SMILE Makes Me SO ANGRY

[@re0294]

As a person on the schizophrenic spectrum, it was clear to me from the first moment of this film and has maintained in all commentary about it after, that Smile is made for people who are adjacent to and frightened by psychosis, NOT people who have experienced psychosis. It is not a coincidence, in my opinion, that the legitimacy of the film is seemingly always defended by those who “have a schizophrenic friend” or “have seen meltdowns like that before”, never from those who have actually experienced it themselves. It rings so hollow to me that it almost feels offensive, but it sits mostly in the “extremely annoying” category. The movie made me extremely uncomfortable, but more in a “triggered by the gratuitous depictions of being treated terribly for being mentally ill” way, not in a scared way. What’s insane is that I have experienced this EXACT hallucination throughout my life, and the movie still couldn’t convince me to identify with it. TLDR Smile makes me angry because its entire premise is to use mental illness as a PROP to depict terrible treatment of an acutely mentally ill person, clearly made for an audience who is not mentally ill. Trauma as entertainment. Gross.

[@redwolftoboe6452]

Very well said and incredibly accurate. As a former mental health field worker this movie did nothing but depress me. It legitimately has nothing to say except: Wouldn't it be super scary if one day you suddenly lost your mind for no apparent reason? Wouldn't it be frightening to watch your entire support system collapse around you as you become more and more of a burden to them? Absolutely no empathy at all. Just "Man, mental illness sure is scary! I'm so glad that ain't me!" Disgusting.

[@re0294]

@@redwolftoboe6452 that is EXACTLY how it made me feel. You described it better than I could.

[@ashleyboots3386]

This is an amazing comment. Thank you for saying it. As someone who has struggled with delusions and psychosis, everything you said is exactly right. I'm so tired of trauma survivors being used as monsters in film.

[@RM--]

i remember watching this with my friends and getting so pissed off with the movie and especially ending but I wasn't able to communicate and make them understand exactly why it was so much more distressing and frustrating to me than anyone else in the room at the time i wasnt in a good place so when the movie ended the way it did i just flew off the handlebars because getting angry about the movie was better than letting the rugpull get to me

[@RM--]

@@redwolftoboe6452 "Wouldn't it be frightening to watch your entire support system collapse around you as you become more and more of a burden to them?" hypothetically, just purely hypothetically, uh, no im not gonna ask you for solutions just holy shit wow yeah god damnit at least i know how to describe it now, thanks?

[@catalinaargyriou8603]

when i heard the premise for the original short film i was _certain_ that the twist would be that the re-occcuring dream wasn't a dream at alll, because she hasn't slept. not "ohhh oooh this whole time the therapist was the purple guy!"

[@spookymcg]

Totally. There are parts of this that COULD work, if they were explored a little more thoughtfully.

[@Hotchocolaterabbit]

"WAS THAT THE SMILE OF '87?"

[@HanleyBrook-pz9iw]

I thought the whole point was that she was experiencing a paralysis. That she was stressing herself out over nothing in the end because sometimes the most terrifying thing there is is your imagination. The man never was real, she was just exhausted and ill. Like me fr

[@graceropka6330]

The fakeout at the end was truly…a choice. They spent this whole movie building up this monster as trauma manifested into a physical creature. Building up that having that unresolved trauma can hurt you and the ones you love. Then the big finale hits, where Rose is duking it out with the root of her current struggles, and she seems to defeat it. By confronting her trauma, she manages to defeat it. And then the creators turn to the audience and yell, “Gotcha!” It’s as lazy as it is patronizing. It’s like the creators are punishing the viewer for believing that there could be a resolution to the metaphor they’ve spend the last two hours beating us over the head with. And then, what kind of message are we left with? That trauma actually can’t be worked out and you’re doomed to succumb to the cycle no matter how hard you try? What a shitty message to give to an audience.

[@madam-mint]

THANK *GOD* IT’S NOT JUST ME WHO FEELS THIS WAY. apologies for the capslock, this movie just grinds my gears in that exact way.

[@Polyeurythane]

Exactlyyyy. The fakeout ending just turns the message from something that could be considered hopeful to something incredibly harmful. All for an ending that feels like the directors/writers themselves pointing to you like “bet you didn’t expect that ending, HUH? Hehehe 🤭.” Like ugh. The movie is still incredibly eugh with how it puts forth the message via the obnoxious characters, but the ending just feels straight up insulting. And the fact there’s going to be a Smile 2 feels even more eye rolling, because how in the world are they even going to expand on the already tired and established concept this first one put forth.

[@112523]

I mean. They likely wanted to avoid a cliche ending. And they were willing to waste your time for it

[@lynn4840]

my thoughts exactly!! the metaphor is clumsy at best & downright mean-spirited at worst. maybe if the message was "everyone CAN heal from trauma but not everyone will bc some people don't want to be helped" i could almost understand the movie ending the way it does, but no, the implication is clearly that no one has ever meaningfully broken this cycle & therefore, we have to assume it's not possible. it bothers me.

[@SBMTG]

It's trying to communicate the hard truth that you can never actually "defeat" your trauma. I didn't see it as a "GOTCHA!" But rather a recognition that in real life, you will always live with your trauma and there's not much you can do about it

[@DavidRYates-tk2tq]

Actually, the real problem with that second "don't watch it" comment is, how the hell are you supposed to know you don't like a movie _until_ you watch it?!

[@n0etic_f0x]

The comment applies to genres. I do not like Rom-Coms so I don't watch them, if I see a bad one... well I don't think I will even notice I did. The a 3/10 and 7/10 are the same to me.

[@tayloradams3993]

right-? a movie can feel mid or even awful until the end where it wraps it up beautifully and makes every moment you hated suddenly feel so important

[@utubebgay]

Ever tried eating shit? Why not? You never know...

[@lenorepoe4166]

I think he means In theaters where the money really matters if everyone waits till streaming it gets less money

[@NB-gu9rs]

@@lenorepoe4166 But it's still essentially throwing a tantrum because people have the nerve to support films that he personally doesn't like. It's still a pretty weird and unappealing take.

[@asierx7047]

This movie went from horror to comedy incredibly quick the moment i saw the first smile and could only think of the jerma sus face.

[@one-onessadhalf3393]

Yeah, when the mind monster showed up, all I could think about was the clip from Ghost Stories where the girl says “It’s Marilyn Manson!”

[@a_spectator_of_the_night]

NOT THE JERMA FACE ☠

[@bigearcat96]

the whole message of the movie being "if you are sad or traumatised you can do nothing so you should just kill yourself alone so you dont fuck over anyone else" was... a choice.

[@NB-gu9rs]

Why do you think that was the entire, intentional message of the film to start with? Why do people have so much trouble distinguishing between something being portrayed in a piece of fiction, and that same something being endorsed by its author? Now I wanna show you Wages of Fear and see if the "whole message" you draw from it is "the director wants you to never, ever drive a truck again."

