We’re less than a day away from Smile‘s theatrical debut, and it looks to be another homerun for the horror genre in a year that featured the likes of Nope, The Black Phone, Barbarian, and Ti West’s X and Pearl franchise films; we haven’t even gotten to Halloween Ends yet.
But it looks like Smile will be more than enough to keep the horror momentum going for the time being; packed with more jump-scares than you can shake a pogo stick at, to say nothing of the disorienting hellscape of a backdrop dreamed up by directorial debutant Parker Finn, it looks to be one of cinema’s most disturbing guests yet.
Smile stars Sosie Bacon (13 Reasons Why) as Dr. Rose Cotter, a psychiatrist who begins to experience an all-encompassing feeling of terror after witnessing a traumatic event involving one of her patients. With no other way out than to confront her demons, Rose seeks to escape her newfound nightmare before it ultimately claims her.
And it’s Bacon’s performance that elevated the film’s atmosphere both in front of and behind the camera, according to co-stars Kyle Gallner (Scream), and Jessie T. Usher (The Boys).
In an interview with Collider, Gallner remarked how Bacon’s dedication to her work as an actor set an example for the rest of the cast, subsequently encouraging them to bring their own A-game to match Bacon’s.
“Not only did she know her lines, she brought it every take, every day and that, as an actor, makes you want to step up to the plate and rise to the occasion of what your co-star is putting down.”
Usher echoed Gallner’s sentiment, noting that Bacon’s drive for nailing her role was something to be admired.
“Her level of commitment scene by scene, take by take was so impressive. It’s so impressive to watch because eventually you start to see fatigue set in or you start to see a lot of things that we as actors cannot control, but to be able to still stay committed to the role and committed to the scene, committed to the story, to this character and to be real time and time again is very impressive.”
Smile releases to theaters in the United States on Sept. 30.