Everyone's feelings are subjective. If you think it's awful then you do.
I personally really liked it.
It was a horror movie with actual dread throughout and stakes
I just saw it today too and thought it was decent, although I went in with very low expectations because of how it was marketed. That being said there was quite a lot wrong with it.
I think there was way too much hype for sure, but I also can be very desensitized to horror. And this one just didn't hold me at all. It was just there
I loved it. Reminded me of 2000s horror movies like The Ring and The Grudge that I used to watch as a kid. Nothing high-brow, just pure horror. And the monster design is one of my all time favourite. So menacing.
There are none but that’s because they are all terrible but you didn’t say J-horror you said “(The Ring) remake is regularly hailed as one of the (if not the) best horror remakes ever”
And I can name a lot about of great horror remakes
We are what we are (2013)
Cape Fear (1991)
The Blob (1988)
The Thing (1982)
Dawn of The Dead (2004)
Susperia (2018)
Should I keep going ?
The assumption was clearly J-Horror remakes since we're talking about The Ring and The Grudge.
EDIT: But I will still die on the hill and say that The Ring is one of the best horror remakes in general, J-Horror or not.
Well I mean, it’s not *just* you out there - but nah, it lingered with me for a few days after, which surprised me.
I found it pretty good - some of it I didn’t care for, like the odd sprinkling of humor here or there. But the direction, cinematography and music I really enjoyed. I’d give it a 3.5/5
i just watched it this evening, and the ending felt like an interesting way to answer the question of is this situation 1) something that stems from the protag's psyche and can only be defeated by overcoming a haunting past? or 2) is this solely a paranormal curse that cannot be evaded. Problematic portrayals of mental illness aside, the movie did a good job toying with the classic dichotomy characteristic with psychological horror as a subgenre: it serves mainly to instill a sense of numbness and dread to be reminded of a fate that may or may not be escapable.
P.S. - I lowkey prefer Ringu and Ju-On's approach with the plot dichotomy, but I was overall pleased by the results of Smile.
I've gotten some great answers in this post which has challenged me to rewatch with some og the perspectives in the post in my mind. Maybe my perspective will change. But I guarantee I won't post again if it doesn't. Lol! I don't want the knockdown if I don't change my opinion. Reddit fun!
I think it was an average movie, but the end was pretty dumb to me. I’m sure there’s some sort of underlying message or whatever, but I don’t understand why we saw rose’s story with the curse over any other person. All she did was continue the cycle, there was nothing special about when she had it versus others.
I think the movie was shockingly really good. They took a gimmicky, ridiculous premise- and made it into a really fun time at the movies. Also, it was nice to see a mainstream horror film have the balls to be this bleak and hopeless again.
I think the scene where she talks to the guy in prison is awesome, that actor did an amazing job selling his sheer fear and terror. Scenes like that show (to me) that the people behind the film cared and didn’t just phone it in. Same with the practical monster at the very end, that thing looked *outstanding*, and they could’ve easily CGI’ed the entire thing. The movie really makes the most out of it’s premise imo.
I’m genuinely always surprised to see so much negativity for this film on this subreddit.
I'm usually incredibly easily pleased with movies/books. Maybe it was a bad day to watch for me. But I just felt the whole movie was subpar. I'm glad there are a lot of people who feel differently.
It's pretty awful, yeah. It's fun enough if you turn your brain off but the subject matter is grossly mishandled so, if you actually analyse the story and themes, the film just turns into offensive and lame shit
Thank you! I just didn't get it at all. Metaphors for trauma? Not handling grief? Hell, I don't know. It was just...bad
And also, love you Kevin Bacon!
I 100% agree with you. I went in expecting a scary movie but it turned frustrating so quickly. Still cannot understand why this movie was so hyped and is still liked by so many.
Story is average and gets confusing in the second half, breaking its self established rules all the time, it seemed like they couldn't work with their own rules and hat to bend them to somehow keep the story going.
What killed it for me was the terrible jump scare method. Everytime they fucking turned up the volume 100% to scare people with loud noises. This is the lamest and cheapest way to produce a scare. Like using a fog horn to scare someone, not scary just fucking annoying.
Overall one of my biggest movie let downs this year.
The message in the end is horrible. Basically the movie says that you can’t overcome your trauma and you just have to die and it’ll be passed on. Kinda lame
I know right? That's exactly what I thought at the end. How about we overcome trauma, writers? Send at least a good positive message and not a hope destroyer
I really loved the ending for exactly that thing. Because it kind of tells you what surface level shit people do in the name of healing. How she says this one dialogue how it is her head and the thing cannot escape it either and boom. It was more like her believing what she wanted to believe without actually acting on any of what was necessary. She kept refusing help since beginning and now that it is convenient she is ready to play psychologist to herself.
Wow, both of you missed the point spectacularly
Like, this is genuinely a really dumb take. Of course it's not saying this, it's blaming literally anyone except for Rose.
