I have never been an avid horror movie fan but in the spirit of Halloween, however, I decided I would indulge in the movie some of my friends had been raving about: Smile.

The main storyline of the film is about an unknown entity that only the main character Rose (Sosie Bacon) can see. It follows her around and presents itself as strangers, people she knows, and even loved ones who have passed away. This evil force thrives on trauma and gets passed from person to person from death. This is discovered when a troubled young woman shows up in Rose’s office claiming to see this evil face smiling at her ever since her professor died right in front of her. After this interaction, the curse is passed on to Rose. Whenever this presence shows up, it has a daunting smile plastered on its face, and all chaos breaks loose. 

From the first scene, I was immediately greeted with a confusing flashback of Rose as a child watching her mother pass away due to an overdose. Although this odd storyline is somewhat closed up toward the end, this already created a plot hole and left me with many questions.

Unfortunately, this was not the only theme in the movie left open-ended. Throughout the film, Rose’s paranoia creates a strain on her relationship with her fiancé Trevor (Jessie T. Usher), but after a couple of fights between the pair, Trevor’s character disappears as a whole and Rose spends the rest of the film with her presumed ex-boyfriend Joel (Kyle Gallner). 

Along with the story’s many loose ends, the cinematography was unnecessarily dizzying. Many shots and transitions throughout the film were upside down or spinning, and although in some movies this would go along with the plot or overall theme of the story, in Smile, it was needless. This made me want to close my eyes and look away so that I wouldn’t get motion sickness. I spent the entire film trying to figure out if there was some sort of purpose for this choice of editing, but I never found a reason.

Although the awful writing and cinematography of the movie made it incredibly less enjoyable, the scare factor was through the roof. The film makes it seem like the concept itself could be entirely plausible, and did get me with some of the jump scares it withheld. But although the attempts were strong, they didn’t make up for how atrocious the rest of the film was. 

While the film was scary, it was also extremely disturbing. A lot of the content in the film contains a lot of gore and unnerving scenes, but again, unless all you care about is the fear factor, the overall film was dreadful.

Despite the fact the movie was appalling, the promotion was impeccable. A week before the film premiered, the Smile marketing team placed actors in the stands of a Yankees vs. Red Sox game and simulate the signature grim grin on the Jumbo Tron to bring attention to the release of the film, and encourage viewers to go watch it. A magnificent marketing team was truly wasted on this film.

The only impact Smile had on me was negative, and it has led me to the conclusion that I will never willingly watch the film again.