Hey there, folks. Sit It's Friday night, October twenty fourth. You are looking for a good horror movie to get you in the move for Halloween is just a week away. But we got one for you, and Kevin Bacon's daughter is in it and she is very, very skewy. Welcome everybody to this episode of Amy and TJ. We continue to count down our horror hit list. We are at can you Believe it? Rose? We have made it to number eight and this is one of our newer entries on the list.
We in fact it's new, but there's already a sequel and oh yeah, that was spectacular as well, but we have to stick with the original smile for our number eight on our horror hit list. It was released in twenty twenty two, so three years ago. It's longer. It might be one of the longer or longest movies on our list. It's an hour and fifty six minutes. But I have to tell you it is so entertaining. It lies by. I had no idea that this was a little longer than the others. Usually you can tell.
You can feel I did not. It surprise me as well. This is a two hour horror movie. And those are few and four between.
Actually, there really are not many, because it's hard to keep that kind of suspense going for that long without it getting ridiculous. But this one manages to just strike the perfect balance horror, mystery thriller. And here's the synopsis. After witnessing a bizarre traumatic incident involving a patient, a psychiatrist becomes increasingly convinced she is being threatened by an uncanny entity. Hmmm, does that really give it what it deserves?
I have an alternate down there that kind of starts off the same way. After witnessing a bizarre traumatic incident involving a patient, doctor Rose Cotter starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality. A little more but still vague.
It's vague, And it's so interesting that they don't talk about the smile. The smile about the sinister nature of someone smiling at you but with mal intent, and we all know the difference between the two. And it's the creepiest thing ever. If someone smiles when they're angry, and.
I want to give this person credit. I don't have her name, but when we saw the movie poster for this movie, we knew we were going to see this because it's the young lady on all the movie art who has a very sinister smile on her face, demonic smile, and it is just wonderful. It's so good, it's so great. So this movie did gang busters. It made one hundred and six million dollars domestically at the box office, another one hundred and eleven million at the international box office.
This is a whopping two hundred and seventeen point four million dollars.
That's why there is already been a sequel. I love they knew they had a winner, And honestly, I think after you watch this, you're gonna want to race out and see Smile too, because it picks up right where this one leaves off, which is really cool. I love when horror movies do that. So this is really a fun one two punch. If you love this one, you were going to have a blast with the sequel.
Okay, I don't want to get into the sequel, but the opening sequence of the sequel is so good. Yeah, yeah, sorry, I don't want to give too much away. I'm going ahead of myself. Sorry.
Yes, but the cast, as you mentioned, so Ce Bacon, that is Kevin Bacon and Kiras Sedgwick's daughter, and she is so good in this film. She's so creepy. As you mentioned, Jesse t Usher is in this. Kyle Gellner, you know.
Him and you love everybody, and you know his face and you're go say, where I see him? Where did I see him? He is a great actor. He was in The Strange Darlings, which isn't too far from maybe being on a list as well. He's a hell of an actor.
I feel like in so many of these movies, I know the faces, yes, I just don't necessarily know the names, because I think up until now horror movies just haven't gotten the accolades they deserve, and so maybe the people who unless you were already a star coming into it, you don't necessarily get known. Your face is known, but your name isn't known as much.
But uh director, oh yeah, but I'll saying they elevate these movies with their performances. Know their name or not, like we always say, justin long when we see them. It's just like a warm blanket. Okay, we're gonna be okay, it's so true.
All right. The director is Parker Finn on this. And the Rotten Tomato score actually a little lower than I would have thought, eighty percent, still really really good for Rotten Tomatoes. And the audience score is pretty much in line with the critics at seventy seven percent.
All right. The critic consensus as well, here this is how I guess how do they come up with this? Are they just kind of aggregating they I.
Don't know, but I always like it, and I always feel like it kind of nails it.
So it's kind of a consensus here among the critics. It says deeply creepy visuals and a standout Socy Bacon further elevates smiles on settling exploration of trauma, adding up to the rare feature that satisfyingly expands on a short I didn't know about the short story it came from.
Oh I didn't know that either, but so many of them do. Stephen King a lot of his short stories end up becoming phenomenal movies, so that makes sense. And then the audience consensus, you may need to pay close attention in order to keep up with the story. But fans of slow burning horror should leave smile with a grin. I don't think it was slow burning. I felt like it it picked up pretty quickly.
I didn't think it was hard to keep up with either, but and.
I was scared the whole time with each twist and turn. But yeah, I didn't find it difficult to keep up with.
So I put this negative critic review at the top. I don't know why, but somebody said I did not have fun watching this, relying too much on jump scares and not enough payoff. Huh. I think there's so many scenes in this movie that don't involve jump scares but make your skin crawl. Not because of violence, but I mean email, the birthday party scene. Nobody died in that, but you were so uncomfortable the time the woman comes up to the window. There's no violence involved, but it's scary.