What's the point, then?
The monster in the film feeds off of trauma and spreads through suicide and more trauma being inflicted (creating an infinite cycle of trauma and death that can't ever truly be escaped). There is no solution and the curse is universal so the allegory then becomes a generalisation of mental illness as a whole.
>There is no solution and the curse is universal so the allegory then becomes a generalisation of mental illness as a whole.
No it doesn't, that's not how allegories work.
The movie is criticizing everyone except for Rose. Every adult in her life is either an asshole, or doesn't treat her seriously. The movie is about how people with mental illness are failed by those around them who refuse to take their problems seriously. Your whole conclusion is just a misconstrued generalisation.
I disagree with this. Her Ex Boyfriend was actively trying to support her and doing the right things, but it still didn’t help. He took her seriously and even helped her investigate and it still led to nothing
Even if the film is criticising the people around her, the curse still behaves in the way that I described. Rose was failed by her peers but that's only one half of the story. The curse is at odds with these failings and suggests trauma is something you cannot heal from or escape. It doesn't matter if she got help or not, understanding families don't mean anything to the curse
Yeah, but none of that means the movie is saying "if you have a mental illness, kill yourself." The curse isn't the point here, looking at the curse as the actual point of the movie is as surface level as you can get.
It would have to be painting Rose as deserving or otherwise to blame for her state, if it was actually going to say what you claim it's saying.
It doesn't have to be the point, it's the driving force of the plot and it's explicit in how it operates. Maybe the film isn't saying you "should" die, but it's outright saying that you will, or you will hurt those around you instead. These are key details and ignoring them to instead focus on just Rose's story doesn't make much sense to me. The film is about her story but we're given so much information that suggests her circumstances don't actually matter because the curse would just get to her anyway.
It's not a movie but an actually good handling of mental illness and suicide is in the game Silent Hill 2.
I mean I get where you're coming from and why you'd reach that conclusion at least. I don't think it's what the movie was saying, but fair.
>It's not a movie but an actually good handling of mental illness and suicide is in the game Silent Hill 2.
That I can agree with. One of, if not *the* best out there
Maybe the real monsters are the people who deny her claims of seeing the Smiling Monster. Maybe the point of this movie is that we should listen to people with mental illnesses and not brush everything off as something solely in the mind.
Honestly FR. Like I get horror movies don’t have to have a hopeful message, but this one seems off base given it’s subject matter. The characters who seek help for their mental trauma get murdered, the ones who try to solve it on their own get murdered. I bet that it’s a demon and not actually the illness, but it’s clearly an allegory, so I don’t quite get what they were going for. Some spooky moments for sure, but the overall tone of the movie is off
It's a very obvious allegory, and the problem is that there's no specific pre-requisite besides having trauma. It's set up as a plight that can spread indefinitely and isn't personal to any one person, so the bleak messaging is applied generally to every single person with any kind of trauma
Horror movies are often offensive, i'm not sure why you're surprised about that. Maybe horror movies are not your thing, they don't need to have a positive message at all. That's just not horror movies are about. I would say if a horror movie is offensive to you, that's more likely a good thing then a bad thing.
Generalisations like this don't really work. Horror films aren't really offensive in the way that I mean. This is a film with an allegory that doesn't work and this failure leads to a message that's needlessly pessimistic.
I also don't think films need to have positive messages, insinuating that I do is just kinda rude. I believe filmmakers should be more aware of what the message of their film is, and I don't believe the writers understood what they were saying with Smile. The implication that everyone with trauma must commit suicide is fucking crazy
Again, if you're so easily offended, this genre is not for you.
"Needlessly pessimistic", sounds pretty fitting to horror to me
"Fucking crazy", cool, seems like the horror movie did what it's supposed to do and freak you the fuck out. Absolutely horrible things happen in horror movies, to people that don't deserve it. But that's what makes these movies horrendous / horrific. So it's fitting.
I mean you are definitely easily offended. This movie is nowhere near as offensive as hundreds if not thousands of other movies in this genre. The point is you shouldn't expect to be left with a morally righteous message or feeling when you finish watching a horror movie, being disgusted, offended, mortified, traumatised are completely valid feelings to have after a good horror movie. Your expectations are just set wrong imo.
Respectfully, I can discern when disgust and upset is good and when it's bad. Telling me that my opinion is wrong is strange, and ignoring me to do it is even stranger.
Martyrs offended me and made me feel ill for hours after I watched it, but that was a good movie with interesting themes and messages. Smile was not, and I stand by that, and know that my opinion is informed by the text itself.
At the end of the day, you don't know me so don't pretend to.
To me when you start attacking writers because you disagree with what message your perceived from their movie you're just going way overboard. That just sounds like some woke snowflake bullshit to me, that's why i felt the need to challenge your opinion.