[@skyfire4594]

unfortunately, it would have been one thing for the story to show us an instance of someone surviving the trauma personified demon to show us that "all trauma is unable to be coped with and it will always kill you no matter what" Isn't the message at all, but the story didn't do that a single bit. Every single character we see that got infected and possessed by the demon died without exception, no matter how hard they try. As interesting as the "the protagonist is doomed from the start trope" can be if done correctly, the writers failed at it every step of the way, which is why i genuinely believe the story would have been better if the protagonist would have survived. Because if the protag would have survived, it would have proved that even though trauma Seems like it will kill you, it can still be coped with despite everything, but that's not what happened. Instead, we got a massive fakeout death ending, which if anything felt like a massive "fuck you for caring about the story". If the writers wanted to say that trauma is survivable, a character would have survived the demon.

[@Deadflower019]

@@NB-gu9rs Somebody needs to retake an English class and learn that stories have meaning 😶

[@WhiteTulip2002]

This is highly reminiscent of Bloober’s The Medium, particularly the character Lily

[@endiecutie06]

@@WhiteTulip2002 also the Blair witch game they made, which also ends with the character offing themselves because I guess all ptsd-riddled war veterans turn into murderers? Also it had nothing to do with the Blair witch

[@josawesome1]

Smile being a trauma allegory is really frustrating considering how inaccurately it portrays it. It acted like it wanted to portray trauma as something meant to be confronted but also it doesn’t matter because it consumes you and drives you to unaliving anyway? Wouldn’t it have made more sense if her running away to her old house was making it worse? Like finding a community of people who don’t just instantly invalidate you instead of self-isolating? It basically ends up saying that trauma makes you an inconvenience to everyone in your life so they leave you and then you unalive yourself which causes someone ELSE to become infected with trauma like it’s some sort of bad luck charm?? Why??

[@madam-mint]

I keep seeing this and I feel vindicated. I thought it was only me who felt this way! I appreciate you sharing, I know I’m not alone now.

[@RayPoreon]

I find it annoying whenever any horror film tries to make an allegory to anything. It never ends well, once in a blue moon you get psychological horror like Silent Hill that does work because they aren't making a direct allegory to a particular condition, they're just exploring the mind through horror. But things like DID, schizophrenia, psychosis and psycho/sociopathy never get properly presented. The film maker put a token gesture into organisations that represent these conditions but don't make any changes when they're told when their depiction is just insulting. It's not even that allegory to disorders cannot work either. My favourite piece of media is Mob Psycho 100, which more or less uses psychic powers as an allegory for autism and other neurodivergent conditions. It's brilliant.

[@lkeke35]

I'm not even against the idea of trauma being contagious. I like the idea, but it was the execution that I hated. The creators didn't use that idea as well as it could have been used if they had been more thoughtful.

[@harrisonlee9585]

The only impression this movie made on me was the ad campaign where they had weird smiling people sit behind home plate at baseball games so they were constantly on TV. This was scrapped when enough major league pitchers complained it was stupid to the point of distraction.

[@TheHopperUK]

I thought that was really effectively creepy but to be honest they could have just pretended to do it and posted clips online all 'omg what's this at the game last night?' and it would have worked and not upset any pitchers.

[@БогданКрименюк]

@TheHopperUK "Did anyone catch the game last night?" *Cough cough cough* Glitching starts

[@ghostcandoit]

Something thay angers me a lot about this movie is that the car jumpscare with the long neck smiling woman is almost 1:1 copied from the 2018 argentinian film Aterrados, and its absolutely done better in that film than in smile

[@PeiceofNick]

Really? I didn't know that.

[@ghostcandoit]

@@PeiceofNick the clip is here in KZbin, tho I'd fully recommend you watch the entire film cause it makes more sense with the entire context of what's happening and a pretty solid horror movie thats an interesting take on ghost hauntings

[@timk6181]

Oh I knew I'd seen it before somewhere!

[@NB-gu9rs]

And Romeo and Juliet is cribbed directly from a Philip Marlowe play. But why should anybody care?! What's wrong with an homage, or borrowing a single shot from a film with a totally different plot, characters, and setting?! I think you're looking for a "foolish consistency" here, in the name of a fake originality that doesn't really need to exist.

[@GlobalsoftPirka]

I’m more upset they spoiled it in the trailer because it’s one of the best scares in the movie. 🥲

[@remick0]

It's so frustrating that a movie about a 'trauma curse' sets it up so that the only way you could conceivably not spread the curse on is by doing the opposite of what someone suffering a mental breakdown should do.

[@filthymcnasty7960]

The primary discomfiting drive of the movie (at least to me) was watching the entity deliberately manipulate the protagonist in order to isolate her from anyone who could actually help. It deprived her of sleep, it played with her perception of reality, and expertly frayed her every nerve until, finally, she decides that the only "logical" thing to do is to push everyone away and end it all somewhere isolated so that the thing can't spread to anyone else. I always felt that this being an obviously terrible idea that plays directly into the entity's metaphysical hands is kinda the whole point.

[@MistaZULE]

@filthymcnasty7960 but then wouldn't the trauma demon be dead if the protag unalives herself somewhere secluded?

[@filthymcnasty7960]

@@MistaZULE That's what it wants you to think--the entity wouldn't have gotten as far as it has if it were that easy to take out, and was likely banking on at least one person who cared about Rose to come and check on her regardless. Even if it guessed wrong, it spreads through *trauma*, not necessarily the trauma of seeing its host shuffle loose this mortal coil. For all we know it could be able to lie dormant until someone stumbles across the body.

[@MistaZULE]

@@filthymcnasty7960 aren't you just adding extra information to the logic of the monster? Rose gets the trauma demon curse because her patient unalived herself in front of her so she chose to unalive herself away from anyone that could find her. if that isn't the logic of the monster, then the movie did a terrible job of explaining the rules of the curse.

[@LuckyHamburger]

The biggest issue with this movie is in my opinion one that you didn't even mention. We're supposed to be waiting for the big moment where the demon thing takes full control and makes the protagonist kill herself, but considering the birthday party scene, it's obvious that the demon is able to control her actions practically at the point of contraction, meaning that the struggle of the entire movie is pointless.

[@emris2697]

Imo the “stop analysing and enjoy it” argument can only really be applied to media that don’t take itself seriously.

[@kiah9085]

Sitting there waiting for something to happen is a devastating insult when skinamarink was one of your horror favorites (is also one of my favorites)

[@spookymcg]

It just goes to show how important atmosphere and framing is!

[@NB-gu9rs]

@@spookymcg Or how little consistency there is in your criticism. I can't wait to do an itemized list.

[@kilianalexander2736]

@@NB-gu9rs Not inconsistent really, when you're sitting there waiting for something to happen, what it amounts to is that you're bored. There was less happening in Skinamarink, and yet he wasn't bored.

[@rika.1412]

HER BOYFRIEND WAS A-TRAIN!?!?!?!?!?

[@sinner2133]

I wonder if she was asked to blow A-Train

[@williamhanekom9882]

What's funny is I remembered going into this film thinking the entity was going to be a metaphor on toxic positivity, and how society tries to trivialise trauma instead of helping those who need it... Seems even that was apparently too high brow to ask instead of just doing OOOOOOH EVIL SMILES SO DISTURBING OOOOH, put that shit on a poster.

[@nanuqo2006]

"Turn your brain off" logic is such a slippery slope into absolutely brainless current filmmaking tropes escalating to the extreme lmao

[@katherineknapp3782]

I interpret “turning your brain off” as just asking me to view a film outside of the context of my personality and my experiences. I don’t know how somebody can do that. Unless they lack either personality or experiences.

