Ahead of its release, the new horror movie Smile has received a glowing review from celebrated horror author Stephen King. Mare of Easttown alum Sosie Bacon is leading the cast of the film as Dr. Rose Cotter, a psychologist who begin suffering horrific visions and hallucinations after witnessing one of her patients take her life in a horrific fashion, leading to her trying to find the answers behind a terrifying mystery before it's too late. Alongside Bacon, the cast for Smile includes Scream's Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey, The Boys' Jessie T. Usher, Stranger Things' Rob Morgan, Harold & Kumar alum Kal Penn, Big Little Lies' Robin Weigert, and Scrubs' Judy Reyes.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
Development on Smile was first announced in mid-2020, with Parker Finn set to write and direct the adaptation of his own short film. Production wouldn't officially kick off until late 2021, in part to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with the film finally being ready to go by the end of May. Paramount Pictures has been slowly building anticipation for Smile with a mysterious marketing campaign largely keeping the plot under wraps and seeing a variety of actors hired to make appearances on camera at baseball games across the country, and now the film is getting an impressive boost.
On the heels of the film making its Fantastic Fest debut, Stephen King took to Twitter to share his glowing Smile review. The acclaimed author described the new horror movie as a "good, scary horror film," while also highlighting the central performance of Sosie Bacon. Check out King's review below:
Smile Gets Major Vote Of Horror Genre Confidence
Given King's large genre following, his glowing review of Smile is sure to come as a major vote of horror genre confidence going into its wide release. The final Smile trailer released earlier this week was also packed full of early reactions to the film, which have largely celebrated its skin-crawling premise, effective jump scares and generally haunting atmosphere. The first reviews for Smile coming out of its Fantastic Fest premiere have proven similarly favorable, with the horror movie currently sitting at an 81 percent approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with many favorably comparing it to the likes of It Follows and The Ring.
Should the consensus remain positive upon its release, it will be interesting to see how the positive reception and King's glowing Smile review impacts the new horror movie's box office potential. With the controversy-ridden Don't Worry Darling in its second weekend and the only other new major release this week being Billy Eichner's LGBTQ+ rom-com Bros, the film could enjoy a similar box office turnout to the X prequel Pearl, which has already made $6.6 million against its $1 million budget, as well as fellow short horror adaptation Lights Out's major $148 million haul. Only time will tell when Smile hits theaters on Friday.