Smile

Une version scénaristiquement plus pauvre de It Follows, mais seulement en ce qui concerne l'originalité. Psychologiquement, c'est minutieusement construit, presque de manière procédurale, sans aucun point faible. Très bien filmé techniquement, avec une tension, des moments effrayants très intenses et une brillante conception sonore. Et une excellente nouvelle venue, Sosie Bacon, dans le rôle principal. Le réalisateur Parker Finn va encore nous surprendre. (09/10/2022)

La prochaine fois que je veux vivre une expérience de ce genre, je donnerai les deux cents couronnes du ticket de cinéma au premier SDF venu et lui demanderai de venir chez moi pendant deux heures me faire « bouh ! » toutes les deux minutes. Comme ça, je m’épargne le déplacement jusqu’au ciné, je fais une bonne action et avec l’haleine alcoolisée, je le vivrai même en 4DX ! Sur le plan technique, rien à redire. Les effets sont balèzes et ne se refusent pas ; ils jouent leur rôle horrifique et compensent même l’absence totale d’originalité. Là où j’ai un problème, c’est que les créateurs ont troqué l’ambiance horrifique contre un flot permanent de jump scares à deux balles. Même les transitions entre les scènes sont rapides et reposent sur des effets sonores tonitruants, histoire de marquer le coup. Tout ça me gave et je n’en retire rien de positif. Deux heures gaspillées. (16/10/2022)

Quand Le Cercle rencontre Destination finale et qu'un ingrédient crucial est ajouté, on obtient Smile. Et c'est un sacré bon thriller d'horreur, je crains que ce sourire fou et terrifiant ne hante mes rêves ! (06/04/2023)

Now, if I wanted to laugh at Smile, I'd find reasons to do so, because the criticisms you read about the generic script are true (for example, it borrows not only the premise, but entire scenes from It Follows), and the scene where the main character goes around to her relatives, friends and acquaintances and tries to convince them that she's cursed is written in a funny way. But I decided to be sympathetic to the film, and that's because at a time when a large number of genre films forget the most important thing, i.e. trying to scare the viewer, Smile tries damn hard. It doesn't always work out, but I though about the horror films that have been released in Czech cinemas so far this year, and Smile is by far the most effective in this respect. If the script was polished in terms of the behaviour of the characters and the depth of the topics discussed, it would be satisfying even with undiminished expectations; the craftsmanship is more than solid. But I’ll look the other way and I’ll give it a seven. (30/09/2022)

A surprisingly good little mainstream horror film from a debutant that could be an asset to the genre in the future. I was expecting a flop from Smile after the trailers, one that would end up in the 40-50% range, so the result is very satisfying. It's a combination of It Follows and Truth or Dare, but it takes only the best of both and even surpasses them both in quality. It's got a fine mystery around mysterious suicides and I enjoyed a lot the gradual discovery of what's behind it. The main character slowly starts to get paranoid, ugly things happen to her and her life slowly falls apart. The film has a slower pace at times, especially in the middle, but when it comes to the scares it's honest and effective. There are only a few scares but they work well, the atmosphere can be chilling and I liked the finale where there is a decent amount of creepy shots, and there was actually a bit of violence which I wasn't expecting here at all (when the entity rips the skin off its face I was thrilled). So all in all, a nice surprise, but it won't be quite for teenage girls as it seemed at first glance, they will be laughing most of the time in the cinema. 7/10 (15/10/2022)