History Film / Smile2022

* RelationshipSalvagingDisaster: Joel and Rose split up due to Rose's fear of being her true self around him. Their journey into the mystery of the Entity ultimately leads Rose to accept that she still loves Joel. [[spoiler:Then subverted. Just as they seem about to get back together, Rose realizes that the Entity was actually tricking her. Though it's implied Joel does have real feelings for her, she never confessed her love for him and in fact burns herself alive in front of him, passing on the curse.]]

* RuleOfSymbolism: Several shots rotate upside down, to reinforce that the conventional concept of a smile as an expression of happiness or politeness instead turns on its head, and becomes a sadistic expression of evil.
* SadisticChoice: Rose figures out that you can survive if you [[spoiler:kill someone else in front of a witness, which will stop you from committing suicide. It's ultimately subverted, however, as the Entity makes sure she ''can't'' kill another person, suggesting that the previous survivor just got lucky when he did it]].

* SoleSurvivor: Robert Talley was haunted by the Entity, but managed to prevent himself from succumbing to suicide by killing a person while being witnessed by another, which caused the Entity to jump to the witness instead. [[spoiler:As of the end of the film, he remains the only person who is able to break out of the curse alive.]]

The film follows a psychiatrist named Dr. Rose Cotter (Bacon) who is having quite possibly the worst week of her life, which begins just after a troubling encounter with one of her patients (Stasey), who is on the verge of mental breakdown due to disturbing hallucinations. During the session, the patient suddenly displays a creepy smile and slits her own throat with a glass shard. Rose is understandably disturbed by this course of events and even though every person she knows console her, stating there's nothing she could do to prevent that suicide, it causes Rose's [[DarkAndTroubledPast childhood psychological issues]] to come back to her. She begins having nightmarish visions of people around her smiling madly and proclaiming she is going to die. She keeps reimagining the patient's final words and realizes, that the same thing, the suicidal had to deal with, is after her too. Discovering that the dead person is just a last link in a chain of smiling suicidals forces her to investigate in hopes of finding the beginning of the suicidal chain and stop whatever caused it. Otherwise, she's going to be next on the list.

The film follows a psychiatrist named Dr. Rose Cotter (Bacon) who is having quite possibly the worst week of her life. After a troubling encounter with one of her patients (Stasey), who is on the verge of mental breakdown due to disturbing hallucinations. During the session, the patient suddenly displays a creepy smile and slits her own throat with a glass shard. Rose is understandably disturbed by this course of events and even though every person she knows console her, stating there's nothing she could do to prevent that suicide, it causes Rose's [[DarkAndTroubledPast childhood psychological issues]] to come back to her. She begins having nightmarish visions of people around her smiling madly and proclaiming she is going to die. She keeps reimagining the patient's final words and realizes, that the same thing, the suicidal had to deal with, is after her too. Discovering that the dead person is just a last link in a chain of smiling suicidals forces her to investigate in hopes of finding the beginning of the suicidal chain and stop whatever caused it. Otherwise, she's going to be next on the list.

The film follows a psychiatrist named Dr. Rose Cotter (Bacon) who is having quite possibly the worst week of her life. After a troubling encounter with one of her patients (Stasey), who is on the verge of mental breakdown due to disturbing hallucinations. During the session, the patient suddenly displays a creepy smile and slits her own throat with a glass shard. Rose is understandably disturbed by this course of events and even though every person she knows console her, stating there's nothing she could do to prevent that suicide, it causes Rose's childhood psychological issues to come back to her. She begins having nightmarish visions of people around her smiling madly and proclaiming she is going to die. She keeps reimagining the patient's final words and realizes, that the same thing, the suicidal had to deal with, is after her too. Discovering that the dead person is just a last link in a chain of smiling suicidals forces her to investigate in hopes of finding the beginning of the suicidal chain and stop whatever caused it. Otherwise, she's going to be next on the list.

The film follows a psychiatrist named Dr. Rose Cotter (Bacon) who is having quite possibly the worst week of her life. After a troubling encounter with one of her patients (Stasey), she starts having nightmarish visions of people around her smiling madly and proclaiming she is going to die. Soon, she learns that she is not the first to experience this phenomena… and that it might be fatal.