[@nanuqo2006]

@@katherineknapp3782 There’s no way it didn’t get started by some corporate plant looking to sway public opinion in shitty movies over the internet. Anti-intellectualism is at a high right now so even though it’s less of an issue than something like climate change denial or anti-vaccine sentiment i can see how it would work on a lot of people

[@baileymode2765]

It kinda jsut leads into people viewing movies as products and commodities instead of art, turning your brain off doesn’t let you enjoy the movie it lets you consume mindlessly without thinking of any greater themes the story might be trying to tell

[@Deadflower019]

@@katherineknapp3782 Well, when you engage with a piece of media, you are meant to set your own beliefs inside and meet with the story where it is. That being said, "turning your brain off" isn't meeting the story where it is, it's just _not engaging_ with the story. At that point, why are you even watching the film?

[@DecayOpossum]

Someone who does turn their brain off when watching movies, here to provide some perspective. I think you can absolutely still appreciate a movie as art without deeply analyzing it, for me personally it’s more of a vibes thing. Like, I don’t know exactly what’s off about something, but I can tell it feels like a lazy cashgrab. However, if a movie actually feels good when I first watch it (and I like the movie) I’ll rewatch it and think more critically about it, looking for more things in it. Honestly there’s some movies and TV shows I’ve rewatched over 10 times just to catch things I missed. But that’s something I do when I am willing to invest time and energy into a piece of media. My brain is constantly over analyzing everything around me and does not shut up due to ADHD and several anxiety disorders. The best way to describe it to people who don’t experience it is just “I have my own personal backseating Twitch chat is constantly running in my brain”. So, sometimes, I don’t want to think critically about every piece of media I consume. However, Im also very picky with what movies I watch in the first place and usually don’t watch stuff I get that “this was made for money and not passion” vibe from. Sorry this was so long, just wanted to clarify why someone might prefer turning their brain off and also defend it a bit given the amount of “you’re not watching the movie the right way” comments I’ve seen here. Like, as an artist, if someone looked at piece of body horror vent art I made that was a very personal and detailed piece, I’m not gonna be offended if someone sees that and just thinks it looks cool. Now if the person that just thinks it looks cool argues that it has no deeper meaning or thought put into it then that’s a problem, but aside from that I don’t mind. Also (apologies for adding more), I don’t think putting all the blame on consumers is fair. The majority should be put on the companies that keep rolling this shit out and not the people watching it. I agree it’s easier to blame the consumer since that feels like something that can actually change, but the logic of “this person enjoying this cashgrab film is the reason film as an art form is dying” (movies being an example, this applies to other things) has led to individuals being blamed for corporate or societal problems. Anyways, if you’ve read this far then thanks for at the very least hearing me out even if you still disagree lmao.

[@pjburgy]

I enjoyed Smile, but mostly as a popcorn movie. The beats were predictable. As soon as they couldn't find the cat, my friend and I turned to one another with one eyebrow raised and said, "The cat's dead." When the party scene began, we turned to one another again and my friend said, "Cat's in the box."

[@TheGreatUnknowing]

Bad movies are good when you have someone to make fun of them with

[@electraheart7745]

My exact reaction to this movie when I saw it for the first time

[@slitheen3]

I watched it at a small new year's party at the very end of the night when we were all drunk and VERY tired. I enjoyed it enough at the time, but as soon as I thought about it again later sober and realized it is..... not very good lol

[@ScrimmyBingus42]

I'm really tired of the stereotypical use of mental illness in horror movies. It's just insulting to me and people who actually struggle with mental illness. Like, whatever is going on in my mind is definitely scarier for me than it is for you!! It just feels like an attempt to make mentally ill people into a scary, malicious "other". It's dehumanizing and disrespectful.

[@sharkbiteshitposts5506]

I’m actually now interested in your top 20 horror shorts. Analyzing how effective a scare can be given its short run time would be interesting!

[@transrightsdinosaur]

Yes, same!!

[@Geospasmic]

I'm a huge fan of horror shorts. They're mostly ok but there's so many amazing gems out there.

[@FNTM2k3]

Therapists can’t prescribe meds. That’s a psychiatrist’s job.

[@lilyh9791]

I watched this at home on Halloween with my friend and she FELL ASLEEP during the CLIMAX of the movie💀pretty symbolic of how "scary" this movie was

[@NB-gu9rs]

I have friends who have fallen asleep during 2001: A Space Oddity and I fell asleep during a film-school showing of Citizen Kane once, so that's kind of a stupid criterion for a bad movie, sorry.

[@lilyh9791]

@@NB-gu9rstrue!! I mostly just thought it was a funny story but ur right 😔

[@clarethecat5199]

> "people you respect the opinion of" > picture of joe rogan ?????

[@Ava-sr9ry]

After watching Smile I literally told my friend i thought it was "a bad version of it follows"

[@NB-gu9rs]

Literally? Wow.

[@raeoverhere923]

Smile was so vapid and unimpactful that my husband and I forgot we watched it, saw it on one of our streaming services and thought we hadn't seen it yet, so we watched it again.

[@chel3062]

I hated Smile. I'm so sick of horror movies revealing some boring monster at the end. Especially when the whole thing is meant to be about trauma, we don't need some dumb monster to be afraid of. If they had just taken the time to refine the story and treat it with more subtlety, it might have been better.

[@cosmicdust2668]

It is genuinely crazy to me how many people have made video essays calling it a masterpiece and similar things when it's a movie with an ending that amounts to, "if you have trauma, it doesn't get better no matter what you do + kill yourself." I felt insane. The one thing I do think this movie did incredibly well is at the end when we see the monster's form without skin, it's done with practical effects. I think the design is cool with it looking like it's many bodies inside of each other like a matryoshka doll, and it would have been really fantastic in a better movie. I also just always want to praise practical effects since a lot of movies skip out on them now and ultimately make a worse product for it. That said, the cool thing is on scene for a few seconds and the movie is an hour and 55 minutes, so it really does not make it worth watching

[@NB-gu9rs]

"Local fan discovers film appreciation is subjective, learns nothing from it! Film at 11."

[@cosmicdust2668]

​@@NB-gu9rs This comment really feels like projection. Yeah, I think other people's subjective opinions on this movie are crazy. I made a comment about it and what? You're so aghast by my comment about my subjective opinion, you think I've just discovered different people have different thoughts? Come on girlypop. Get well soon

[@filthymcnasty7960]

I'll agree that the movie as a whole is pretty mid and that the practical effects of the entity's true form were dope, but I have a diverging interpretation of the ending. The way I saw it, Rose never actually *dealt with* her trauma, instead sidestepping the issue to focus on the monster. Her defiant declaration of having control of her own mind is further proof of how deeply she's internalized the trite "it's all in your head" narrative that she and other incompetent therapists (real or otherwise) push, and the ending fakeout the creature pulls to show her the futility of this ends up causing her final mental break that allows it to win.

