If watching the trailer for first-time feature director Parker Finn’s Smile evokes memories of a particularly disturbing videotape from an, at the time, unknown movie that had the casual horror filmgoing fan cowering their eyes behind their hands for the better part of two hours, it’s because it’s supposed to. I’m referring to, of course, the 2002 classic The Ring, and the comparison I’m making is the phone call the watcher receives after watching the videotape that tells them they have seven days to live. Likewise, the trailer for Smile informs us that when the viewer sees “it” (what “it” is, we are uncertain), they will soon die. While there are both similarities and differences between the two films, what is certain is that The Ring generated $129 million domestically at the box office, which Finn would gladly like to duplicate.
Category Archives: Horror
Barbarian (2022)
The most important advice from the various reviews I read about Barbarian, Zach Cregger’s (Miss March) first stab (pun intended) in the horror genre, was to know as little about the film as possible before watching it. As many of the reviewers I respect mention this in the early parts of their reviews, I will do the same. If you need some assurances before making a decision, watch the first part of the trailer. If you have enough data to decide, cut off the trailer.
Beast (2022)
What was that 2022-released movie about some terrifying, highly intelligent entity that identified and hunted its targets in a way that was anything but human? It might have been called Prey. Wait, maybe it was called Beast. Correct. Both movies (each with an equally unmemorable name) revolved loosely around the same premise. The studios of each movie didn’t do each other any favors with what they could have done, if anything, with the release date. Each film is worth a watch, though I wonder if a home viewing would translate to the enjoyment of a theater viewing. Each was designed to be seen on the largest screen possible.
Fall (2022)
I have a weak spot for an “actually could happen” horror film that plays on social phobias that many of us experience. When one of these movies is based on actual events, my interest piques even more. The best example I can give is the 2003 film Open Water, which, despite its poor Rotten Tomatoes audience score (33%), struck a chord with critics (71%). I loved Open Water, but one of the two friends that I went with hated it, saying how frustrated he felt by it. Though “inspired by true events” of a married couple that, through an inaccurate head count by the dive boat crew, were inadvertently left behind in the middle of the ocean during a scuba diving excursion, what we witnessed for the next 80+ minutes was a fictional tale of what may or may not have happened. What we experience with our two leads is the despair of being stranded in shark-infested water until (spoiler…they don’t make it) they are either eaten alive, die of thirst, etc.; what could have happened was they hit collided heads when they each leaped off the dive boat and died instantly. I understand that. It didn’t stop me from being fully engrossed in the film or its first of two sequels.
The Black Phone (2022)
With its first scene set at a little league baseball game in a small town on the outskirts of 1978 Colorado (knowing that some frightful elements will emerge throughout the film), The Black Phone may feel eerily similar to one of your favorite Stephen King novels. And if it does, it should, as the movie is based upon a novel by King’s son, Joe Hill. In addition, director Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) reunites Ethan Hawke for the first time since 2012’s well-received horror Sinister.