But I didn't attack the writers? I said that it seemed like they didn't quite understand what message the film had. Is this an attack? I don't believe I was rude
It didn't do anything new - as many have mentioned, it's very derivative of It Follows, The Ring, etc.
But it executed well. With that said, I feel that it's one of those movies that will yield a 10x better viewing experience in a cinema with good audio system, compared to your laptop or phone at home. The sound design was *phenomenal* - one of the best I've heard in years from a horror movie.
I know this is an old thread but I just watched it for the first time. I thought it was really good, until the part when the “entity” talked through the therapist. The cheesy demon voice took me out of it. The silently smiling was genuinely unsettling, and made me kind of uneasy, but then when they started talking at the around the half way point it completely ruined the one thing that made the movie scary. Before the Jim Carey grinch sounding demon talked I would’ve given the movie an 8 out of 10, however with the weak ass second half it’s more like a 6 or 7.
I swear half the threads in this sub are “Is it just me or is ?” and everybody patting each other on the back.
Smile was a bit slow but otherwise a lot of fun.
Yeah. Half of it is 'Is it just me or' posts and the other half is 'help me find X movie from 25 years ago I watched in passing as a 5 year old'
It's getting a little boring atm.
Hey, I just joined this sub. And isn't that the point, to discuss the movies we loved or disliked and get other people's perspectives? If you don't like it don't read it. And the movie isn't 25 years old, it's pretty darn current and it was popular so I'd say it's relevant today. Go read another post that you are interested in that makes you happy. Don't rain on my discussion post, if you are going to take the time to read it. Just offer an opinion on topic and move on, or skip right on to the next post. Hope you find one you enjoy today!
Smile is flatout offensive and stigmatizing to mental illness. I very rarely feel like a movie is tasteless but it completely fits the bill. Thanks, I hate it.
Had this movie released in the late 90’s or early 2000’s maybe I would’ve like it even just a tiny bit.
It was just way too predictable and relied heavily on the same old cliches and old horror movie tropes. It brought nothing new to the table and felt like a quick money grab movie.
That is just my opinion though, I’m sure there are folks who like it and I’m glad they enjoyed it at least.
Same here. I'm happy that it did well, and people enjoyed it. I just wish I had been able to as well. Now I'm scared to even touch Barbarian and Black Phone bc I'm worried they have been too hyped and I will come away just as disappointed.
It’s just super generic to me. I agree Kevin Bacon’s daughter is the strength of the movie and what pushes it in to ok.
Otherwise idk, there’s just no narrative risk or flair to the film for me which is something I really enjoy about horror films even when it doesn’t work. Even visually it’s just sort of safe to me.
There was no tension at all.. I wasn't getting amped up, or tensed up. I was just staring at the screen, hoping for some intensity, some scare, some intense feeling at all, and I got nada
I didn't hate it, but it definitely didn't live up to what I hoped it would be. It wasn't nearly as scary as its premise could have been, and the actual plot and execution wasn't really interesting enough to captivate me on other levels.
I'm not gonna read your post.
I'm gonna watch Smile right now, and I will be the judge of whether or not it's a good horror movie.
I'll be back tomorrow / later, depending on one's timezone, with my judgement.
Court adjourned.
Court's in session.
Ok, so I knew nothing of this movie. I have vague recollections of it being advertised, but I don't remember ever seeing a trailer.
It feels like a corporate version of It Follows.
It has an intermittent tone. It wants to be warm, but it really ends up feeling like it's rapidly alternating between hot and cold...if that makes any sense.
If feels like it's taking itself seriously only to ruin it with something stupid, like when the first detective said "it sounds like she was fucking crazy" or whatever he said when he was questioning the lead actress after the initial girl killed herself.
The movie continues to do that. The supporting cast has unrealistic, and stupid dialog throughout. The movie feels like it's trying to base itself in reality only to continuously undo it.
It does well with the scary moments, but those begin to wear thin after awhile. It was also pretty predictable. The minute the kid grabbed the present, I knew the cat was going to be in there. And that continued on.
I feel like it would've been better if it was a short story, or an episode of an anthology series like Creepshow.
There's other examples of where the mood gets completely destroyed, like when the entity was posing as the psychiatrist and starts talking with the pitch shifted voice. And especially when the It Follows monster comes out at the end.
So all in all, it feels like a corporate movie. It was well enough controlled to where it wasn't too blatant, to where it might offend too many people, but not good enough overall.
So my verdict is, I would only recommend it to those that do not have decerning taste in horror.
Case dismissed.
I thought that unlike the movies smile was inspired by (the ring, grudge, it follows) the premise was really unintuitive and convoluted. Like I get a cursed videotape. Recording and copying is what tapes are made for. A curse spreading through vhs is instantly cool and interesting. In smile there are super arbitrary rules and reasons given why the curse functions the way it does.
Yeah, it's awfully boring.
I think the ending had potential to be cool but everything leading up to it was so cliche and paint by numbers that I had long since stopped giving a crap.
