The whiff of buttery popcorn trailing throughout the theater. The suspense building up as you listen to the eerie soundtrack. Your sweaty palms clutching the maroon, leather seats. Your fuzzy blanket acting as a shield, to hide you from the sinister-like smile projecting on the screen. 

In Parker Finn’s “Smile” film, Dr. Rose Cotter, played by Sosie Bacon, is a therapist who works in an emergency psychiatric ward. During one of Dr. Cotter’s sessions with patient Laura Weaver, played by Caitlin Stasey, Weaver frantically describes her visions as a supernatural entity. 

Strangers, friends, or even deceased loved ones can be possessed and display a horrifying grin to torment those who have the curse.

 Soon after witnessing the peculiar death of Weaver, Dr. Cotter experiences frightening illusions; she persists to uncover her horrifying past and free herself and others from this contagious curse. 

This psychological horror film heavily depicts the main idea of childhood trauma. Individuals who watch the movie and are affected with mental illnesses could be susceptible triggers during the film. 

As well as, halfway through the film, there was a detective plot story that did a poor job with highlighting the terror that the audience seeks. This resulted in the film to have an interesting start, a lousy middle, but back to a compelling, fearsome ending that left the audience horrified. 

Despite the flaws, this film did an excellent job in incorporating many nerve-racking jump scares that will make the audience hear and feel their heart palpitating. The cinematography by Charlie Sarroff, positioned the camera to make the audience not expect the entity to appear from the darkened background.

All in all, the intention of this film was to captivate the viewers with horror and apprehension; it held up to its expectations as it was an intriguing story. It’s worth the $7 movie ticket, it will certainly leave the audience with a grin from ear to ear.