If there’s one thing that we need to learn to be paranoid about in 2022, it’s people smiling at us. We’ve spent years cooped up, forgetting how to politely ask someone to move out of the way so we can reach the alcoholic fizzy water, so why not just send our antisocial vibes right over the edge? We’re already practically running away from strangers being nice to us, so Smile is all set to send us back indoors for another year.
As the official synopsis states:
“After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can’t explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.”
It’s like It Follows with joyful grins instead of slow-moving old ladies, and the final shot of the trailer really points its bloody bat at the bleachers. The film was written and directed by Parker Finn, who made a splash with another therapy-based terror — Laura Hasn’t Slept — as part of the Telluride Shorts program. The happy-faced horror also features Jessie T. Usher, Kal Penn, Rob Morgan, and Kyle Gallner. It hits theaters on September 30th, but it will likely be available to stream on Paramount+ in time for Halloween.