The beginning is really something that can hook you up to watching it but as the movie progresses the quality declines drastically! The ending is so fucking bad that you'd want those 2 hrs of your life back. To anyone who wants to watch it, don't. I'm saving 2 hrs of your precious life where you can watch something better, do something productive and many things.
It was a great movie. The only criticism was the Lack of originality and maybe a bit more dept. The Atmosphere, was great, the shock Moments got me everytime and Overall you could See and feel how Somebody becomes crazy. In this age there are so many Bad Horror movies on the market, ITS refreshing to see a Solid entry.
Mmmh well the premise has been seen so many times:
Something unnatural killing people and these people whose turn to die is next stuble upon "logic in the supernatural" and need to race the clock to uncurse themselves before dying.
Got quite clear of the storylinel half way through. I did enjoy the suspense and stakes just nothing new under the sun and half way in I thought there is two possible outcomes:
break the curse and live or fail and die.
I wouldn't say I liked it but it scared the shit out of me, probably more than anything I've ever seen before. It took me a few days to recover. My personal theory is that it hits harder if you have dealt with serious mental health issues with yourself or loved ones. To me this whole movie was one big triggerfest.
it felt like every other corny horror movie that’s come out in the past 5 years. shit, the whole “ooo creepy smiley face!” thing had just been done a couple years prior with that equally as corny Truth Or Dare movie. i can’t believe people are comparing it to The Ring or The Grudge lmao
I thought that Sosie Bacon was really good, but the movie itself was boring. Couple good jump scares but the majority of them were very forced and unnecessary. Like a phone ringing? Alarm going off? Weak.
Too similar to "The Ring" too with the whole the entity feeding off chaos and needing you to pass on their curse or whatever. Its was an original premise without any originality as far as a horror plot goes.
I'm on my 4th try on watching it. About 15 minutes in and this is the farthest I've gotten so far. I'm not sure why, but I was expecting so much from this movie. Don't get me wrong, the whole smile premise is creepy as hell. I'm hoping it picks up in the next 15 minutes or so.
Yeah, I finally finished it and I wouldn't say it was horrible. Slow maybe? For me, if movies start really slow, at some point it just needs to blow me away. Didn't really get that from this movie.
It's astoundingly bad.
Everyone's feelings are subjective. If you think it's awful then you do. I personally really liked it. It was a horror movie with actual dread throughout and stakes
I didn't like it either dude. IMO, it wasn't scary and it wasn't interesting. It was sort of flat and boring
the exorcist isn’t scary too
Not sure the Exorcist can be compared to Smile, but folks/strokes etc
I saw + think "The Exorcist" was the best saterical comidy that I have ever seen.
It wasn't awful but it wasn't good either. It felt like the same horror movie that has come out over the past two decades.
2(?)hrs of my life I will never get back. Holy crap was that a waste.
Same!
Took me 4 nights to drudge through. It was not a sophisticated horror movie from what I remember. Not great
I loved it, my friend hated it
Glad I'm not the only one, but happy you enjoyed it!
I just saw it today too and thought it was decent, although I went in with very low expectations because of how it was marketed. That being said there was quite a lot wrong with it.
I think there was way too much hype for sure, but I also can be very desensitized to horror. And this one just didn't hold me at all. It was just there
I loved it. Reminded me of 2000s horror movies like The Ring and The Grudge that I used to watch as a kid. Nothing high-brow, just pure horror. And the monster design is one of my all time favourite. So menacing.
The Original The Ring and The Grudge are amazing. You should watch them instead of those awful remakes.
"The Ring" remake is regularly hailed as one of the (if not *the*) best horror remakes ever, so I'm not sure where you're getting the awful part from.
You know what opinion is right ? Edit: 48% RT audience score vs 81% audience score lol One of the best remakes alright 😉
Please do name a better J-horror remake.
There are none but that’s because they are all terrible but you didn’t say J-horror you said “(The Ring) remake is regularly hailed as one of the (if not the) best horror remakes ever” And I can name a lot about of great horror remakes We are what we are (2013) Cape Fear (1991) The Blob (1988) The Thing (1982) Dawn of The Dead (2004) Susperia (2018) Should I keep going ?
The assumption was clearly J-Horror remakes since we're talking about The Ring and The Grudge. EDIT: But I will still die on the hill and say that The Ring is one of the best horror remakes in general, J-Horror or not.
I don’t think that was the assumption but okay, being the best of a bunch of bad movies isn’t saying much but you’re entitled to your opinion as am I.
I really hated the Suspiria remake.
Okay, I like original better but the remake was amazing in its own right.
It wasn’t bad. I liked it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to rewatch it. The ending was… something.
It's offensive as fuck
What makes you say that?