I love the Yes, I mean that is so good. So wait, is this the same negative review? It's formally okay, okay, this is a good one, all right. It's formal technique transforms a film full of cliches into an average story that manages to make an impact at the right moments that seems a little harsh, though it's wow, you started off negative, You're gonna end positive. I'm hoping we'll see all right, smile. It is an intense horror film dealing
with survivor's guilt that exceeds all expectations. By the film's end, I found my palm sweating, something I'd never experienced. I totally get that, But it's funny. I didn't really feel like the film was dealing with survivor's guilt.
Okay, then let's do the next one for you here, the negative one soci began, gives what a film purporting to take trauma seriously deserves. But when the only solution to ridding oneself of specific trauma is to either kill yourself or someone else, just how seriously can we take it beyond it's overload of jump scares?
Wait, I didn't think this was a serious movie about trauma. This is a horror film.
Would people find meaning and storylines? And yes, it's fine, and people look for those things, but they seem to be looking for something serious. But then they don't also realize it's a horror movie. So we have to do a twist. It seemed like everything should have been literal.
Yeah, it's fascinating to me when there's a movie because I'm actually reading these off for the first time. You put this together. I am so surprised because I thought this movie was such a gem. I mean, obviously we put it a number eight, so we loved this movie. It's interesting to hear criticism of it in something I would never have even consider another one. Though the ending may go against the rather spelled out message, the film has plenty of good characters, ideas, and best of all, scares.
I just don't think there was enough love for this movie from the critics.
Well, I mean they're looking for something else of meaning and examining trauma and the way we're supposed to do it and the way you deal with it is not by killing somebody or killing yourself. That's not how we do it. Yeah, we know, because it's a horror movie. I don't know it.
Yeah, that's what I'm doing.
People look for a little different meanings. I put a bunch of critic or excuse me, audience reviews in here for a reason because there were a lot and a lot of good win so I'm gonna blow through them. One here is negative, but I also found it funny. Not enough smiling, way too long between people smiling, creepy smiles.
I could have gotten more smiles. The more they did it, the more I loved it.
I don't know, but they're effective when it happens. Oh, it's great, all right. Smile is an incredibly creepy and overall unsettling horror film. It creates, or it certainly rather has a overall deeper meaning to the story of what happens when someone witnesses the truly horrifying trauma and how it sticks with you throughout your life and eats you up from the inside.
Nope, I never ever considered anything other than something supernatural and scary.
This is one you'll find funny. Simply says, stressful and boring? Can those two things exist? Are you ever sitting around stressed and bored?
No? You can't be both. That's so fun you oxymoron.
You're gonna love this one. Then. Smile presents a gripping psychological horror rooted in dread rather than jump scares. Yet it falters with a weak story foundation and underdeveloped character arcs. While the visuals, sound design and unique camera work, bill suspense, effectively repetitive effects, and a predictable ending slightly dull the impact.
I'm so sorry that Juilliard grad didn't like Smile? What was that? Wow? Have you looked up in the dictionary? Takes yourself too serious? Wait? You just picked all neggetive? Was there any I don't like any good reviews with this. No.
The concept of this movie is impossibly unique.
Which is unique is never good if you if you were going to date somebody and someone said, well, she's unique, that's not a good review of.
Something it is. No, this is this is, folks, what I'm doing with in the house. You don't wait to see the rest. It is impossibly unique, which in itself is a huge reason to be drawn in. If you're a fan of ghosts and haunting type movies, this will absolutely be right up your alley. Christ on sale. It was a compliment another here Smiles the first horror film to truly genuinely scare me.
So yeah, it is scary. I guess it's funny because I do appreciate that somebody at least recognized that this is about ghosts and haunting. I just I think, I think that's great if you found a message about survivor's guilt or grief. But I really do think the whole point was that if she hadn't then been haunted herself,
she probably would have gotten over her patients very disturbing experience. Again, we just I would never have gone there and thought that that was what the movie should have or was supposed to be about.
So why is it on the list for you? Why is this one not just on the list it's in number eight.
It is up there because it scared me in a way that I have not been scared in a while. With that creepy scare. It stays with you, that smile. When I closed my eyes at night, I could see it and it would scare me, like it's hard to get an image like that out of your head. And they just did such a good job of using it effectively where you really did feel like, oh my god, if someone looked at me, if I linger, or if I'm in their presence, I could then catch that demon
or that demonic thing could be anyway. It really creeped me out. So yes, I loved it.
