Smiley Review


Movie: Smiley
By: Maniac E
Date: October 8, 2012

The New Face of Fear

It is not often that a new horror movie icon gets created and with the first screenshots that were released over a year ago Smiley as he's being called got almost an instant fanbase. People were already putting the silent weird looking face guy next to the other silent killers. But no one has seen him in action, finally after some delays we sink our teeth into this upcoming horror movie hit.

This movie is about a girl called Ashley as she goes to her new College while getting over the death of her mother. She meets some new people there including Binder ('Shane Dawson') while at a party and she learns about an urban legend of an online killer that has the nickname "Smiley" who can only be seen on the web and he apparently kills people after they type in "It's all about the lulz" three times. Soon after going to the party Ashley and her flatmate Proxy go online to test it out, with horrific results. After a first attempt Ashley got more and more interested in Smiley and tries it a few more times but then gets the scares of her life as she is being chased by Smiley in every chat session she's in. She becomes paranoid and she starts to think she sees Smiley all over the place and feels that he may be chasing her, but how can that be if he is not real? Have they somehow released him from the internet?

Smiley

I first off need to say I give this movie props for introducing such a bold character as Smiley. He ended up being good with a knife on someone throat, he has some darker corners which aren't shown right away. Meaning there is a lot more to do with the character than just this movie. I expect they want to create some sort of franchise with him since I can see the potential that's laid out now. The movie itself has this great hyped push thanks to the teaser screenshots and promo covers. Unfortunately, Smiley doesn't do the best of efforts to do a real good story line.

Smiley

It is your typical teener slasher movie which means dumb acting, dumb scenes with people doing even dumber things. The chat thing was an okay thing to go by but the plot twist that is around at the end is just well predictable. Like I said the playfield has been set out now it needs to grow further and really let the potential pop. But there are some nice detailed gory stabbing parts so there is some blood in it. Besides that there isn't a whole lot going on except for the paranoia parts which are nicely set up.

Smiley

It is too bad this won't play in any theater here in the Netherlands the sound effects are pretty decent and you get a few (maybe cheap) scares through loud noises and instant pop ups of things but it all adds up in favor of the movie itself. In the end the movie offers a bit too little too less. I would have liked it a lot more if Smiley actually really had more screen time. The actual idea of the film could have been pulled off if it was self-referential or fully absurd, but it's not. Smiley believes in itself and takes its material seriously. This is a shame because the first six minutes are good and it feels like the film is headed in a goofy, yet enjoyable direction.

Smiley

Don't think this movie will please you in the way a Halloween 1 could do. There are too many key parts missing to do that, like the atmosphere and some sort of better backstory to the character. He just pops up when they type the lulz thing three times. I won't spoil the plot twist since that is something people need to watch themselves, but I can tell you that it should have had more Smiley! It's a shame but again it is a nice set up to more and I hope there will be more coming. Smiley as it is presented to us now isn't really putting a smile on my face. I hope they see that it needs more work and hopefully some better acting. A fun ride but be glad they didn't give a two hour movie.


2.5/5




Movie

Smiley

Title

Smiley

Director

Michael J. Gallagher

Country

USA

Year

2012

Cast

Caitlin Gerard, Melanie Papalia and Shane Dawson