# Smile (2022 film)
**Smile** is a 2022 American psychological horror film written and directed by Parker Finn in his feature directorial debut, based on his own 2020 short film *Laura Hasn't Slept*. [Sosie Bacon](https://www.edgepedia.org/sosie-bacon) stars as Dr. Rose Cotter, a psychiatrist who, after witnessing a patient's gruesome suicide, becomes stalked by a malevolent, smiling entity and must confront her troubling past to survive.[1](https://smile.fandom.com/wiki/Smile_%282022_film%29) • [2](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/laura-hasnt-slept-watch-short-film-that-inspired-smile) • [3](https://paramountglobalcontent.com/title/smile) Originally intended for streaming, Paramount pivoted and released the film theatrically on September 30, 2022; it became a sleeper hit, earning about $217 million worldwide against a $17 million budget.[4](https://apnews.com/article/5ea3e6106c9714fb24ca6fe10765332c)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Parker Finn, his feature directorial debut, adapted from his 2020 short *Laura Hasn't Slept*[1](https://smile.fandom.com/wiki/Smile_%282022_film%29) • [2](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/laura-hasnt-slept-watch-short-film-that-inspired-smile) |
| Release | Theatrical premiere September 30, 2022, distributed by Paramount Pictures; rated R, runtime 1h 56m[3](https://paramountglobalcontent.com/title/smile) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smile_2022) |
| Lead cast | Sosie Bacon as Dr. Rose Cotter, with Kyle Gallner as Joel, Jessie T. Usher as Trevor, Caitlin Stasey as Laura, Kal Penn, Judy Reyes, and Rob Morgan[3](https://paramountglobalcontent.com/title/smile) |
| Box office | About $217 million worldwide against a $17 million budget[4](https://apnews.com/article/5ea3e6106c9714fb24ca6fe10765332c) |
| Critical scores | 79% Tomatometer (195 reviews) and 77% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; Metascore 68 on Metacritic[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smile_2022) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/smile-2022/critic-reviews/) |
| Key crew | Music by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, cinematography by Charlie Sarroff, editing by Elliot Greenberg; produced by Temple Hill[7](https://movie.guru/smile-movie-review) • [3](https://paramountglobalcontent.com/title/smile) |
| Sequel | *Smile 2* (2024), written and directed by Finn, opened at $23 million[4](https://apnews.com/article/5ea3e6106c9714fb24ca6fe10765332c) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and premise
The film opens with a prologue showing Rose as a ten-year-old girl discovering her mother dead of an overdose, the primal scene of her trauma.[8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/smile-turn-that-frown-inside-out) As an adult, Rose meets a new patient, Laura Weaver ([Caitlin Stasey](https://www.edgepedia.org/caitlin-stasey)), who days earlier witnessed her art history professor's suicide and now claims persecution by a malevolently grinning, body-swapping entity that nobody else sees. Laura kills herself in front of Rose while smiling grotesquely, and the entity attaches itself to Rose, telling her she will die next.[8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/smile-turn-that-frown-inside-out) • [9](https://time.com/6218905/smile-ending-explained/)
Rose begins seeing the smiling figure everywhere, and the film keeps two explanations in play: a supernatural curse passed from witness to witness, or an overworked professional succumbing to guilt and post-traumatic stress rooted in childhood.[8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/smile-turn-that-frown-inside-out) The curse follows a pass-it-on logic in the tradition of Hideo Nakata's *[Ring](https://www.edgepedia.org/ring-film)* (1998) and the *Final Destination* franchise: a victim who has seen someone die can transfer the doom to another person by killing themselves in front of a witness.[8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/smile-turn-that-frown-inside-out) • [9](https://time.com/6218905/smile-ending-explained/) The film does not end happily; Finn described the ending as intended to be poignant rather than redemptive.[9](https://time.com/6218905/smile-ending-explained/)
## Origin and production
**From short to feature.** Finn made the 10-minute short *Laura Hasn't Slept* in 2020, focusing on a young woman (also played by Stasey) losing her grip on reality and becoming trapped in her dreams. Paramount released the short publicly in late 2022, and it functions as a prequel of sorts: Laura is the character who carries the curse into the feature and passes it to Rose.[2](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/laura-hasnt-slept-watch-short-film-that-inspired-smile) Finn has said the short does not tell the same story as *Smile* but that pieces of its DNA are threaded through the feature.[1](https://smile.fandom.com/wiki/Smile_%282022_film%29)
Finn began writing the film in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on fears of an "indescribable thing that could be coming for me" and wanting the pass-it-on horror to feel like an escalating nightmare exploring the rippling effects of trauma. He has cited the cursed-chain films of his youth, particularly *The Ring* (2002), as a formative influence, and has said the film is not intended as a definitive commentary on grief, anxiety, or trauma.[10](https://time.com/6218902/smile-horror-movies-the-ring/)
