Horror Parker Finn's Smile series

[Filmfreak]

Paramount is killing it this year with every movie they've put out. And to think that last year they brought a new CEO in order to put aside theatrical releases and focus more on streaming content.

 

[Spider-Fan83]

Spoiler

whatever this entity is...
it's methods seem counterproductive to his motives

if their goal is to be seen/ or to show and pass on, through shared trauma

by slowly driving their host into madness, they only serve to alienate those around them, an isolate that individual.... no?

 

[u41211]

Spoiler

whatever this entity is...
it's methods seem counterproductive to his motives

if their goal is to be seen/ or to show and pass on, through shared trauma

by slowly driving their host into madness, they only serve to alienate those around them, an isolate that individual.... no?

Well remember that one guy on the security camera just ran up on that woman at the gas station who was minding her own business and killed himself. So it doesn't matter if you know the next victim or not as long as it can find anybody to have the person kill themselves in front of it has succeeded.

 

[Prison Mike]

Paramount is killing it this year with every movie they've put out. And to think that last year they brought a new CEO in order to put aside theatrical releases and focus more on streaming content.

Which makes me wonder what they’re going to do moving forward. They probably didn’t expect they would make so much box office money this year. I wonder if this will pivot their strategy or not. Although just because they made a killing one year (mostly due to one movie) doesn’t mean they can repeat it every year.

 

[Filmfreak]

Which makes me wonder what they’re going to do moving forward. They probably didn’t expect they would make so much box office money this year. I wonder if this will pivot their strategy or not. Although just because they made a killing one year (mostly due to one movie) doesn’t mean they can repeat it every year.

Yes, Top Gun is the heavy-hitter champion this year, but unless I'm mistaken pretty much every single film that they released this year made at least some money, which is more than most studios can claim.

Scream and Jackass did extremely well for their budget, Sonic did more than the previous film, which was already very profitable even by pre-pandemic standards, The Lost City also did quite good for an original film, Smile is killing it, and I don't know its exact budget but I think Orphan is doing well too. I'm sure they weren't expecting this success either, but I'm also sure they must to be able to see that theatrical distribution is mostly where the big money is once again.

Next year they'll have Mission Impossible which has very good chances of reaching a billion dollars, another Scream film which I'm sure will also do well, their Dungeons & Dragons which looks like decent blockbuster fun and Transformers which is somewhat of a question mark after The Last Knight, but has a chance to revitalise the franchise now that Bay is out of the director's chair.

I too am curious what their strategy moving forward will be, especially since Paramount+ isn't doing all that great.

 

[Spider-Fan83]

Well remember that one guy on the security camera just ran up on that woman at the gas station who was minding her own business and killed himself. So it doesn't matter if you know the next victim or not as long as it can find anybody to have the person kill themselves in front of it has succeeded.

tru, but it's a lot more traumatic if it's someone you know/loved one/ family,...

 

[Luigi]

 

[Prison Mike]

Saw this movie over the weekend. It was great. One of the best horror movies in a while, IMO.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Kane52630]

Spoiler

 

[Asr]

^ they didn't call it "Smile" for nothing!

 

[Kane52630]

Seeing that in Dolby was so wild.

 

[Asr]

Smile Director Explains Bleak Ending For Hit Horror Movie

 

[MOVIELORD101]

The only thing I want explained is what this creature is and why it's doing this to people? Is it a demon or something? It's clearly targeting people through trauma so is it tormenting people for ****s and giggles? We're never told. That's my one gripe about this movie.

 

[Kane52630]

We're never told, but that's what works about a horror movie like this. The less they explain the better.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Daywalker89]

Still advocate for this film will watch again when released through streaming. Shame to read the top films of the 2022 thread and everyone has slept on " Smile " in general. Sosie Bacon's acting alone should of made people take notice.

 

[Asr]

^ It's available on Paramount+ now.

 

[Erik20]

Saw this today, easy 8/10. An overall well-made, well-acted, and very well-directed movie (with an extremely well-crafted soundtrack - both the musical score and the sound effects) that was certainly intense all the way through. But I have to say it didn't feel entirely original, although I suppose that might be hard to do nowadays - because it ended up feeling like a mash of The Babadook's thematic subtext with The Ring's plot mechanics. And I hate to say it, but the elements it borrowed from those two movies kinda detract from it for me - not too much, but still enough for me to subtract at least 1 point on my scale.

It was easily one of the most creepy & unsettling movies I've seen in a long time, which I do have to give major credit to. And I was glad that it delivered some payoff at the end that it wasn't all just a "psychological horror" either.

I do have to add this movie did some things that really annoyed me though, mostly because they've been done too many dang times in horror movies, that I wish filmmakers would stop doing:
1. Having characters take several seconds to turn around for dramatic effect. It's just so unrealistic - most people would turn around immediately in real-world scenarios, but horror movies always have to have characters do the super slow turn-around, which drives me nuts.
2. Along the same lines, characters that walk at a snail's pace in the dark to "find out what's over there". Again I get the dramatic effect thing, but it still drives me nuts to not see characters walk faster.
3. Open doors into hallways that look completely black in the dark. I get that movies do this for dramatic effect too, but it's just so unrealistic. No hallways look THAT dark in the real-world.

And a couple of other minor complaints:
4. I felt that Sosie Bacon's character was terrible at actually doing her job (and I'm not sure if it was done entirely on purpose). I mean, considering how prevalent mental and psychological disorders are today, I would've expected her character to have more competent skills at empathizing with and trying to understand her patients, rather than being as presumptuous as she was.
5. One of the movie's absolute best scares was shown in the trailer. Not that it wasn't effective in the trailer, because it was. But they really, really, really should've saved that for the movie and not shown it in the trailer. I think anyone who's seen the trailer will know which one I'm referring to here, but I'll tag it anyway:

Spoiler

The sister's head turning down in front of the car window. Just would've been SO much better if my audience wasn't expecting that one. Because it sure seemed like my audience felt that one coming, since it was in the trailer.

But those nitpicks aside, I still enjoyed this movie for the most part and have to say it's in my top horror movies of the year for sure.

I would say it's closer to It Follows (as someone else mentioned) and Fallen. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, I just assumed this was going to be one of those slasher/gore stories about a group of young friends. Also this is why I don't watch trailers, I'm glad I didn't have moments ruined for me. Smile is probably even better for the people who haven't seen all those other movies, because the ending is straight up

Spoiler

Fallen.

i pretty much saw that ending coming when she made that plan.

The only thing I want explained is what this creature is and why it's doing this to people? Is it a demon or something? It's clearly targeting people through trauma so is it tormenting people for ****s and giggles? We're never told. That's my one gripe about this movie.

I don't really mind that it's not explained. Almost every movie about ghosts or demons is kind of silly if you think about it too much. Like why would they try to do jumpscares on you?

 

[Asr]

^ I haven't seen Fallen, guess I need to check it out.

 

[Captain Tired]

The only thing I want explained is what this creature is and why it's doing this to people? Is it a demon or something? It's clearly targeting people through trauma so is it tormenting people for ****s and giggles? We're never told. That's my one gripe about this movie.

I'd assumed it was intended to be a preternatural manifestation of trauma itself, with the tormenting, i.e., the jumpscares, a way of wearing the victim down and weakening their mental resolve enough to finally enable it to control their actions. I don't think there was ever intended to be a literalist idea of it being a demon or a ghost or something like that.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Kane52630]

I mean it's got franchise potential so I'm not surprised.

 

[samsnee]

They should call it Smile More

 

[Luigi]

Surprised it took them this long to announce a sequel.