough, and Sosie Bacon’s performance is strong enough to help keep the movie flowing when things start to slip a little. This is fairly classic 2010s, and beyond, Hollywood horror.

We open up with some minor exposition into our protagonist. We see something awful happen and the rest of the movie consists of things becoming increasingly worse and Rose trying to find a way out of her predicament. It’s very basic stuff.

“This slides right into that category that movies like Sinister and The Conjuring fit into: Hollywood horror that doesn’t demand too much.”

Despite this, it simply works. Pacing is decent enough, for the most part. Direction is competent and cinematography is very commendable. Scares are well spaced out and there is a decent sense of tension throughout. I really liked Rose’s transition from person in power with no belief in the supernatural to a person wrestling with the very real possibility that what she is experiencing is not simply a mental collapse and is, actually, something much more real. Some of the more horror-focused scenes are legitimately effective, as well, and sure to get a jump out of casual fans and younger viewers.

It’s an allegory for mental illness and psychosis

A very light touch allegory for mental illness takes centre stage here. The whole movie is a metaphor for the realities of living with psychosis-based health disorders, and the like, as well as the manner in which trauma is passed on. Smile plays on the subject of both people in places of power and friends and family not believing in you, and the cycle of decline that comes from attempting to function in society with such conditions. It makes for a pretty effective backbone for a horror story.

As a sufferer of bipolar disorder, I can attest to the story being fairly accurate to real-life experiences, if not a little ham-fisted. Rose constantly being greeted with denial, refusal to believe, and downright aggression by the people around her feels all too familiar, as I am sure it will for anyone in similar situations.

“The whole movie is a metaphor for the realities of living with psychosis-based health disorders, and the like, as well as the manner in which trauma is passed on.”

It’s a compelling enough story though it would be remiss of me to not mention how long it is. This movie needs at least twenty minutes shaving off the runtime. It starts to repeat itself very early on and doesn’t stop until the end.

There are some issues

Despite the positives, there are a bunch of issues here. I noticed a few problems with editing making for some bad scene switches. Dialogue is, at times, pretty awful. The movie frequently reaches deep into the bag of horror clichés and pulls almost all of them out at least once. Smile begins repeating itself early and carries on throughout.

The sound production is a nightmare with Smile demanding that you pump the volume to hear the characters talk only to be blasted with copious amounts of noise on jump scares. It’s frustrating and, dare I say it, just a little bit cheap.

Not all of the acting performances are great. Sosie Bacon is absolutely fantastic and makes this movie infinitely better than it is. I can’t say the same about Kyle Gallner. His good guy cop Joel is beyond clichéd and very weakly performed throughout.

It was cool seeing Kal Penn in a small role. At the end of the day however, the cast doesn’t blow you away. As mentioned earlier, the movie is way too long and I imagine some will dislike the ending. It has to be pointed out that Smile is massively overhyped, as well. Some people build this movie up to be something it simply is not. That will leave many feeling like it is hugely overrated. Go in with your expectations set.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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