* HereditarySuicide: Zigzagged. Rose's mother committed suicide (which Rose witnessed), and this gives Rose even more reason to be terrified when she learns that the Entity will [[DrivenToSuicide drive her to suicide.]] [[spoiler:Which is exactly what happens, but not before the revelation that Rose's mother did not exactly commit suicide. She attempted suicide, but it's implied to have been a cry for help/attention. Rose's own inaction led to it being fatal.]]

** Zigzagged with [[spoiler:Rose’s mother]]. While it initially seems that [[spoiler:she committed suicide by overdosing on pills, the final flashback reveals that she tried to have Rose call for help, implying she either had second thoughts about her suicide attempt, or it was merely a cry for attention.]]

* ArcSymbol: Smiles. Beyond the visions of people with frightening grins, there's bloodstains shaped like smiles, disturbing pictures of smiles… even the LogoGag in the trailer isn't safe! They also work to tie into the theme of Trauma; a StepfordSmiler best refers to a person suffering issues which they don't give voice to, leading to them suffering in silence. This is exactly the kind of mindset the Entity causes to drive its victims insane and eventually, towards death.

* LogoGag: When the Paramount logo is shown in the trailer, it is immediately flipped upside down so that the arch of stars resembles a smile.

** The trailers make the film seem like it will be nothing but a mindless, cheesy, made-for-teen, gimmick movie like ''Film/WishUpon'', ''Countdown'' or ''Film/TruthOrDare'' that won't take itself even remotely seriously. By contrast, the actual film takes itself ''very'' seriously, exploring the struggles of mental illness, generational trauma, and despair, and how society often pushes away those who have it them.

** The trailers make the film seem like it will be nothing but a mindless, cheesy, made-for-teen, gimmick movie like ''Film/WishUpon'', ''Countdown'' or ''Film/TruthOrDare'' that won't take itself even remotely seriously. By contrast, the actual film takes itself ''very'' seriously, exploring the struggles of mental illness and how society often pushes those who have it away; generational trauma, and despair.

* ZippingUpTheBodyBag: One of the promotional posters shows the deceased's disturbing smile peeking out through the bag's open zipper.

->"''It's smiling at me. But not a friendly smile. It's the worst smile I've ever seen in my life. And whenever I see it, I just get this god-awful feeling like something really terrible is going to happen. I've never felt scared like I do when I see it.''"

* DeathIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler:The curse feeds on trauma and only leaves upon death, typically suicide of those afflicted, and passes onto whoever witnessed it. The only break in the pattern was a prison inmate who murdered a stranger in front of another person, with the curse passing onto the witness. This spares the inmate from the curse, but he's confined to prison for the rest of his life.]]
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:A tool of the Smile Entity, but not its ultimate objective in and of itself. It wears its victim down emotionally and psychologically over the course of several days. It waits until just the right moment, when the victim was been sufficiently weakened and someone is in proximity to pass the curse onto. It is only then that it takes possession by entering the victim through his or her mouth. But the possession is just long enough to [[DrivenToSuicide drive the victim to suicide]] in order to traumatize the next victim and keep the curse going.]]

* CheshireCatGrin: People affected by the phenomena usually see the people around them with unnervingly wide grins. Not to mention the death threats and occasional neck breaking. [[spoiler:The Smile Entity's form features a sort of layered Cheshire Cat Grin, like a fractal made of toothy mouths.]]

* AllegoricalCharacter: The Entity certainly checks all of the hallmarks of a monster that embodies a variety of things from post-traumatic stress (which it is confused for), generational trauma, paranoia, repression and mental illness. The Entity torments and [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslights]] its victim methodically and without mercy, making it looks as though its victim is having a psychotic breakdown. While the victim is scrambling to find help or answers to their problem, all it does is convince everyone that the victim is dangerous to themselves and others while making sure that the victim can't trust anyone back, the Entity routinely impersonating others just to mess with them. It all culminating in killing their victim in a manner confused for a suicide, passing itself onto the witness it traumatizes.

* ForTheEvulz: [[spoiler:The Entity needs to traumatize others in order to spread its curse and survive, but it derives pleasure from tormenting them and [[DrivenToSuicide driving them to suicide]], and always does so in ways that will ensure that it will never lack for a next victim. The reason they smile is because that's how much it's enjoying itself..]]

