Smile 1 & 2

Director: Parker Finn
Writer: Parker Finn
Release Date: 28th September 2022 

Hot Rating: 💥💥💥💥

Synopsis: After witnessing a traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain. As increasingly disturbing visions begin taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive her new reality.

Review:  Smile is a clever and unsettling entry in psychological horror, blending effective scares with a deeper emotional core to join the ranks of great “curse” films like The Grudge and Drag Me to Hell. Sosie Bacon delivers a strong performance as protagonist Dr. Rose Cotter, portraying her character’s unraveling with raw authenticity throughout. The film builds an atmosphere of lingering unease, punctuated by jump scares that feel earned rather than cheap. Beneath the surface, Smile effectively explores how trauma and buried pain can fester, shaping lives in haunting and scarring ways. Parker Finn’s confident direction sharpens these themes, pairing jarring imagery with an ever-present sense of dread. While the film doesn’t completely reinvent the genre, its emphasis on character and emotional depth gives it real weight. Bacon’s performance anchors it all, grounding the horror in a deeply human story and making the film’s most unsettling moments resonate even more.

Image: YouTube

Director: Parker Finn
Writer: Parker Finn
Release Date: 18th October 2024 

Hot Rating: 💥💥

Synopsis: About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) begins to experience increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and pressures of fame, she must face her dark past to regain control of her life.

Review: Smile 2 attempts to recapture the success of its predecessor but ultimately falls short. While Naomi Scott delivers a compelling performance, the film's reliance on familiar jump scares and repetitive plot twists makes for a less effective horror experience. The attempts to delve deeper into the mythology of the ‘Smile curse’ feel forced and convoluted, detracting from the tension that made the first film so effective. Most importantly, some elaborate set pieces simply do not work. The group of dancers feels misjudged in a cinema format, almost lifted from a stage show. The twists feel like they are put in to excuse the weak plot. Overall, it's a disappointing sequel that fails to live up to the high expectations set by the first. While fans of the original may find some enjoyment in revisiting the world of Smile, the film ultimately feels like a rehash of familiar tropes and scares.

Image: YouTube