[@breckinmeyerstan1145]

I think the worst thing is they could've EASILY made this movie about generational trauma by giving it a way better ending. Asshole characters and unnecessary, foreseeable and gratuitous animal violence aside, this movie has moments that are interesting and then does nothing with them. As it is, the movie is not only about not being able to outrun trauma but also about not helping mentally ill people. Mr. Policeman is the only one getting burned (aside from Rose - ayo), the only one trying to help her. Her sister Holly is cartoonish levels of evil and narcissistic. She left her little sister with their obviously not well mother, not bothering to look back, resulting in her sister being traumatized and her mother dying. As soon as her sister starts exhibiting similar symptoms, she pushes her away, talking about protecting her family. Bitch that's your SISTER. Holly is basically saying 'You're going to die and I neither care nor am going to call somebody to help you.' What if, and hear me out, Rose killed Holly? There is way to survive the curse as mentioned in the movie: Make someone watch you kill someone and traumatize them to pass on the curse. And then it just gets kind of dropped. The movie could have ended with Rose driving to her sisters place to get to the root of her trauma. Her sister, of course, doesn't like that, but not giving up an opportunity to drag Rose through the mud, relents. They talk, starting of normal but getting louder and more frustrated as they start throwing out accusations. One shoves the other, they don't know who started it but they start to tussle. Holly hits her head and lays on the ground dazed and either trough desperation, anger or the curse taunting her trough her sister, Rose bludgeons Holly to death. The camera turns to show Holly's son watching. (You could even throw in the horror movie staple of 'Mom?'). Rose sits on her dead sisters torso, bloody, looking on in disbelief. No music, no ambiance, just her heavy breathing. Cut to black. (You could once again change it to the generic 'screaming with echo cut to black' ending.) This would change the entire message of the movie. Rose never got the closure she needed, resulting in her resenting her sister and blowing up. Holly, trying to outrun her own trauma by throwing everyone else under the bus, pays the price with her life while passing the curse of their trauma - get it? - onto her son. The message would be that trauma can't be outrun so you're fucked, but more along the lines of 'If it can't be outrun, you need to confront it.'

[@JoetheDilo1917]

If you have to "turn your brain off" to enjoy a movie, it's a bad movie.

[@thefairybug40]

See, I always just avoided Smile because it seemed like 1) cheap jumpscare horror, and 2) gross-out horror in psychological horror's clothing. But damn, this is worse.

[@birchwwolf]

i have a feeling the "turn your brain off" crowd honestly think that something dubbed "entertainment" will always be a fun, easy watch because entertainment, to them, is simply fluff to pass the time that will make you feel good; and if it doesn't do that, it wasn't entertainment. even if someone from that crowd has a favorite film, book or show, i doubt they could articulate why they cherish it; if they can, they betrayed their own mantra since they had to turn their brain on to remember it.

[@spookymcg]

i think you’re probably right about this, at least in a lot of cases

[@Sisren86]

All I see on the internet is praise for this movie and I'm so glad there's someone else that finally feels the same way as me about it.

[@dungleuc759]

Honestly seeing the Internet praising it after watching Jack Saint's video and this just upsetting me more, how could they be so blind to its tone deafness?

[@yayisnotasinger]

Because not everyone, not even a majority of people sit down to watch a movie with a note book a bubble pipe and enough pretensions to cause hernias. You know what I took away from the film? That’s a way that evil can spread that I’ve never heard of before. This demon plays by rules that I’m not privy to. I wonder where it came from. What force from hell may have been it’s origin. I have self game over urges. I think watching a movie and coming to the conclusion the author says “trauma can not be escaped commit self die” just reeks of people looking to be angry about something

[@Sisren86]

@@yayisnotasinger You don't have to look too deep in to the movie. In this case, its just not a very good movie. Its boring, its trite and it has no idea what its message is supposed to be. On a bit of an unrelated note, a big step toward accepting, treating and overcoming certain things is to call them what they are and not mask it in cute nicknames. I won't say the word here out of respect, but "self game over" and "self die" are truly self-defeating phrases when trying to tackle an issue and honestly take more effort to come up with than just saying it.

[@yayisnotasinger]

@@Sisren86 sure you can call it cute. But you’re either being willingly ignorant or you’re just foolish if you think the actual phrase won’t get my comment filtered or deleted.

[@yayisnotasinger]

@@Sisren86 I don’t make the rules. If I say the actual phrase my comment is deleted. Happened trying to respond to you, here’s my second attempt at making KZbin not delete my comment

[@khrysalis0289]

I think Rose not responding to Laura was meant to show the feeling of being frozen, or unable to look away

[@CheqLights]

For sure, and it makes sense to a certain degree. Like, of course, watching someone hurt themselves would bring back memories of Rose's mom. But she's supposed to have gone through specific training and equipped for emergency situations. Which is why watching her not do anything feels frustrating. I still think it's a nice parallel to her not acting to save her mom either.

[@DaniDoyle]

Literally right below this I got a recommendation for "Smile is a horrir masterpiece" which just makes me sad

[@Cheesecaake56]

same

[@cosmicseal7977]

same

[@Leon.K69]

Same 😂

[@Craftomon360]

I actually saw the thumbnail to a video like that before watching this 😂

[@NB-gu9rs]

People merely disagreeing with your opinion of a film makes you sad, because you think your feelings about it are objectively correct and you take offense at other people having other things they enjoy about it? That makes me sad. And disappointed. And a little smirky, because that's not a very sophisticated perspective.

[@nestorarranz3179]

I forgot how LONG the birthday cat glass table thing lasted and i do like the creature when It opens its mouth within mouth face comes out

[@NealaBeala]

For me, the movie felt like one of the "edgy horror stories" that kids would tell at summer camp when i was like 12. Like the whole movie all i hear is some kid trying their best to make the next creepypasta.

[@antoniotugnoli]

finally, a reviewer who points out the way she acts given that she’s a therapist. with her training as a mental health professional, how didn’t she think the extreme way she was acting was going to give those around her good reason to believe she was going crazy and becoming dangerous, especially at the hospital? i’d love to know a therapist’s opinion about the movie and what they’d do differently if they found themselves in the protagonist’s situation

[@snowwhitesawakening]

Thank you for this criticism. I saw this movie at the wrong time in my life, when I was going through a mental health crisis myself and, I did not like the message at the end, it wasn’t just, “the monster wins.” Wrong. It’s not about that, it’s about the main character being gaslit by her fiancé, and how she didn’t escape what happened to her mother. I didn’t like that, but I did think the curse aspect was interesting in the development of the plot. I don’t care for how they portrayed mental health, this could’ve been done better but, once more, it’s handled poorly in its delivery. Thank you for your sharp critique, it’s refreshing.

[@lynnboartsdye1943]

As someone who initially enjoyed the movie on my first watch and has mental health issues this was very interesting to hear. On my first watch while some stuff definitely came off as really dumb like the trailer spoiling scares or the therapist not trying to stop her patient from killing herself, I just saw a lot of what I was dealing with at the time. Friends and family not taking me seriously, traumatic memories playing over and over in my head. I agree that the first final design of the monster was just lame and ugly but when it peeled it’s skin it just gave me the implication that it’s made up of its past victims and being a practical effect just made it even scarier. My interpretation of the ending was more of a cautionary tale than telling people there’s no escaping their demons since she becomes so isolated throughout the movie. “Reach out to your friends and family, seek help” (not that her situation is meant to represent everyones, after all her support system is written to be self centred as opposed to encouraging her to fight this thing) but I think your point on it telling people that there’s no hope still stands. If horror is meant to represent our societal fears I think it makes sense to have a movie that touches on mental health and what happens when we try to ignore whatever we’re dealing with but if the ending tells someone who’s struggling that the monster is right? Then we need a movie that tackles this subject matter with more care.