* TheUnSmile: The title refers to the Smile Entity's gurning rictus--which looks less like a genuine smile and more like it's showing you how many teeth it has with which to eat you.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Downplayed. [[spoiler:The final tool in the Entity's arsenal is revealing its true form to its victims, that being a lanky, skinless creature with a gaping mouth packed with multiple rows of human-like teeth. Rose is completely broken when she sees it, allowing it to possess her. However, it doesn't do this right off the bat, as it has to break down its victims' willpower first through constant psychological torture so that seeing what it truly looks like will be the last straw.]]

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Downplayed. [[spoiler:The final tool in the Entity's arsenal is revealing its true form to its victims, that being a lanky, skinless creature with a gaping mouth packed with multiple rows of human-like teeth. Rose is completely broken when she sees it, allowing it to possess her. However, it doesn't do this right off the bat, as it has to break down its victims' willpower first through constant psychological torture so that seeing what it ''really'' looks like will be the last straw.]]

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Downplayed. [[spoiler:The final tool in the Entity's arsenal is revealing its true form to its victims, that being a lanky, skinless creature with a gaping mouth packed with multiple rows of human-like teeth. Rose is completely broken when she sees it, allowing it to possess her. However, it doesn't do this right off the bat, as it has to break down their willpower first so the horror will be the last straw.]]

* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailers make the film seem like it will be nothing but a mindless, cheesy, made-for-teen, gimmick movie like ''Film/WishUpon'', ''Countdown'' or ''Film/TruthOrDare'' that won't take itself even remotely seriously. By contrast, the actual film takes itself ''very'' seriously, exploring the struggles of mental illness and how society often pushes those who have it away; generational trauma, and despair.
* It also makes you think it will consist of nothing but constant jumpscares and entirely cheap scares with little to no buildup or atmosphere. While the film itself has plenty of jump scares, they're actually quite spaced out and each one is built up to effectively. Much of the movie's horror actually comes from the incredibly bleak and dreadful atmosphere present throughout.

* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailers make the film seem like it will be nothing but a mindless, cheesy, made-for-teen, gimmick movie like ''Film/WishUpon'', ''Countdown'' or ''Film/TruthOrDare'' that won't take itself even remotely seriously. It also makes you think it will consist of constant jumpscares and entirely cheap scares with little to no buildup or atmosphere. By contrast, the actual film takes itself ''very'' seriously, exploring the struggles of mental illness and how society often pushes those who have it away; generational trauma, and despair. And while the film itself has plenty of jump scares, they're actually quite spaced out and each one is built up to effectively. Much of the movie's horror actually comes from the incredibly bleak and dreadful atmosphere.

* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailers make the film seem like it will be nothing but a mindless, cheesy, made-for-teen, gimmick movie like ''Film/WishUpon'', ''Countdown'' or ''Film/TruthOrDare''. It also makes you think it will consist of constant jumpscares and entirely cheap scares with little to no buildup. By contrast, the actual film takes itself ''very'' seriously, exploring the struggles of mental illness and how society often pushes those who have it away; generational trauma, and despair. And while the film itself has plenty of jump scares, they're actually quite spaced out and each one is built up to effectively.

''Smile'' is a psychological horror film directed by Parker Finn in his feature debut, based on his 2020 short film ''Laura Hasn't Slept.'' It stars Creator/SosieBacon, Creator/JessieTUsher, Creator/KyleGallner, Creator/CaitlinStasey, Creator/KalPenn, and Creator/RobMorgan. It premiered on September 30, 2022.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Downplayed. [[spoiler:The final tool in the Entity's arsenal is revealing its true form to its victims, that being a skinless body made of smiling mouths. Rose is completely broken when she sees it, allowing it to possess her. However, it doesn't do this right off the bat, as it has to break down their willpower first so the horror will be the last straw.]]

''Smile'' is a horror film directed by first-time director Parker Finn, based on his 2020 short film ''Laura Hasn't Slept.'' It stars Creator/SosieBacon, Creator/JessieTUsher, Creator/KyleGallner, Creator/CaitlinStasey, Creator/KalPenn, and Creator/RobMorgan. It premiered on September 30, 2022.