It does I think to the creep factor it I mean, it's a hell of a scenario. The only way you can break this curse is if you got to kill somebody or you have to die and just that idea, right, like one of those impossible scenarios. What do you do? The performances in this are off the charts. Ve got cal Penn shows up again.
He has been showing up in some horror movies.
Another small but very significant role that he plays in this one. And I do love. Yes, there are some deaths and whatnot and some jump scares, but I love that this movie disturbs you without violence. I love that it does freak you out without anybody having to bleed or there are a few.
People who do bleed though, and that's very freaky as well. Yes, I agree.
Well, folks, stay with us here just a second. We'll tell you if this movie is for you, and we'll also tell you if it's not for you. And of course always the drum roll, Excited to see what food and drink pairings Robaka has come up with this time.
Stay here, Welcome back to Amy and TJ, where we are talking about number eight on our Halloween horror hit list. Smile. This is the original twenty twenty two, and this movie stays with you, just a creepy, demonic smile that just ends up being the undoing of everyone who sees it. It's quite the movie, and it was well reviewed, and
it did amazing amazing at the box office. Is now streaming, and if you like it, you can actually keep on watching Smile too, because we actually highly recommend the sequel, which doesn't always happen. So this is a great COMBA waiting for Smile three, though.
I think they've okayed, I really I think they do. I do think a Smile three in the works.
All right, So who is this for? I think we think this is for everybody, as long as if you don't want to get too scared by those images of the creepy smile, you can just cover your eyes for a little while.
Yeah, this is a movie. You don't necessarily want to run out and you're going to be grossed out. But every once in a while it's fun to want to squint or cover your face because something's scaring you just enough. This is a fun experience.
You've seen me doing that all the time. Somehow I feel safer if my hand is in front of my face, even though I can see through my fingers. You just feel protected. But yes, this right, and you say this is for fans of it follows.
Do you remember that horror movie? That horror movie. It's a cult favorite, but yeah, that kind of concept of passing something along to break a curse and yes, time ticking down all that. If you like that kind of concept.
Wait, you just reminded me of one of my favorite horror movies with Denzel Washington and he witnesses an execution and the guy sings, time is on your side, fallen. That's the name of it. It's so good. But it's the same concept. The evil spirit jumps from person to person and oh my god, it's I'd never realized that, but yes, it reminds me of that. Who was it not for.
Yeah, anybody who's kind of creeped out a little easily by ghosts and hauntings and spirits and not necessarily possession. I don't think this is.
There's a little bit of possession.
Though, with this matter of passing this thing along.
I mean it's a possession. Actually it is possession. If this one creeps yet, you're forced to do things you wouldn't ordinarily do in this movie.
It's just the one act, isn't it at the end. Yeah, okay, yeah, we don't want to give too much away who it's not for if you need like a little comedic break, if you need just something to break up the tension. I don't remember a moment this, even cow Penn is not funny.
No, no, yeah, that's a very good point. You might think that that would have been a moment, but it wasn't. This is a horror drama, thriller, it's not. There's no comedy in it. That's a really good point if you're looking for anything, it's not. It's fun in a scary way. Like if getting or being scared is fun to you, which it is to us, then that's how it's fun. Yes, but it's not necessarily a blast exactly. But man, it
leaves you feeling something. I would not watch this alone, and I do think this could be a fun group setting. Certainly would want to be with my significant other for sure.
Wow, okay, we can leave it blank. What is your food here?
It is? I actually did a little thinking on this one. So you're watching smile, so we want to just make sure that we're all good, because you know, you're going to be playing with the person or the people are you're with smiling at them creepily, So you don't want anything staining your teeth or in your teeth. So no red wine completely out. I'd stick with white wine or champagne.
Fine with beer two and then maybe a crue de tape platter with a ranch dip, because celery, carrots, all that are really good for keeping your teeth white and clean and all of that.
I look this up.
It's true. Dentist suggest you eat raw vegetables or raw fruit, but you get into the berries, they could stain your teeth, so stay away from those. A cheese plate is good, and maybe some grapes, and now your teeth are shiny and clean and white and ready to smile.
I don't even know where to begin with you on this one. Let's just go back to that moose crunch popcorn or something, what was it?
Moose crunch popcorn, and we're gonna have some at one point before Halloween.
And I just went back and asked the vine, and I had to say it five times, like what the hell are you talking about? Yes, next movie almost belongs in our classics episode because it's a part of a huge horror franchise that I'm surprised a lot of people still aren't that familiar with.
You know what, that is a very good tease, because I was brought into this frand tries after I started dating you, and I too cannot believe that I had to catch up and missed all of these amazing movies so that, yes, we could enjoy this latest rendition, which is going to be number seven on our list. So thanks for listening everyone. I made me Robock alongside TJ. Holmes.
We'll talk to you soon.