![]() The entity is a metaphor for generational trauma - the characters literally note “ this thing feeds on trauma” at one point - so it makes sense that it is not easily exorcised or explained and that Smile never says the monster can be beaten by willpower alone. It is brutally hopeless, but it makes sense in the context of Smile’s story. The entity tricks Rose, overpowers her, climbs inside her, and, once it controls her movements, plasters that signature creepy smile on her face and sets her alight in front of Joel. ![]() In contrast, Smile ends with an unambiguous victory for the villain. Even The Ring features an ending where the heroine manages to overpower the antagonist at least temporarily and secure safety for herself and her son. Truth or Dare features a bleaker ending, but it is also a sillier, campier style of horror movie overall. It Follows does present a disquieting metaphor for STIs and sexual trauma, but it also features a surprisingly hopeful ending wherein the heroine survives and her friends support her through everything. Smile, even more than It Follows, Truth or Dare, and The Ring, is a relentlessly bleak movie. The creature takes the likeness of Rose's loved ones and can appear anywhere, but unlike the teen heroes of It, Smile’s Rose has no one willing to listen to her story and help her, except for Joel, a well-meaning ex-boyfriend who provides some support but proves helpless at crucial junctures. Truth or Dare Similar Movies Evil Dead Rise 04/19/ 7.6/10 The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It 06/03/ 6.3/10 The Boogeyman 06/01/ 6.2/10 The Ritual. Similar to the form-changing Pennywise of Stephen King's It, the entity in Smile can shape-shift. Rose is dismissed wherever she turns and finds that her work as a psychiatric doctor doesn’t make her any less susceptible to Smile’s chilling villain. ![]() Sosie Bacon gives a terrific performance as the harried, constantly tense Rose, who was already overworked and undervalued before Smile’s monstrous entity sought her out and who has no one to turn to when she is faced with mortal peril. It’s like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” crossed with the world’s most convoluted episode of “Gossip Girl.Smile’s curse is undeniably gruesome, yes, but the problem that the heroine faces is that even she - a mental health professional with a stable home life, a committed partner, and supportive colleagues - can’t find any support or help when the curse singles her out. Instead of generating shock and awe, or even a few honest cheap thrills, “Truth or Dare” proceeds as a series of soap-opera revelations about characters we could hardly care less about. Does Olivia (Lucy Hale), the group’s do-gooder and social justice warrior, really love Lucas (Tyler Posey), the philandering boyfriend of her BFF, Markie (Violett Beane), who’s like a decadent sorority version of Kate Hudson? Will Brad (Hayden Szeto) come out to his hard-ass cop father (Tom Choi)? And what will happen when the game forces the future med student Tyson (Nolan Gerard Funk) to reveal that he’s selling illegal prescriptions? What will happen is…not very much. We’re watching ciphers stripped psychologically bare. There are several more dares, but the film is mostly interested in “the truth” - i.e., in forcing its characters to reveal their hidden layers, even though as characters they have no layers. “Truth or Dare,” however, doesn’t build on that tasty morsel of supernatural murder. Not a great scene - but, in its way, a promising one. An early scene pops with just this sort of bubble-gum dread: After some macho posturing, Ronnie (Sam Lerner), the group’s biggest douche, takes a dare to stand on a pool table and show off his “pool cue.” But when he chickens out, failing to parade himself with the proper exhibitionism (i.e., full frontal), he then trips and falls to his death in a relatively satisfying fashion. In theory, this could and should result in a highly sensational B–horror film in which an ever more scandalous series of dares and confessions leads to extravagant set pieces like the ones in the “Final Destination” series. Back on campus, one of our empty/pretty heroines or heroes will be standing in the middle of, say, the university library, and a fellow spring breaker will tilt his or her head down ever so slightly and burst into an evil leering smile that recalls the digitally doctored faces in the classic 1994 video for Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun.” That sick grinning face will then issue the demand of “Truth or dare.” Whichever one of those options the person in question chooses, if they fail to tell the whole truth - or to properly execute the dare - they will not be long for this world.
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