Smile

Smile

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8 / 10

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Overview

After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain.

Media

Smile | Official Trailer (2022 Movie)

Cast

Jessie T. Usher

Director:

Parker Finn

Writer:

Parker Finn

Release Date:

2022-09-23

Run Time:

115m

Tagline:

Once you see it, it's too late.

Genres:

Financials and Popularity

Budget: 17,000,000.00$

Revenue: 217,408,513.00$

Vote Average: 6.7/10

Vote Count: 4030 Votes

Movie Popularity: 8.2768

Spoken Languages: English

Review

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Insomniacs Reviews
- 29 April 2026 at 7:09 pm

8 Based on 1 Votes
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⭐ Insomniacs Rating: 8/10 THE SUMMARY Directed by Parker Finn in his feature debut, this is a dread-soaked psychological horror that takes a simple facial expression and turns it into something genuinely repulsive. Sosie Bacon stars as Dr. Rose Cotter, a dedicated therapist who witnesses a patient’s bizarre and traumatic suicide. Following the event, Rose is haunted by people wearing terrifying, unmoving grins that only she can see. As her life unravels and she loses her grip on reality, she discovers that she’s the latest link in a chain of supernatural trauma. It’s a bleak, effective look at how mental health struggles can feel like an inescapable curse. THE PROS Sosie Bacon delivers a phenomenal, sincere performance as Rose; she perfectly captures the slow, painful descent from professional composure to total psychological collapse. The sound design is a winner, filled with jarring, industrial noises and unsettling silences that make the jump scares feel earned rather than cheap. It’s an 8/10 because the "smiling" conceit is executed with such a creepy, consistent internal logic that you’ll find yourself scanning the background of every shot for a hidden leer. The makeup and practical effects, particularly in the final part when the entity's true form is revealed, are top-tier and genuinely nightmare-inducing. The direction is sharp and atmospheric, using clever camera angles to make even a bright hospital hallway feel claustrophobic and menacing. THE CONS It earns an 8/10 because the middle part is quite sluggish, with several scenes of Rose trying to explain herself to skeptical friends and family that start to feel repetitive. The plot hits a few "horror trope" beats that feel a bit predictable, like the classic "no one believes the protagonist" struggle that we've seen in everything from It Follows to The Ring. It misses a higher mark because the ending is a bit of a downer that some might find more frustrating than satisfying, depending on how much you like your horror to have a glimmer of hope. A few of the hallucinations in the final part are a bit over-the-top, slightly breaking the grounded, honest sense of dread established in the first part of the movie. THE VERDICT An 8/10. A gripping and effective "banger" that is a winner for anyone who likes their horror with a side of psychological weight. It’s a sincere effort that manages to take a potentially silly premise and make it truly terrifying. While it doesn't quite reach "epic status" due to some familiar genre pacing, it’s a solid choice for a movie night when you want something that’ll stay in your head for days. Just be prepared to look at your friends a little differently the next time they grin at you. INSOMNIAC TRIVIA • Viral Marketing: To promote the film, the studio hired actors to sit behind home plate at televised baseball games and stare directly into the cameras with an unmoving, creepy smile, which went viral and helped make the movie a massive sleeper hit.• Lead Preparation: Sosie Bacon reportedly found the role so intense and honest to the experience of a breakdown that she felt the physical effects of the stress for weeks after filming wrapped.• Short Film Roots: The movie is based on Parker Finn’s own 2020 short film, Laura Hasn't Slept; Caitlin Stasey, who played the lead in the short, actually returns in the opening scene of the feature to pass the curse to Rose. THE VIBE Like a cold sweat in a bright room. It smells of antiseptic, old birthday candles, and the sharp, metallic scent of a kitchen knife.

Videos

Smile | Official Trailer (2022 Movie)

Cast

Jessie T. Usher

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Insomniacs Reviews
- 29 April 2026 at 8:09 PM

⭐ Insomniacs Rating: 8/10
THE SUMMARY
Directed by Parker Finn in his feature debut, this is a dread-soaked psychological horror that takes a simple facial expression and turns it into something genuinely repulsive. Sosie Bacon stars as Dr. Rose Cotter, a dedicated therapist who witnesses a patient’s bizarre and traumatic suicide. Following the event, Rose is haunted by people wearing terrifying, unmoving grins that only she can see. As her life unravels and she loses her grip on reality, she discovers that she’s the latest link in a chain of supernatural trauma. It’s a bleak, effective look at how mental health struggles can feel like an inescapable curse.
THE PROS
Sosie Bacon delivers a phenomenal, sincere performance as Rose; she perfectly captures the slow, painful descent from professional composure to total psychological collapse. The sound design is a winner, filled with jarring, industrial noises and unsettling silences that make the jump scares feel earned rather than cheap. It’s an 8/10 because the “smiling” conceit is executed with such a creepy, consistent internal logic that you’ll find yourself scanning the background of every shot for a hidden leer. The makeup and practical effects, particularly in the final part when the entity’s true form is revealed, are top-tier and genuinely nightmare-inducing. The direction is sharp and atmospheric, using clever camera angles to make even a bright hospital hallway feel claustrophobic and menacing.
THE CONS
It earns an 8/10 because the middle part is quite sluggish, with several scenes of Rose trying to explain herself to skeptical friends and family that start to feel repetitive. The plot hits a few “horror trope” beats that feel a bit predictable, like the classic “no one believes the protagonist” struggle that we’ve seen in everything from It Follows to The Ring. It misses a higher mark because the ending is a bit of a downer that some might find more frustrating than satisfying, depending on how much you like your horror to have a glimmer of hope. A few of the hallucinations in the final part are a bit over-the-top, slightly breaking the grounded, honest sense of dread established in the first part of the movie.
THE VERDICT
An 8/10. A gripping and effective “banger” that is a winner for anyone who likes their horror with a side of psychological weight. It’s a sincere effort that manages to take a potentially silly premise and make it truly terrifying. While it doesn’t quite reach “epic status” due to some familiar genre pacing, it’s a solid choice for a movie night when you want something that’ll stay in your head for days. Just be prepared to look at your friends a little differently the next time they grin at you.
INSOMNIAC TRIVIA
• Viral Marketing: To promote the film, the studio hired actors to sit behind home plate at televised baseball games and stare directly into the cameras with an unmoving, creepy smile, which went viral and helped make the movie a massive sleeper hit.
• Lead Preparation: Sosie Bacon reportedly found the role so intense and honest to the experience of a breakdown that she felt the physical effects of the stress for weeks after filming wrapped.
• Short Film Roots: The movie is based on Parker Finn’s own 2020 short film, Laura Hasn’t Slept; Caitlin Stasey, who played the lead in the short, actually returns in the opening scene of the feature to pass the curse to Rose.
THE VIBE
Like a cold sweat in a bright room. It smells of antiseptic, old birthday candles, and the sharp, metallic scent of a kitchen knife.

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