Review of Smile (2021) by Alcoholicgoat — 28 Mar 2023

I'm going to be very harsh here because nobody else seems to be. You're telling me this is better than Hellraiser 2022? This??? This is the most generic, cynical, joyless and frankly flaccid horror movie of this decade.

I doubt it'll be topped. It's horror movie bingo. Trauma subtext? Check. Cheap jumpscares? Check. Fake out ending? Check. Every **** scene is so predictable it just grated on my nerves. Even the concept is uninspired.

I get it, horror perverts the familiar but smiling is not scary. In real life I'm sure it'd be offputting but here it just does not work. There are no stakes. I laughed more at it than jumped. Some moments here and there were decent, but the movie takes itself deathly seriously to diminishing returns.

I like popcorn horror but this is kernel horror. Watch literally any of this movie's inspirations and you'll get more out of the experience. It feels like a 14 year old wrote this movie.