**The smile.** Finn told the actors playing the smiling figures that he wanted "dead eyes that do not match an incredibly uncomfortable wide tooth-bearing smile," meant to feel predatory in nature. He deliberately declined to name or define the entity, reasoning that the unknown is scarier than a revealed monster.[11](https://www.horrorcult.net/Files/movies/Detail_10791.htm)
## Release and box office
*Smile* was originally slated for [Paramount+](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount) streaming, but Paramount moved it to a theatrical release in the fall of 2022.[4](https://apnews.com/article/5ea3e6106c9714fb24ca6fe10765332c) The theatrical gamble paid off: the film earned about $217 million worldwide on a $17 million budget, becoming one of the biggest theatrical successes of the year.[4](https://apnews.com/article/5ea3e6106c9714fb24ca6fe10765332c) • [12](https://time.com/7093800/smile-2-explained/) Its box office legs were exceptional for a horror film: revenues dropped just 18% in the second weekend, the strongest retention among 2022's wide releases and the second strongest for the horror or thriller genre, trailing only *Get Out* (2017).[11](https://www.horrorcult.net/Files/movies/Detail_10791.htm) The film later streamed on Paramount+ and was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K [Ultra HD Blu-ray](https://www.edgepedia.org/ultra-hd-blu-ray) in the UK from December 26, 2022.[1](https://smile.fandom.com/wiki/Smile_%282022_film%29)
The film's marketing leaned heavily on the smile image, including a TikTok effect and the tagline "Once you see it, it's too late."[13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcDK7lkzzsU)
## Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 79% Tomatometer from 195 reviews, with a critics consensus citing "deeply creepy visuals and a standout Sosie Bacon" elevating the film's "unsettling exploration of trauma"; the audience Popcornmeter stands at 77% from more than 2,500 verified ratings.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smile_2022) On Metacritic it scored 68 from 32 critics, with 25 positive, 6 mixed, and 1 negative review, a rating the site labels "Generally Favorable."[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/smile-2022/critic-reviews/)
Reviewers repeatedly praised the craft while noting the familiarity of the premise. The *New York Times* called it "a relentlessly somber, precision-tooled picture" that turns "our most recognizable sign of pleasure into a terrifying rictus of pain."[14](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smile_2022?cmp=TWRT_Movie_Smile_CF) [Sight and Sound](https://www.edgepedia.org/sight-and-sound) judged that the film "fails to bring anything new" to the deadline-driven curse subgenre but that Sarroff's fluid, canted camerawork, Tapia de Veer's unhinged score, and Bacon's nuanced performance keep the viewer rattled throughout.[8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/smile-turn-that-frown-inside-out) The Guardian described the movie as "a shard of comic and cosmic spite" in which the image of the malign smile carries force.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/smile-2022/critic-reviews/) Common criticisms targeted predictability and a derivative script; Collider found the film predictable from the first minute but an enjoyable, well-plotted ride, and one Vulture review argued the film was often one act ahead of the audience and discarded its visual principles late.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/smile-2022/critic-reviews/) • [14](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smile_2022?cmp=TWRT_Movie_Smile_CF)
## Legacy and sequel
A sequel, *[Smile 2](https://www.edgepedia.org/smile-2)*, written and directed by Finn and starring [Naomi Scott](https://www.edgepedia.org/naomi-scott) as a pop star, opened in October 2024 with a larger budget and a theatrical commitment from the start, taking $23 million in its first domestic weekend, slightly above the first film's $22.6 million opening.[4](https://apnews.com/article/5ea3e6106c9714fb24ca6fe10765332c)
The film is also frequently grouped with 2022's wave of trauma-centered horror. A USC Annenberg study of mental health depiction in popular films noted *Smile* among 2022 releases implying a suicide on screen, and a scholarly survey of horror cited *Smile* and *M3GAN* as the year's original horror movies with exceptionally large cultural impact in box office, critical reception, and social media presence.[15](https://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii-mental-health-2023-06-28.pdf) • [16](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/15365042241252132)
## References
1. [Smile (2022 film), Smile Wiki](https://smile.fandom.com/wiki/Smile_%282022_film%29)
2. ['Laura Hasn't Slept': Watch the short film that inspired 'Smile', SYFY WIRE](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/laura-hasnt-slept-watch-short-film-that-inspired-smile)
3. [Smile, Paramount Global Content](https://paramountglobalcontent.com/title/smile)
4. ['Smile 2' grinning to No. 1 at box office while 'Anora' glitters in limited release, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/5ea3e6106c9714fb24ca6fe10765332c)
5. [Smile (2022), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smile_2022)
6. [Smile critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/smile-2022/critic-reviews/)
7. [Smile (2022), movie.guru](https://movie.guru/smile-movie-review)
8. [Smile review: turn that frown inside-out, Sight and Sound (BFI)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/smile-turn-that-frown-inside-out)
9. [Breaking Down the End of Smile, TIME](https://time.com/6218905/smile-ending-explained/)
10. [How Smile Is a Love Letter to The Ring, TIME](https://time.com/6218902/smile-horror-movies-the-ring/)
11. [Smile [2022], HorrorCult Films](https://www.horrorcult.net/Files/movies/Detail_10791.htm)
12. [How Smile 2's Fame-Fueled Nightmare Levels Up the Franchise, TIME](https://time.com/7093800/smile-2-explained/)
13. [Smile | Official Trailer (2022 Movie), Paramount Pictures on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcDK7lkzzsU)
14. [Smile (2022) critic reviews and where to watch, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smile_2022?cmp=TWRT_Movie_Smile_CF)
15. [Mental Health Conditions Across 300 Popular Films: A Research Update from 2016 to 2022, USC Annenberg](https://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii-mental-health-2023-06-28.pdf)
16. [The New Final Girl Shares Her Trauma, SAGE Journals](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/15365042241252132)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Supernatural horror films › 2020s supernatural horror films › Titles M to Y*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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