Smile (2022)

What an incredible year for horror!The intro scene is conceptually perfect. Why? Because it immediately gives us all that we need to get into the context of the film, not only in terms of the most classic horror elements but also in terms of its main themes. All this before its title card. But how? Introducing us immediately to our main character, Dr Rose Cotter, who works in a psychiatric hospital and who receives a visit from a new patient who in ten minutes shows strange behaviour, claims to be being followed by an evil entity, smiles scarily and commits suicide. And now that curse seems to have passed on to our Dr., who is impeccably played by Sosie Bacon, in one of those roles where she often has to balance herself on the boundary that separates what everyone sees and what only she can see.Trauma. It will always be traumatic to witness an event as dramatic and violent as a suicide. And it is from trauma that this entity feeds. And how well this theme is used… after all, many of us have gone through traumas and traumas are just kept in a hidden corner within us, always ready to be reactivated. Grief and guilt are often associated with traumatic events, and Smile does not deny that connection. Nor does it refuse to make connections with psychological and mental problems that can arise from it and how when this happens, the victim becomes even more placed on the sidelines, more isolated, more alone in a world from which one does not intend to move away but from which finds no other alternative.But of course, this is a horror movie and it’s not only about the message that a film of the genre should live. Good news: even if you don’t care about meaning, Smile is pretty good and effective entertainment. The suspenseful scenes are very well constructed, the environment feels heavy for long moments and it presents us with several jump scares that work perfectly, being this one of the scariest films of recent years.The film suffers from a certain predictability typical of the genre – I saw that ending coming from miles away – and, at times, it seems to rely a little too much on the power of suggestion and the effectiveness of its scares, although there are reasons for that because those are two areas where it stands out. The visual effects – mostly practical – are not present for long moments, but when they appear they elevate the work, with some really terrifying images. And as for Parker Finn…what a great movie debut, not only because of the way he leaves us on edge thanks to a very safe direction but also for presenting some elements that we don’t often see in horror in terms of the originality of shots and scene transitions.2022 doesn’t stop giving us good horror. Smile bets on a heavy atmosphere, strong messages and very effective scares to give us one of the tensest films of the year. A little bit The Ring, a little bit It Follows, but also a very own identity that should ensure this will not stop here.