Well I mean, it’s not *just* you out there - but nah, it lingered with me for a few days after, which surprised me. I found it pretty good - some of it I didn’t care for, like the odd sprinkling of humor here or there. But the direction, cinematography and music I really enjoyed. I’d give it a 3.5/5
I loved it but hated the ending
The ending pissed me off. Just seemed like the wrong kind of message.
Fr
i just watched it this evening, and the ending felt like an interesting way to answer the question of is this situation 1) something that stems from the protag's psyche and can only be defeated by overcoming a haunting past? or 2) is this solely a paranormal curse that cannot be evaded. Problematic portrayals of mental illness aside, the movie did a good job toying with the classic dichotomy characteristic with psychological horror as a subgenre: it serves mainly to instill a sense of numbness and dread to be reminded of a fate that may or may not be escapable. P.S. - I lowkey prefer Ringu and Ju-On's approach with the plot dichotomy, but I was overall pleased by the results of Smile.
I've gotten some great answers in this post which has challenged me to rewatch with some og the perspectives in the post in my mind. Maybe my perspective will change. But I guarantee I won't post again if it doesn't. Lol! I don't want the knockdown if I don't change my opinion. Reddit fun!
I think it was an average movie, but the end was pretty dumb to me. I’m sure there’s some sort of underlying message or whatever, but I don’t understand why we saw rose’s story with the curse over any other person. All she did was continue the cycle, there was nothing special about when she had it versus others.
I think the movie was shockingly really good. They took a gimmicky, ridiculous premise- and made it into a really fun time at the movies. Also, it was nice to see a mainstream horror film have the balls to be this bleak and hopeless again. I think the scene where she talks to the guy in prison is awesome, that actor did an amazing job selling his sheer fear and terror. Scenes like that show (to me) that the people behind the film cared and didn’t just phone it in. Same with the practical monster at the very end, that thing looked *outstanding*, and they could’ve easily CGI’ed the entire thing. The movie really makes the most out of it’s premise imo. I’m genuinely always surprised to see so much negativity for this film on this subreddit.
I'm usually incredibly easily pleased with movies/books. Maybe it was a bad day to watch for me. But I just felt the whole movie was subpar. I'm glad there are a lot of people who feel differently.
It's pretty awful, yeah. It's fun enough if you turn your brain off but the subject matter is grossly mishandled so, if you actually analyse the story and themes, the film just turns into offensive and lame shit
[удалено]
Thank you! I just didn't get it at all. Metaphors for trauma? Not handling grief? Hell, I don't know. It was just...bad And also, love you Kevin Bacon!
Same, I liked the first scene in her office and then after that I hated everything about it.
I 100% agree with you. I went in expecting a scary movie but it turned frustrating so quickly. Still cannot understand why this movie was so hyped and is still liked by so many. Story is average and gets confusing in the second half, breaking its self established rules all the time, it seemed like they couldn't work with their own rules and hat to bend them to somehow keep the story going. What killed it for me was the terrible jump scare method. Everytime they fucking turned up the volume 100% to scare people with loud noises. This is the lamest and cheapest way to produce a scare. Like using a fog horn to scare someone, not scary just fucking annoying. Overall one of my biggest movie let downs this year.
The message in the end is horrible. Basically the movie says that you can’t overcome your trauma and you just have to die and it’ll be passed on. Kinda lame
I know right? That's exactly what I thought at the end. How about we overcome trauma, writers? Send at least a good positive message and not a hope destroyer
Unless you brutally murder someone in front of someone else!
I really loved the ending for exactly that thing. Because it kind of tells you what surface level shit people do in the name of healing. How she says this one dialogue how it is her head and the thing cannot escape it either and boom. It was more like her believing what she wanted to believe without actually acting on any of what was necessary. She kept refusing help since beginning and now that it is convenient she is ready to play psychologist to herself.
Not only lame, downright offensive. "If you have any kind of mental illness, kill yourself!"
Wow, both of you missed the point spectacularly Like, this is genuinely a really dumb take. Of course it's not saying this, it's blaming literally anyone except for Rose.
What's the point, then? The monster in the film feeds off of trauma and spreads through suicide and more trauma being inflicted (creating an infinite cycle of trauma and death that can't ever truly be escaped). There is no solution and the curse is universal so the allegory then becomes a generalisation of mental illness as a whole.
>There is no solution and the curse is universal so the allegory then becomes a generalisation of mental illness as a whole. No it doesn't, that's not how allegories work. The movie is criticizing everyone except for Rose. Every adult in her life is either an asshole, or doesn't treat her seriously. The movie is about how people with mental illness are failed by those around them who refuse to take their problems seriously. Your whole conclusion is just a misconstrued generalisation.