[@madam-mint]

SPOILER ALERT! I have yet to sit down and watch the film fully, so I am 100% biased and will readily admit that, but I went through the entire synopsis in great detail. I’m also someone with mental health complications myself, so I’m unfairly biased there too. This is simply not my movie, but I’m going to be annoying and run my mouth anyway. They do two things I think are done to death: kill an animal just for the sake of “OH MY GOOOSH YOU MUST BE INSANE YOU MURDERED A SMALL CUTE INNOCENT ANIMAL” which…listen, I get that the demon is meant to isolate you from everyone, and does that by taking advantage of psychotic/antisocial behavior it makes you do, and the fact that people *will* run away rather than help…but REALLY??? And… it’s a downer ending. Which, considering the whole mental health theme and the fact that it’s aiming for realism…really doesn’t send the best message. Like “you can try to confront your trauma, but you’ll still probably traumatize all your loved ones in the process, and will never be the same at best, and maybe off yourself at the worst”. Like…thanks, movie. Tell me something I don’t know.

[@Ipodipadipaidipeed]

Does it need to send a good message though? Like its a horror movie (I'm not saying it's a good one, I think it sucks too there's like one really good shot at the end where the thing eats her but other than that it's ass) but people complaining that it's a poor portrayal of psychosis or whatever like... yeah of course it is this is a not very well made horror film? It doesn't need a happy ending, it doesn't need an accurate portrayal of schizophrenia, whatever. Media should be able to portray things in a variety of lights, not just positive ones. Obviously if the media is then good is a completely separate issue but I think it's annoying when people say something is bad purely because of the way it chooses to portray a mental illness: sometimes people do slip through the cracks and have "bad endings" yknow? I don't think it's bad to have a movie be like "yeah, psychosis is scary and sometimes people with trauma can't overcome it" because that is a factual statement lol

[@malachiluna9777]

​@@IpodipadipaidipeedI mean, it's one thing to have a horror movie with a gloomy ending, but telling people that its better to avoid bothering your friends and family because you'd be a burden to them is fucked up in a way that goes further than "oh the main character died" into bad advice being spewed at the audience.

[@Ipodipadipaidipeed]

@@malachiluna9777 but is it the movie's responsibility to assume you don't know that isolating yourself is bad? Does the director need to premeditate what kinds of people their movie might reach, and what those people might know about psychology?

[@malachiluna9777]

@@Ipodipadipaidipeed I mean, I presume if the director is releasing it to an audience, they'd have to expect that they're reaching an audience, right? Currently, I have no reason to assume that the director believes that isolation is bad in the first place, given what's in the movie.

[@Ipodipadipaidipeed]

@@malachiluna9777 can you not fathom the idea that a person might willingly want to portray a negative choice or way of navigating a horrible situation like what is presented in smile? Why is it so important that it needs a happy ending with accurate and responsible use of therapy/coping mechanisms? Rose's support system sucks and was written to be that way, just like how in real life some people slip through the cracks and succumb to trauma for a variety of reasons.

[@throwback8450]

As someone who has experienced things similar to what happens in the movie and have been told I have a creepy ass smile all my life, this film seems like it was written by a nine year old who thought edgy meant good. It legitimately felt like a group of young children trying to scare each other around a campfire using stories they heard from slightly older children "they opened the gift... AND IT WAS A DEAD CAT!!!!" "...but the scariest part was, SHE was smiling too" shit like that is the entire movie

[@WobblesandBean]

Oh my god, THANK YOU. I thought I was going crazy! Everyone says how good this film is, and I was the only one who thought it was terrible.

[@docsaico]

Thank you so much for this video. I agree so much and as a horror fiend, it really disappoints me that people ~still~ discount horror movies as stupid and bad, period. When people lost it over how good they thought this movie was, I was like, “Why? It’s fine, but it’s not amazing or anything…” Every time they take a short film that’s a decent idea or that’s actually executed reasonably well, and they stretch it into a full movie, it KILLS me. Working as a short doesn’t translate to working as a movie inherently.

[@awkwardyoshi6979]

1:52 Soo... What are the top 20 horror shorts? Come on skeleton man, we gots to know.

[@walkerlocker6126]

It's such a small thing, but I thought that red corded phone she uses during the patient freakout was actually hilarious. Irl employees on a psych unit have this life alert style button they carry at all times. Also how she got so spooked at a catatonic man on a PSYCH UNIT. Overall it was like watching a therapist on her first day in 1962.

[@FacelessPorcelain]

In response to you asking what kind of person would find those scene scary, I found the birthday scene very scary, but I have a very specific fear of, well, of going insane, basically. As a teenager into my young adult years I was very resistant to taking medication because I was afraid it would mess with my head. To this day I've never touched alcohol or smoked anything because I find the idea of the effect it could have on my mind anxiety inducing - I even largely avoid things like coffee and energy drinks. I'm not going to psychoanalyze myself right now, but I'm pretty much the perfect person for that scene. Even as someone who engages with a lot of horror media (movies, books, games), it still got me. But it is basically the same effect as how putting a spider in front of someone with arachnophobia will "get" them. It is a shallow effect, and ultimately the rest of the movie was very blah. Forgettable. The birthday scene is really the only one I can remember with any clarity.

[@violentincantation]

why do people get upset that people watch media and then critique it? like???? idk it's good to have critical takes on media instead of just eating whatever's fed to you. that and like, idk, it's valid to be a hater.

[@Kshahrewa_r]

When I watched this movie I genuinely thought it was a parody of the horror genre. No joke

[@gabewilson8222]

You lost me when you said that it was offensive to you that people enjoyed the movie. Comes across extremely pretentious

[@NB-gu9rs]

Yeah, that's where this kid lost me completely. I also can't trust a reviewer who can't concede a SINGLE success in an entire film. This review is the equivalent of some Karen leaving a one-star review on Yelp because the restaurant didn't make one dish just like her mom used to, so it's "wrong." Karen can't stop at just dinging them one star, so she has to rationalize her irrational anger by finding excuses to hate the decor, service, drinks, and everything else. It just comes across as petulant. I was just not impressed with Connor's tone at all, or with his total unwillingness to engage with the large number of positive reviews of this film. If you're going to try to call a film a total failure, and not sound arrogant, you can't just totally blow off the other side's opinions like he did -- let alone get angry at people for daring not to see his wisdom.

[@ismailozer1]

​@@NB-gu9rsi actually agree with you but i still do think theres logic behind most of his arguments.

