brake alert: Don’t read if you haven’t seen the song “Smile” now playing in theaters.
“Do you want to talk about grief and shock?”
Paramount horror movie “Smile” has upset audiences with violent death scenes, unsettling smiles and a hideous beast, but star Suzy Bacon speaks to diverse after its issuance. The film killed off at the domestic box office, opening with a frighteningly good $22 million and dropping just 18% to $17.6 million in its second weekend—more than enough to repeat the #1 performance at the top of the charts.
Bacon plays psychiatrist Dr. Rose Cotter, who witnesses the suicide of one of her patients right before her eyes. The shocking death causes a domino effect that transmits a curse on Rose, who begins to hallucinate people with spooky smiles everywhere she looks. After investigating a string of past suicides, Rose learns that she is doomed to kill herself in front of someone else, which will transfer the curse to that person. Or she can kill an innocent person and be freed from the grip of the dreadful beast of grief.
In the end, Rose goes to her childhood home to confront her unresolved trauma regarding her mother’s death, hoping to defeat the monster. There, she fights a giant, deformed version of her mother and sets the house on fire, before driving to her former home Joel (Kyle Galner) for safety. However, once she’s at Joel’s house and appears to be demon-free, Rose realizes it’s another hallucination and is actually still in her childhood home. The beast of grief rips his skin off, revealing his horrific and true form, then opens Rose’s mouth, crawling inside. Rose, who is entirely possessed by the devil, douses herself in gasoline and sets herself on fire – just as the real Joel explodes inside her house and witnesses her death, becoming the next victim.
Very dark things! with diverseBacon explains how she explains the very unhappy ending, whether or not Rose kills her cat, Mustache at her nephew’s birthday party, and what her parents, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, think of the film.
Why do you think “smile” is associated with people?
It’s as if people were deeply surprised by this, because they might have been expecting more of a full jump. I think people appreciate it for making realistic movies. I would definitely recommend people who are in big shock not to see it. A few people said they close their eyes most of the time, so they don’t really know what’s going on. I have some close people in my life who won’t see it. As an entire community, we are for the first time dealing with this fear that people are just random dangerous strangers, because of COVID. It’s viral – you can catch it and everyone feels it. I think that’s one of the similarities you can draw. Maybe it’s also that people like to talk about trauma now. Younger generations are more aware of their feelings. It is something that people have a lot more than before. Maybe that’s why.
How do you explain the bleak ending of the film?
I don’t think I would if it had a happy ending. That would have been very unsatisfactory for me. It was very dark. For it to be okay, it could have been sad. The positive part is that she didn’t go for the option where she had to hurt someone else. She really had no control over it. I think this is very straightforward. A lot of times people really do their best and do everything they can, but they have no control over the outcome. I tried to defeat it, which I think is really powerful. But it was sad that she ended up passing it on to the only person who really cared about her. Yes, it’s tragic, but I think he says that sometimes, even if we try and do everything, trauma can overcome us.
How did you film the scene you set on fire?
It was water. All of these influences were practical, which made it easy to do those sinister scenes. When we set fire to the house, we set the house on fire. It’s not like anything was fake; The beast was a beast. It was water, then we lit a match and it was in this old space which was really dark. It was actually quite scary! They built a doll for me when I actually opened my face. I didn’t watch the doll go through because I was really tired and took a nap. It was the only scene for me, when the doll was playing by myself.
How did you get out of this dark mindset when you weren’t photographing?
It took me some time. It’s hard to separate when something is so dark and I didn’t realize it. It’s not just dark, it’s how much I had to work and how much I have to be in that state. Usually you have some fun and light scenes, but that really didn’t have it. The amount of hours he spent in such a state has an effect, but I tried to leave after filming. I came home, and reconnected myself a little.
Do you think Rose actually killed Mustache, her cat?
I was living inside her head, so I don’t think she did. It would be hard for me to imagine thinking she would do something so horrible. I just don’t think she would, because she does everything in her power not to hurt anyone. I have a lot of animals, so if I didn’t know where my animals were – oh my God, I would have nightmares about that.
Smiles are supposed to be cute things, but why do you think they’re used as effectively as horrors here?
It’s a facial expression we encounter constantly and is supposed to be a happy expression. It is a beautiful iconic image to have a distorted fake smile. If we do not perceive truth as a value, a smile can turn into something scary.
What did your parents think of the movie?
They hated it, and they think I’m terrible – I’m just kidding. They loved this. They are very proud. But they think it’s annoying to watch.
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