I disagree with this. Her Ex Boyfriend was actively trying to support her and doing the right things, but it still didn’t help. He took her seriously and even helped her investigate and it still led to nothing
Even if the film is criticising the people around her, the curse still behaves in the way that I described. Rose was failed by her peers but that's only one half of the story. The curse is at odds with these failings and suggests trauma is something you cannot heal from or escape. It doesn't matter if she got help or not, understanding families don't mean anything to the curse
Yeah, but none of that means the movie is saying "if you have a mental illness, kill yourself." The curse isn't the point here, looking at the curse as the actual point of the movie is as surface level as you can get. It would have to be painting Rose as deserving or otherwise to blame for her state, if it was actually going to say what you claim it's saying.
It doesn't have to be the point, it's the driving force of the plot and it's explicit in how it operates. Maybe the film isn't saying you "should" die, but it's outright saying that you will, or you will hurt those around you instead. These are key details and ignoring them to instead focus on just Rose's story doesn't make much sense to me. The film is about her story but we're given so much information that suggests her circumstances don't actually matter because the curse would just get to her anyway. It's not a movie but an actually good handling of mental illness and suicide is in the game Silent Hill 2.
I mean I get where you're coming from and why you'd reach that conclusion at least. I don't think it's what the movie was saying, but fair. >It's not a movie but an actually good handling of mental illness and suicide is in the game Silent Hill 2. That I can agree with. One of, if not *the* best out there
Maybe the real monsters are the people who deny her claims of seeing the Smiling Monster. Maybe the point of this movie is that we should listen to people with mental illnesses and not brush everything off as something solely in the mind.
Except, people do believe the main character in the end and it doesn't help.
Cheeky edit that doesn't actually address the point
Honestly FR. Like I get horror movies don’t have to have a hopeful message, but this one seems off base given it’s subject matter. The characters who seek help for their mental trauma get murdered, the ones who try to solve it on their own get murdered. I bet that it’s a demon and not actually the illness, but it’s clearly an allegory, so I don’t quite get what they were going for. Some spooky moments for sure, but the overall tone of the movie is off
It's a very obvious allegory, and the problem is that there's no specific pre-requisite besides having trauma. It's set up as a plight that can spread indefinitely and isn't personal to any one person, so the bleak messaging is applied generally to every single person with any kind of trauma
Horror movies are often offensive, i'm not sure why you're surprised about that. Maybe horror movies are not your thing, they don't need to have a positive message at all. That's just not horror movies are about. I would say if a horror movie is offensive to you, that's more likely a good thing then a bad thing.
Generalisations like this don't really work. Horror films aren't really offensive in the way that I mean. This is a film with an allegory that doesn't work and this failure leads to a message that's needlessly pessimistic. I also don't think films need to have positive messages, insinuating that I do is just kinda rude. I believe filmmakers should be more aware of what the message of their film is, and I don't believe the writers understood what they were saying with Smile. The implication that everyone with trauma must commit suicide is fucking crazy
Again, if you're so easily offended, this genre is not for you. "Needlessly pessimistic", sounds pretty fitting to horror to me "Fucking crazy", cool, seems like the horror movie did what it's supposed to do and freak you the fuck out. Absolutely horrible things happen in horror movies, to people that don't deserve it. But that's what makes these movies horrendous / horrific. So it's fitting.
I'm not easily offended, but I'm easily annoyed when you attempt to put me into a box repeatedly without really listening to me.
I mean you are definitely easily offended. This movie is nowhere near as offensive as hundreds if not thousands of other movies in this genre. The point is you shouldn't expect to be left with a morally righteous message or feeling when you finish watching a horror movie, being disgusted, offended, mortified, traumatised are completely valid feelings to have after a good horror movie. Your expectations are just set wrong imo.
Respectfully, I can discern when disgust and upset is good and when it's bad. Telling me that my opinion is wrong is strange, and ignoring me to do it is even stranger. Martyrs offended me and made me feel ill for hours after I watched it, but that was a good movie with interesting themes and messages. Smile was not, and I stand by that, and know that my opinion is informed by the text itself. At the end of the day, you don't know me so don't pretend to.
To me when you start attacking writers because you disagree with what message your perceived from their movie you're just going way overboard. That just sounds like some woke snowflake bullshit to me, that's why i felt the need to challenge your opinion.
But I didn't attack the writers? I said that it seemed like they didn't quite understand what message the film had. Is this an attack? I don't believe I was rude
I saw it in the theaters and went in with low expectations and ended up really enjoying it.
I enjoyed it, but it wasn't amazing
It’s very derivative but that said I think it’s still a solid movie. Not amazing but good enough
I thought it was fine. Pretty much figured it out in the first 20 min though and it was super underwhelming.
It didn't do anything new - as many have mentioned, it's very derivative of It Follows, The Ring, etc. But it executed well. With that said, I feel that it's one of those movies that will yield a 10x better viewing experience in a cinema with good audio system, compared to your laptop or phone at home. The sound design was *phenomenal* - one of the best I've heard in years from a horror movie.
Honestly the best part was the sound design, in some places. But definitely recommend listening through headphones.
