Written and directed by Parker Finn, in his debut based on his own short, “Laura Hasn’t Slept”. Starring Sosie Bacon, Kyle Gallner, Jessie T. Usher, Gillian Zinser, Robin Weigert, Judy Reyes, Rob Morgan, Caitlin Stasey and Kal Penn.
Plot: a young therapist witnesses the suicide of a patient and then begins seeing disturbing visions and people smiling smiles that are way too large.
We watched the short before we watched this and since the short made me scream, I felt like we were in for a treat. Good news: I was correct! As if adding Kyle Gallner ever hurt anything. LOL
Dr. Rose Cotter (Bacon, who takes after her very talented parents), works at a facility specializing in emergency psychiatric services. When Laura (Stasey) is brought in, obviously upset, Rose speaks to her about what’s wrong. She says that she’s been seeing something. Something that wears the faces of different people and smiles at her. She says she’ll die today. Then, she appears to see something behind Rose, but Rose sees nothing. With Laura freaking out, backing up, screaming, Rose calls for help. When she turns back to Laura, Laura has stood up and she is smiling. She holds a piece of something jagged that she broke in her upset, and suddenly slices her own throat wide open.
Rose’s ex, Joel (Gallner), is a cop who just happens to come when the suicide is called in. They’re cordial, but not very friendly. That becomes sadder when you meet her new boyfriend, Trevor (Usher), whom she lives with. Trevor, who comforts her as she talks about Laura, but refuses to believe her as soon as she begins to see things and is confident she just needs to see a therapist of her own. Her boss, Morgan (Penn), is having the same thoughts as he tells Rose she NEEDS to take time off. So, she sees Dr. Madeline Northcott (Weigert), who reminds her how much trouble experiencing true trauma can cause. She won’t give her any medicine, of course, but she will see her every week until she feels better.
Rose’s visions are confusing and some of the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen on film. I mean, the bit with her sister Holly (Zinser), is horrifying to me. Like, I screamed out loud and even though I’ve seen the entire movie more than once, I have covered my eyes every time Holly starts walking towards Rose’s car. It is a nightmare. At least for me. Alot of other terrible things happen as well, including the very messed up death of a pet cat. Luckily it isn’t very graphic. I have 2 cats and 2 dogs and animal deaths always upset me.
Since Trevor believes she’s crazy, she eventually goes to Joel for help. It’s obvious he still loves her. He bends over backward to help her in any and every way he can. He even allows her to watch footage of other smiling suiciders as they kill themselves in front of other people. When she finds out that what she’s going through has been happening to others, she goes to see a man in prison (Morgan) who survived the smiling. He believes that if you kill someone else in front of a witness, you can save yourself. But can Rose do that?
The rest of the movie doesn’t give me the creeps as much as Holly’s part did, but it’s still some creepy shit. Worse than creepy, it’s unnerving. There isn’t much in the way of beating this Smile shit, so the end isn’t great. You should know that going in. It’s still pretty difficult to criticize though. The reactions of the people involved were actually appropriate and realistic. The innovation was shockingly good. The cast was flawless and so believable. The script was great. We thought it was original. There’s not really any rules because the motive is never known, but it was probably more atmospheric without these things.
Obviously, it had a great opening, but the ending was equally memorable. Freddy Claws was lacking, because only the cutie ex, Joel, was there for her, believing her. For a debut film, Parker Finn succeeded in the arduous task of truly giving us chills, goosebumps, and DJ liked it even more than I did. We will watch his next movie, and if it’s anything like this one, I look forward to the nightmares.
My score: 77. DJ’s score: 80.
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