Kylie Bienkowski

The movie “Smile” encapsulates all the good qualities of a horror film like jump scares, gore, and heavy suspense while also bringing in real life topics of mental health. In my opinion, there should have been some type of warning in the beginning about the heaviness of topics that this movie would entail as it covers scenes of suicide and other mental health issues which may be triggering for some. However, besides that, “Smile” was a deeply and well thought out horror movie. There were many jump scare scenes with each one being more suspenseful than the last. The movie kept the audience on the edge of their seats as you genuinely never knew what was going to happen next. “Smile” also uses the technique of showing scenes of what is happening in the main character’s head and what she is imagining/seeing which leaves the audience confused in a good way on what is actually happening in real life (in the movie) as opposed to what is just happening in the main character’s head. The shots of the movie was each well done too as they helped add suspense to the film. There would be a medium-angle shot that jumps to a close up shot that helps add to the jump scares. Each actor was perfect for their role and that is also what made the movie into what it was. Overall, I would highly suggest this movie to anyone who enjoys horror movies and thrillers. I will warn by saying that there are heavy topics of mental health issues, trauma, and suicide included in the movie so that is definitely something for everyone to be aware of before deciding to watch this movie.