[@Galvatronover]

​@@NB-gu9rsThat Karen comparison is false equivalencey because he goes into depth on why he doesn’t like the movie and its flaws. Also you did the exact same thing your claiming he’s doing blowing off his criticism because he doesn’t give credit to his argument

[@esotericka333]

smile made me mad the first time i watched it, too. i have lot of qualms with its premise, which is basically that, ‘ooo mentally ill people are scary and surrounded by demons.’ it’s just SO insulting as someone who actually IS mentally ill and has struggled with it my entire life. at this point, though, it’s such a common trope in mainstream horror films that it’s almost impossible to escape. i’ve gotten to the point in life where the best thing i can do for my own sanity is laugh about it. like yes, smile is BAD. but the second time i watched it, it sure as hell entertained me. i laughed through all the same parts you did. the characters were so insufferable that by the end of the movie, i was rooting for the demon. with regards to the demon itself, i was actually thrilled with the creature design! the main reason i watched it again is because i didn’t finish it the first time and never got to see the demon after it sheds its human ‘costume’. you didn’t touch on this at all while discussing the film’s ending which was little disappointing because i think it’s legitimately one of the movie’s VERY few saving graces. maybe it’s because i’m an artist myself, but i grew up on horror movies that used practical sfx almost exclusively, and it’s given me a serious appreciation for production teams that go out of their way to create monsters like the one in smile instead of resorting to bad, soulless cgi-something you did talk about regarding the original short film. i thought it was creepy as hell and reminiscent of the creature design we see in a lot of analog horror here on YT. in the end, it probably all comes down to personal sensibilities. the first time i watched smile, i was unable to enjoy it at all. i think that had to do with where i was in life at the time. now i’m in a different place and find value in laughing at comically bad movies that take themselves so seriously. clearly, you’re the kind of person who places high value on artistic integrity and that’s a good thing! i hate that the film industry doesn’t take horror seriously at all, too. it’s such a shame because there’s so much masterfully made horror out there that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves! i’m interested to know what your horror favorites are! liked and subscribed.

[@Aiden325]

11:52 so glad you pointed out how fucking stupid this scene is. I wanted to like the movie up until that point but I literally had to pause to laugh my ass off & couldn't get back into it at all for the rest of the runtime 😂

[@mikeleddyphoto]

I loved it! For anyone wanting to hear a contrasting opinion, watch Terror Formed’s video on Smile. This film works for me because of it’s themes, and I especially appreciate how the director wrote the main character to spew therapy language at the struggling patient. The therapist in this film is not supposed to come across as competent. If you’ve been to the point where you feel *that* disconnected from reality, it becomes clear that everyone else, even therapists, don’t get it. Common therapy speak doesn’t help people when they’re that far gone. And I loved the choice to have the therapist be forced to experience the same perspective and understand how she’s been doing her job poorly. I just really loved it as someone who’s struggled deeply with mental health and connecting with others. It spoke on how isolating it is to have no one understand your pain or take it seriously and I’ll always appreciate this film for that

[@josawesome1]

Really? I honestly thought it was really patronizing as someone with complex trauma disorders - and really inaccurate. I mean I’m glad you were able to connect with it (and lowkey the score slaps) but I don’t know, I think there are better horror films about trauma out there.

[@mikeleddyphoto]

@@josawesome1 there are defff better films about trauma, I agree. If we compare it to Hereditary or It Follows or the recent I Saw the TV Glow, it’s clear that Smile doesn’t rub shoulders with them. But it’s still a very satisfying entry for me, simply due to how it portrays the hopelessness a tortured person can feel when they’re told the solutions to their problems are simple talk therapy, or a day out with a friend, or yoga, or mindfulness or whatever. Those suggestions feel like a constant reminder that no one actually understands you or what you need. And that can lead to more anxiety, feeling like you may never receive the level of help you actually require because of that disconnect. That feeling was one of the scariest moments of my life, so I’m guessing that’s why I loved Smile, or at least that aspect of it!!

[@willpenn966]

I watched Smile, and felt it was almost tolerable. But for me, and my enjoyment of Horror, the films are a vehicle for dope ass creature/monster designs. The Thing is one of my favorites because its good for a story and has amazing monster designs and effects. So the horrible film gave me a few seconds of pretty interesting creature design. Still too long.

[@josawesome1]

I also come baring the truly horrifying news that Parker Finn is making a remake of Andrzej Żuławski’s “Possession” This is truly the worst timeline

[@skabbonica]

gdi. I just rewatched Possession in the last few months and it stands up SO well. Combined with the fact that Isabelle Adjani's performance will never be replicated, there is absolutely nothing good that can come of a remake. Leave the classics alone for gods sake.

[@AcidicGumdrops]

Therapists can't prescribe medication. However, the therapist was extremely unethical for ambushing the main character with her bf, and she could have referred her to see a psychiatrist at least.

[@elizabethpemberton8445]

Unless you left it out - and that seems extremely unlikely - there is no excuse for casting a bunch of identical-looking people with the same hair color and style unless identity, doppelgängers, family resemblance, how society promotes bland conformity, etc., are themes being developed. If all of your perfect actors happen to look the same, here are some easy things you can do: 1. Wigs/dyeing/haircut/styling, 2. Glasses, 3. Subtly Color-coding their clothes, 4. Giving them distinctive clothing styles, 5. Regional accents and oh, yeah, 6. writing well.

[@MsBonkers2011]

I’ve enjoyed a lot of your takes on this movie, but some of the takes on the mental health profession are maybe misinformed. A lot of hospitals would not advise a doctor of any kind to approach a patient with a weapon. You’re usually trained to call for help or security if a patient is going to harm themselves or you. At the hospital I work at, there is an alarm on the wall you press, having it be a phone is weird. And it’s weird that they’re in a break like room and not an actual evaluation room where there would absolutely not be anything that could be used as a weapon. It’s also somewhat unclear how far into her profession rose is, so her freezing up could have had more weight if they clarified she was in med school still or this is her first job where she’s actually treating patients alone. As far as her therapist coming to see her, that is completely normal. It would be a lot more unprofessional/dangerous if she was just given medication based on what her husband stated instead of being evaluated in person. I actually think having a mental health professional be the main character could have been interesting if the story was better. Mental health professionals aren’t perfect people, and a lot of them get into the profession because they have suffered themselves and want to spare others.

[@Spicie95]

I was unnerved by the movie, because it ends on the "you will never overcome trauma" message. Then about a week after I watched it, my friend and I went to see Prey for the Devil, which is also quite mediocre, but the fact that it ended on a happy note, with a premise also about trauma, made me enjoy it a lot more. If you're gonna have a hopeless ending, you need to pick the right metaphor.

[@kaibird542]

Dude I am so glad that someone agrees that this movie is trash. Everyone I’ve talked to about it seemed to at least like it, but as someone who has experienced deep episodes of depression and anxiety, this just fell so flat for me. The only part that got a genuine reaction out of me was the scene with the cat and only because I felt bad for THE CAT. I covered my eyes for that scene because it made me nauseous.

[@zkiller6918]

"You can't judge a book by it's cover" Except when the cover gives you a summary of most of the story and plot twists the book has before you open the damn thing.

[@skylarsworld9477]

Got to love how you lied about the ending, especially the monster’s design.

[@jointjunkieslangards]

Would like to see more movie reviews from you. I enjoyed this film a lot, but always appreciate a review that can explain why the reviewer didn't like it themselves.

[@arcticflower7223]

Space Odyssey 100% needs to be watched with your brain off. I wrote an essay on that movie when I was 16 and it's just a long music video.

[@kilianalexander2736]

That short film seems like it would make an good horror short-story if written by a competent writer and given a different ending.

