Smile- October 27

 Aaron Perez

10/27/2026

Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

    In a genre overflowing with jump scares and recycled tropes, Smile stands out by turning one of humanity’s most basic expressions of joy into pure dread. Released in September 2022, Parker Finn’s feature directorial debut (expanding his 2020 short Laura Hasn’t Slept) became a surprise box-office hit and a critically solid entry in modern psychological horror.

The Premise (Spoiler-Free)

    Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), a dedicated emergency psychiatrist, encounters a highly agitated patient who claims she’s being stalked by an unseen entity that appears as people wearing an unnerving, fixed smile. What follows is a descent into escalating, inexplicable terror that forces Rose to confront both external threats and her own unresolved past. The film blends supernatural dread with grounded emotional stakes, exploring how trauma can feel contagious and isolating.

    It’s the kind of setup that invites comparisons to It Follows or The Ring—a curse-like phenomenon passed along through witnessing horror—but Finn executes it with sharp visual inventiveness, practical effects, and a relentless sense of unease.

Cast and Crew Highlights

  • Sosie Bacon delivers a standout lead performance as Rose. Critics widely praised her ability to convey mounting fragility, determination, and psychological unraveling without tipping into melodrama.
  • Supporting players include Kyle Gallner as a key ally from Rose’s past, Jessie T. Usher as her fiancé, Kal Penn as her supervisor, Caitlin Stasey in a memorable early role, and Rob Morgan.
  • Writer-director Parker Finn makes an assured debut, with cinematography by Charlie Sarroff that uses disorienting angles and a distinctive color palette, plus a score by Cristobal Tapia de Veer that heightens the discomfort.

    The film runs about 115 minutes and is rated R for strong violent content, grisly images, and language.

Themes That Stick

    Beyond the scares, Smile digs into trauma, mental health stigma, and the ways grief and unresolved pain can warp perception. The entity’s signature grin becomes a metaphor for forced positivity or the hollow performance of “being fine” while falling apart. It doesn’t always go as deep as some prestige horror, but the combination of psychological tension and visceral set pieces keeps it effective. Bacon’s performance anchors the more metaphorical elements so they never feel purely abstract.

Reception and Box Office

    Critics largely responded positively. Rotten Tomatoes sits around 80% (based on nearly 200 reviews), with the consensus highlighting the “deeply creepy visuals and a standout Sosie Bacon.” Metacritic scores it in the mid-to-high 60s (“generally favorable”). Audiences found it a solid slow-burn with effective scares, though some noted familiar genre beats.

    Commercially it was a major success for a mid-budget ($17 million) horror film. It opened at number one in the U.S. with over $22 million and ultimately grossed about $106 million domestically and $217 million worldwide—strong numbers that helped launch a franchise.

    A sequel, Smile 2 (2024), continued the story with a new lead (Naomi Scott) and further expanded the entity’s mythology, also performing well.

Final Thoughts

    Smile succeeds because it understands that the scariest smiles aren’t the wide, obvious ones—they’re the ones that feel wrong, lingering a beat too long or appearing on the wrong face at the wrong time. Finn delivers a polished, audience-pleasing horror movie that respects both the intelligence of genre fans and the power of practical unease. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it sharpens it into something that cuts deep.

    If you enjoy psychological horror with strong atmosphere, committed performances, and a concept that lodges in your head long after the credits, Smile is well worth your time. Just don’t be surprised if the next person who grins at you makes you pause for a second.

Have you seen it? What did you make of the entity’s particular brand of terror?

Sources:

Finn, Parker, director. Smile. Performances by Sosie Bacon, Kyle Gallner, Jessie T. Usher, Caitlin Stasey, Kal Penn, and Rob Morgan, Paramount Pictures, 2022.

Bradshaw, Peter. “Smile Review – Grin and Bear It in This Queasy, Nasty Horror Melodrama.” The Guardian, 28 Sept. 2022, www.theguardian.com/film/2022/sep/28/smile-review-grin-and-bear-it-in-this-queasy-nasty-horror-melodrama.

Catsoulis, Jeannette. “‘Smile’ Review: Grab and Grin.” The New York Times, 29 Sept. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/movies/smile-review.html.

Gleiberman, Owen. “‘Smile’ Review: A Horror Movie With a Highly Effective Creep Factor.” Variety, 27 Sept. 2022, variety.com/2022/film/reviews/smile-review-1235384035/.

Rife, Katie. “Smile Movie Review & Film Summary (2022).” RogerEbert.com, 3 Mar. 2023, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/smile-movie-review-2022.

Robinson, Tasha. “Smile Review: A Gimmicky but Effective Jump-Scare Machine.” Polygon, 26 Sept. 2022 (as referenced in aggregator coverage and Wikipedia summary of critical response).

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