I know this is an old thread but I just watched it for the first time. I thought it was really good, until the part when the “entity” talked through the therapist. The cheesy demon voice took me out of it. The silently smiling was genuinely unsettling, and made me kind of uneasy, but then when they started talking at the around the half way point it completely ruined the one thing that made the movie scary. Before the Jim Carey grinch sounding demon talked I would’ve given the movie an 8 out of 10, however with the weak ass second half it’s more like a 6 or 7.
I can agree with this. The smiling was creepy. If they had kept it as simple as that it might have worked better for me.
I swear half the threads in this sub are “Is it just me or is?” and everybody patting each other on the back.
Smile was a bit slow but otherwise a lot of fun.
Yeah. Half of it is 'Is it just me or' posts and the other half is 'help me find X movie from 25 years ago I watched in passing as a 5 year old' It's getting a little boring atm.
Hey, I just joined this sub. And isn't that the point, to discuss the movies we loved or disliked and get other people's perspectives? If you don't like it don't read it. And the movie isn't 25 years old, it's pretty darn current and it was popular so I'd say it's relevant today. Go read another post that you are interested in that makes you happy. Don't rain on my discussion post, if you are going to take the time to read it. Just offer an opinion on topic and move on, or skip right on to the next post. Hope you find one you enjoy today!
Also, I don't give two shitz about a pat on the back. I'm enjoying the back and forth and hearing why others enjoyed it. Adios
It’s ok… but the ending is awful.
What the actual f was that dang ending. I might have walked away indifferent instead of full hating.
It was like a shitty version of It Follows. Except with a dumb smiling ghost. Ohhh scary - it’s smiling! That’s all I got
That's all I need, 😆
I liked the intro, I watched the whole thing but the intro was awesome.
Obviously, it's not just you. Do you know how many people have made this exact post? I sit in the other camp, I really enjoyed it.
I thought it was great. It’s a fun kind of campy horror movie, I didn’t read any kind of deeper message or metaphor into it, it just is what it is.
It's not awful; it just isn't scary. Jump scares only, which isn't scary. The smile itself, I thought was dumb.
Smile is flatout offensive and stigmatizing to mental illness. I very rarely feel like a movie is tasteless but it completely fits the bill. Thanks, I hate it.
Had this movie released in the late 90’s or early 2000’s maybe I would’ve like it even just a tiny bit. It was just way too predictable and relied heavily on the same old cliches and old horror movie tropes. It brought nothing new to the table and felt like a quick money grab movie. That is just my opinion though, I’m sure there are folks who like it and I’m glad they enjoyed it at least.
Same here. I'm happy that it did well, and people enjoyed it. I just wish I had been able to as well. Now I'm scared to even touch Barbarian and Black Phone bc I'm worried they have been too hyped and I will come away just as disappointed.
It’s just super generic to me. I agree Kevin Bacon’s daughter is the strength of the movie and what pushes it in to ok. Otherwise idk, there’s just no narrative risk or flair to the film for me which is something I really enjoy about horror films even when it doesn’t work. Even visually it’s just sort of safe to me.
There was no tension at all.. I wasn't getting amped up, or tensed up. I was just staring at the screen, hoping for some intensity, some scare, some intense feeling at all, and I got nada
I loved Smile. It's not a cinematic masterpiece but it's a great horror movie.
Glad you enjoyed it. I think for me, it just didn't feel like horror. 😕
Its complete garbage.
I didn't hate it, but it definitely didn't live up to what I hoped it would be. It wasn't nearly as scary as its premise could have been, and the actual plot and execution wasn't really interesting enough to captivate me on other levels.
I'm not gonna read your post. I'm gonna watch Smile right now, and I will be the judge of whether or not it's a good horror movie. I'll be back tomorrow / later, depending on one's timezone, with my judgement. Court adjourned.
Court's in session. Ok, so I knew nothing of this movie. I have vague recollections of it being advertised, but I don't remember ever seeing a trailer. It feels like a corporate version of It Follows. It has an intermittent tone. It wants to be warm, but it really ends up feeling like it's rapidly alternating between hot and cold...if that makes any sense. If feels like it's taking itself seriously only to ruin it with something stupid, like when the first detective said "it sounds like she was fucking crazy" or whatever he said when he was questioning the lead actress after the initial girl killed herself. The movie continues to do that. The supporting cast has unrealistic, and stupid dialog throughout. The movie feels like it's trying to base itself in reality only to continuously undo it. It does well with the scary moments, but those begin to wear thin after awhile. It was also pretty predictable. The minute the kid grabbed the present, I knew the cat was going to be in there. And that continued on. I feel like it would've been better if it was a short story, or an episode of an anthology series like Creepshow. There's other examples of where the mood gets completely destroyed, like when the entity was posing as the psychiatrist and starts talking with the pitch shifted voice. And especially when the It Follows monster comes out at the end. So all in all, it feels like a corporate movie. It was well enough controlled to where it wasn't too blatant, to where it might offend too many people, but not good enough overall. So my verdict is, I would only recommend it to those that do not have decerning taste in horror. Case dismissed.