[@swarple]

The way this video starts is funny to me because yes, turning your brain off will make you miss the subtleties, which is exactly why many people do it. I don’t (most of the time). But lots of people just want to watch it and enjoy it at a purely surface level, they couldn’t care less about the themes or character development. Which to be fair, is OK. People are allowed to enjoy media however they want. And some stories are built for an audience like that. Some stories mostly exist for cool fight scenes and don’t really focus on writing deep characters because the audience doesn’t care. They just want to see cool fight scenes, and that’s it. Heck, sometimes you know something isn’t objectively good, but you still unironically enjoy it, and to some extent that does involve turning your brain off just enough to not let the downsides bother you that much. The real problem arises when people tell you that you should turn your brain off. I’m not going to tell you to turn your brain on, so don’t tell me to turn mine off.

[@ihatetwinks99]

i am of the opinion that in a purely practical sense, i know how to beat the smile thing. you get a friend you know you can trust, whom you also have another mutual friend with. you get a bunch of stuff for practical effects, and you take your trusted friend and your secondary friend on a trip to the woods, somewhere isolated. on the way, you and your trusted friend start bickering in front of your secondary friend. small things at first, and then, at the isolated location, you get in a big fight. by this point, you have a blood packet on your neck and your friend has grabbed a knife. they stab you, you fall on the floor, fake blood everywhere, blaaah, dead. you need to sell this. so if this thing passes from person to person by witnessing death (iirc the only man who’d ever survived it had murdered someone in front of a third party), then effectively your secondary friend has witnessed a murder. they’re terrified, and the demon jumps to them. then you get back up, tell them it’s fine, explain everything, and then they’re not traumatized anymore. a little weirded out, probably, but no one’s dead. anyway now the demon has nowhere to go no takes backsies xoxo now it’s gone forever

[@Ipodipadipaidipeed]

Do you actually hate twinks

[@solomonverrico]

I heard something about it being an "allegory" for trauma and I thought "Oh, so it's a 'how do people put on a smile in the face of this crushing existential doom' kinda deal. That's...kind of on the nose, isn't it?" But apparently it's not even that level of "clever".

[@zach4968]

"lol this weirdo wants movies to be good" is such a wild stance to have. What is even happening?

[@Marigold-Ro]

Smile was missed opportunity after missed opportunity. You've got that scene where Rose is sitting right next to the pain scale poster, and I was waiting for all the faces to change to creepy smiles, and it never happened! They could've had so much fun with things in the background. The only thing I liked was the monster -- not the Tall Mother, but the very enthusiastic entity we only saw for a moment. Of course, they probably stole that from another better movie, just like they stole the sister's head flop from Terrified. I was (and still am) so confused by all the people praising this movie to the skies. It's a plodding mess that takes itself way too seriously. I did like Laura Hasn't Slept; same as Night Swim, LHS worked (for me, anyway) in its short "gotcha!" format. Nobody bothered to think up any story scaffolding to support Smile over a longer stretch, so it just collapsed.

[@NatalieDaye]

Honestly when i saw trailers for that truth or dare movie and i saw all the character’s “creepily” smiling, it just made me laugh. Imo all you’d have to do to make these kinds of movies good is just call them comedies

[@WobblesandBean]

It's like the writers saw Aphex Twin and thought that'd be a great premise for a horror film.

[@ReddKnight10]

I suggested to my friends that we go and see this movie when it came out because I had recently rediscovered my love of horror media. I hadn’t seen any trailers, just noticed that it was a horror movie, and was excited to see one in theatres. I genuinely believe the car window jumpscare was amazingly done. You know the main character is very very deep into her own fears but at that point I still believed at least her sister would pull through for her. Watching her walk back down the path to her car and tapping the window actually made me feel relieved, and the jumpscare was very well done and looked good. Then, the shot right after, of the main character sitting in her car, crying to herself, really showed exactly how alone she was. The camera is above her and far away, really effectively making her seem aloof and isolated. It’s a real shame the rest of the movie was just not good at all because that whole scene was so good. Like I really want people to see that scene (not just out of context in a trailer) but I cannot recommend anyone actually watch the movie.

[@adrianguevaracapetillo8707]

Im so on board with your initiall comment about turning your brain off. Suspension of desbelief is not the same as turning off your brain. Giving the movie a chance to show what's possible on the world it's settled in is not the same as excusing everything that happens in it just for the sake of it.

[@so-calledpunk323]

Thank you, I HATED Smile. When seeing Longlegs in theatres last week and seeing the Smile 2 trailer, I was irrationally angry 😂

[@TehCakeIzALie1]

If only these films put half as much effort into the actual films as they did the advertising...

[@spookymcg]

Right!? That’s arguably the most frustrating part. Just put that level of effort and money into your production!

[@Noah-et5ht]

And that's why I pirate all of the movies I watch! No, but seriously, I really enjoyed this video. I wasn't too bothered by Smile, the marketing was a bit meh but I wasn't terribly bored watching it, and that's usually good enough for me. I do understand your point about how people should develop a higher standard for specifically horror movies, and if I had payed to see it, I probably would've been pissed off too. I just really hope the horror space will shift to tell more stories like Ari Aster and Mike Flanagan do. It's genuinely disappointing how most studios seem to think Horror means jumpscares and a story that's been recycled over and over and over and over again (Think Conjuring for example). I hope we'll get more actually interesting stories and characters, and I do think it's going to shift more and more into that direction, but it's gonna take a while to get there fully.

[@pjsmith97]

Considering the channel Into the Depths' video, it really just goes to show how different one person's takeaway of a piece of media can be from another's. Like, that video is titled "A Surprising Horror Masterpiece | Smile | An analysis". Going from that video to this one is giving me such whiplash lol.

[@roll5d100]

oh my god. the monster looks like the killer from "the horribly slow killer with the incredibly inefficient weapon"

[@chelseybrown2334]

20:26 That isn’t the final monster design

[@brodieorr5393]

I'm constantly baffled that people think that asking you to turn your brain off to enjoy something is a compelling rebuttal to criticism

[@rubenhinze7695]

Saying "Just turn off your brain to enjoy the movie" is literally the same as saying "I know its not good, but just pretend it is."

[@daniellehowell4339]

I think there are movies that are thematically weak, but very fun to experience. Or sometimes a movie is pretty good (like tenant) but a few aspects of it fall apart when you think about them too much. I think there is a fine line between turning you brain off and having a healthy level of suspension of disbelief.

[@kingghidorah3006]

Suggested video immediate after this one ended was called "A Surprising Horror Masterpiece" - Smile

[@gabby3036]

17:15 I'm at "Let's talk about the smile now." Which seems like the perfect time to give an example of what I think is a great use of a creepy smile really hitting its mark: The Mandela Catalog. In one of the early videos (it might even be the first one), when an entity has replaced one of the characters in the conversation, their portrait sorta glitches to a menacing grin at the moment their plan is in motion. Now, Night Mind called it out as being goofy and I get why some might feel that way but I've watched numerous videos about The Mandela Catalog (too scaredy-cat to watch it raw) and they all feature that moment and it never fails to get to me. And The Mandela Catalog is full of distorted faces - it's basically the very essence of its conceit. It's also part of the antagonists' personality - the entities tend to have a gleeful approach to their usurpation and enjoy taunting their victims, which adds to the horror because it gives them agency and motivation - they want the victim to suffer and be afraid before they die. Whereas the Smile monster seems to be antagonizing their victims as an obligation while waiting out the timer. The It Follows monster gets away with this because it's presented as if it's acting on instinct - it's not *trying* to be scary up to the point it reaches its victim, it just happens to be. It's inevitable, rather than a motivated actor. But the Smile monster is nebulous in its presentation - does it like fucking with people before it does them in or is it all just a matter of course?

