SMILE

The acting looks like improv night at the Grand Guignol, the jump-scares turn the volume up to eleven and the final act is woefully bland and predictable.

I enjoy a good jump-scare as much as the next person, but when a movie overdoses on them it has the power to annoy me endlessly. That is a big part of the reason why I hated this new horror film so much, I suppose.

True, there are one or two scares that have the desired effect - they certainly made the teenage girls in the row behind me squeal anxiously - but when you know that another gimmicky scare tactic is coming up every 5 minutes or so, the thrills quickly evaporate.

It's not just the jump-scares that turn the volume up to eleven. has one of the most obnoxiously heavy-handed soundtracks in recent memory, while director Parker Finn uses oodles of fancy shots that add zilch to the experience.

And then there's the acting, which looks like improv night at the Grand Guignol, with lead Sosie Bacon (daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick) staking a credible claim that sometimes acting genes count for nothing. Add to this a final act that is woefully bland and predictable, and you should have plenty of reasons to avoid this movie at all costs.

release: 2022

director: Parker Finn

starring: Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, Kal Penn