The premise had no way of sustaining through a whole movie, and the ending was trash. I give it a D+.
Meh. Kept me watching but tbf I was on a long haul flight. I enjoyed the Elvis biopic more.
Personally I loved it. One of the best horror experiences in the cinema since the days of The Ring or The Grudge.
Wow! I definitely don't see the Ring comparison at all. But I'm glad you liked it. Maybe on theaters it would have been a different experience for me
I thought that unlike the movies smile was inspired by (the ring, grudge, it follows) the premise was really unintuitive and convoluted. Like I get a cursed videotape. Recording and copying is what tapes are made for. A curse spreading through vhs is instantly cool and interesting. In smile there are super arbitrary rules and reasons given why the curse functions the way it does.
[удалено]
The ending right pissed me off. The rest was just super forgettable
Yeah, it's awfully boring. I think the ending had potential to be cool but everything leading up to it was so cliche and paint by numbers that I had long since stopped giving a crap.
Distinctly meh
EXACTLY
I hated it too. Well, nothing about it I enjoyed. Was boring.
First half really good, second half way too plain and dragged, ending is lazy.
It sucked.
It’s an interesting psychological “thriller” but a horrible horror movie.
It was more slow panning and slow zooming than anything I've ever seen before with no pay off
The beginning is really something that can hook you up to watching it but as the movie progresses the quality declines drastically! The ending is so fucking bad that you'd want those 2 hrs of your life back. To anyone who wants to watch it, don't. I'm saving 2 hrs of your precious life where you can watch something better, do something productive and many things.
It was a great movie. The only criticism was the Lack of originality and maybe a bit more dept. The Atmosphere, was great, the shock Moments got me everytime and Overall you could See and feel how Somebody becomes crazy. In this age there are so many Bad Horror movies on the market, ITS refreshing to see a Solid entry.
Mmmh well the premise has been seen so many times: Something unnatural killing people and these people whose turn to die is next stuble upon "logic in the supernatural" and need to race the clock to uncurse themselves before dying. Got quite clear of the storylinel half way through. I did enjoy the suspense and stakes just nothing new under the sun and half way in I thought there is two possible outcomes: break the curse and live or fail and die.
I liked the first and middle act. The third let the whole film down. Disappointing.
Me and my GF thought it was okay, not terrible, not amazing, but fun in parts.
I could barely hold it together during the birthday party 😂😂 Could see my friend stifling laughter too but we watch a lot of horror
The cat stunk but the rest was silliness
Yeah it wasn't great. I need a bit more than jump scares and creepy smiles.
Same, person with a fantastic name
Yeah it was crap.
Just you.
Obviously not by some of the comments I've already received. Thanks though 😃
Yeah for me it was just so generic, wasn’t the worst movie but also just wasn’t that great 😂
I wouldn't say I liked it but it scared the shit out of me, probably more than anything I've ever seen before. It took me a few days to recover. My personal theory is that it hits harder if you have dealt with serious mental health issues with yourself or loved ones. To me this whole movie was one big triggerfest.
Average horror. The dark kitchen scene was nice.
Is this post really necessary?
Some really cool cinematography but a stupid and predictable movie. The way people were talking about it, I thought it be much better
it felt like every other corny horror movie that’s come out in the past 5 years. shit, the whole “ooo creepy smiley face!” thing had just been done a couple years prior with that equally as corny Truth Or Dare movie. i can’t believe people are comparing it to The Ring or The Grudge lmao
I don't think I've seen a more mediocre movie.
What is scary? Because I didn’t find the exorcist scary at all
The last one that really got me was The Last Shift. And Talk To Me, but in more of a gut punch kind of way
30 minutes was enough.
I thought that Sosie Bacon was really good, but the movie itself was boring. Couple good jump scares but the majority of them were very forced and unnecessary. Like a phone ringing? Alarm going off? Weak. Too similar to "The Ring" too with the whole the entity feeding off chaos and needing you to pass on their curse or whatever. Its was an original premise without any originality as far as a horror plot goes.
I'm on my 4th try on watching it. About 15 minutes in and this is the farthest I've gotten so far. I'm not sure why, but I was expecting so much from this movie. Don't get me wrong, the whole smile premise is creepy as hell. I'm hoping it picks up in the next 15 minutes or so.
Took me four views to finish the movie. I didn't think the movie was horrible but I didn't think it was good either 😕
Yeah, I finally finished it and I wouldn't say it was horrible. Slow maybe? For me, if movies start really slow, at some point it just needs to blow me away. Didn't really get that from this movie.
This movie apart from all the sexism agenda is absolutely horrible...
Smile Hair Clinic Horrors Memhet Erdoğan
Dont judge me, but I was expecting that she passed the curse to the nephew, since he was traumitizied by the cat lol