[@nanuqo2006]

Midella Catalogue watch a good analog horror instead

[@gabby3036]

@@nanuqo2006 I've watched them all (well, I've watched *videos* about them all; again, I'm too scaredy-cat to watch them directly) and Mandela Catalog is one of the few that genuinely scared me.

[@gabby3036]

@@nanuqo2006 Seriously, if you've got a "good analog horror" suggestion I haven't come across, I'd be real interested in hearing it - pickins for me are quite slim these days. I had high hopes for The Boiled One but that concept fizzled out for me pretty hard. I mean, horror is subjective. I imagine Mandela Catalogue (jeez, why do I have such a weird time spelling that word?) fucks with me so hard because it reminds me of stuff I've experienced in my night terrors. They didn't go away as I grew up like they're supposed to so that concept really hits the right notes with me. Ya know, shit like "censored body of a mother who took her own life at the realization of her missing baby being puppeteered by an unseen entity in front of the security cameras" with the added kicker of "Threat Level: Evident" in the bottom right of the feed just kicks me in the gut. Greylock sorta brought those same feelings to the fore but I'd say The Walten Files is probably the one I'm most excited to see its continuation - not just for the scares but also because the story is so good and has some serious staying power. And Mandela Catalogue kinda seems to have that same mystery element to keep it going beyond just the freaky-deaky. So when you say "good", I guess I'm looking for scary that doesn't just peter out once the source of the horror is revealed.

[@Leon.K69]

​@@gabby3036 pls watch chainmail chasers and lacy games pls pls

[@nanuqo2006]

@@gabby3036 I like Vita Carnis and Local58

[@thefoolonthehill9756]

I remember when I watched this movie, I felt like I was wrong for not liking it because it seemed like everyone else did.

[@ShowWithNoName]

You and I clearly have different thresholds for what amount of camp is acceptable in an otherwise serious horror movie. I agree that the birthday scene was too dramatic and too cookie cutter, but other scenes you were critical of I thought were good.

[@Razuberri]

I wanted to like this movie, but it kept making the worst choices at every turn. Like, a demon that locks onto your trauma could’ve opened a lot of cool introspection, but instead they went for ~spectacle~. Every should do themselves a favor and just want It Follows instead, it’s better in literally every way.

[@spookymcg]

Yeah! I didn’t mention this in the video, but a demon that’s torture (or whatever) is based on the victim’s personal trauma is actually a great concept! It just needs to be explored thoughtfully and truthfully, which is what we were missing here.

[@SpecialInterestShow]

Someone: "maybe you'd enjoy it if you weren't analyzing it" Me: "bro do you mean THINKING?"

[@tobymcdonald7817]

I remember watching this at home. Usually horror movies keep my attention, but this one I just could not focus.

[@RoxanneSturgis]

The writer saw the cover of an Aphex Twin album and was like "i can make a horror movie out of this"

[@aria5614]

My general take is if I've seen an ad for a movie 50+ times to assume its a cash in and wait for the reviews to come out. I was actually surprised when Happy Death Day was good.

[@ricardofernandes9207]

So if Rose closed her eyes, could "Smile" still be after her? Technically she didn't watch her die so... maybe?

[@josawesome1]

You see, in order to stay away from those scary crazies with trauma you have to completely ignore their cries for help and act like they don’t exist! (I’m being sarcastic but like still, Jesus Christ)

[@sunnyquinn3888]

You mentioned that many horror movies today are "soulless". What would you consider an example of a horror movie that has a "soul"?

[@skelebonez1349]

Tbh I feel something that has and doesn’t have soul in a horror movie let alone any kind is such a subjective thing. It all depends on how you personally feel on it. Me personally I dug smile, but also think something more like say… Long legs with its style is somethin I love even more

[@NB-gu9rs]

"The ones that I liked."

[@iamgar6age]

Probably the one that stays with you, make you question some aspects of life, probably something like Martyrs, Antichrist, mother, the thing, prince of darkness, in the mouth of madness, possession, possum, funny games.

[@SherryNiles1312]

The lighthouse , the witch , hereditary, CLIMAX , susperia (both old and new ) , Midnight mass, fall of the house of usher, the wailing , I saw the devil , I can go on but that’s enough .

[@toaofanimation]

TBH, the birthday party scene was VERY close to being a good scene, if it was in a different film. A lot of elements at play that are genuinely upsetting in the right context. The death of a beloved pet, having ostensibly done something with no memory of it, having a breakdown in the middle of a crowd of people… The thing that ruins it? The damn smile. If the smiling woman just hadn’t shown up, it would have been a much better scene. Well, that and if the cat hadn’t looked so incredibly fake. When the kid’s holding it, there’s no sense of weight, and IDK whether or not it was CGI, but it LOOKED like CGI.

[@SirRabbitKinz]

11:26 - Yes! I was waiting to see if you would compare it to "It Follows" I love that movie so much. I remember watching Smile and thinking that it was just copying "It Follows". I honestly forgot that Smile exsisted for a while because it made such a small impression on me.

[@maynardo4237]

Finally someone who hates this movie as much as I do. I've seen so many people who think this movie is amazing and I don't get it. The acting is super forced, none of the characters are relatable, and the monster being an allegory for trauma fell flat. It seemed less like of an important theme to the story and more of a afterthought put in there to make the movie seem like it has any sort of depth, but it is so poorly executed and barely impacts the plot in any significant way.

[@MidgetMaster789]

Should rename this SMILE Makes me FROWN

[@vyperose]

ugh finally, i feel like i hear so much praise for this stupid movie and i felt like i was the only one who absolutely hated it. im so sick of this generic corny movies watering down the horror genre into pure cash grab slop

[@sushimaster29]

It's reeks of "made for blockbuster" horror movie (as far as a horror movie CAN be a blockbuster). It's just written so flatly that every part of it falls apart (premise, plot, characters, etc.). It's a jumpscare horror based off "woah! wasn't that scary?" without actually providing enough tension. The fact the movie had the audacity to "plot twist" itself in the end is so patronizingly *pat on on the back knudge knudge wink wink* because it subserverted the Trauma as an Allegory trope. This movie offers nothing new, unique or interesting enough.

[@bornon4134]

okay okay here me out: the story is tweaked so that the main character is a comedian and it becomes a commentary on being a woman in the entertainment industry

[@SirLopi666]

I remember liking Smile quite a bit, because I tend to enjoy movies that make me anxious and uncomfortable in the same way a lot of the people in the comments are (very understandably) angry that it made them feel. I often really like media that's extremely flawed but has some really good elements, and I don't appreciate the implication that I'm personally destroying the horror industry because of that

[@kenzie7438]

i remember watching this movie alone, and ending up feeling some odd combination of rage and sadness, and advising any of my horror movie enjoying friends to avoid it. the whole ending of "Oh you are facing down the things that have hurt you and continue to hurt you and those around you? Something that is deeply relatable to many mentally ill people and ESPECIALLY those have struggled with su*cidality? that sucks because the trauma demon always wins." is an awful, awful message.

[@Avocattle]

I never watched this movie cause giant fake unnatural smiles are like so freaky to me