October is just around the corner, bringing with it the official countdown to Halloween, but the end of September still has a creepy treat to deliver before the launch of spooky season. The new movie Smile is hitting theaters on Friday following its premiere at Fantastic Fest last week, and the reviews for the feature have made it sound like a freaky, jump scare-filled delight. It has solid buzz going into its opening weekend, and only enhancing it is the opinion of genre legend Stephen King.
Release date: September 30
Cast: Sosie Bacon, Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey, Kal Penn, Robit Weigert, Judy Reyes and Jessie T. Usher
Director: Parker Finn
Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes
Rating: R
The Carrie and The Shining author evidently got to see a screening of the film prior to the theatrical release, and it seems that he is very happy that he did. Taking to his personal Twitter account, King calls Smile a "good, scary horror film," but saves his highest praise for star Sosie Bacon. He refers to her as a "surprise" and notes that she gives "a hell of a performance." You can check out his post below:
SMILE opens this weekend. Good, scary horror film, but the real surprise is Sosie Bacon as Rose. What a hell of a performance.September 27, 2022
Smile is the feature debut of writer/director Parker Finn, who has adapted the film from his 2020 short titled Laura Hasn't Slept. Sosie Bacon stars as Rose Cotter, a doctor who at the start of the film witnesses one of her patients commit suicide after complaining of being haunted by an entity that smiles at her through the faces of people it possesses. In addition to Bacon, the impressive cast of the film also includes Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey, Kal Penn, Robit Weigert, Judy Reyes and Jessie T. Usher.
For those of you who aren't concerned about potential spoilers, you can check out the trailer for Smile below:
When acting as a pop culture critic on social media, Stephen King has primarily used his Twitter account to praise the best things he has seen on the small screen in 2022 – the author commending freshman Showtime series Yellowjackets; calling Apple TV+'s Severance one of the "loopiest, coolest" shows of the year; and dubbing Five Days At Memorial the best limited series of the year. That being said, he did complement Ti West's porno slasher X when it hit theaters in the spring, and in the summer he expressed his excitement for Scott Derrickson's The Black Phone (which is based on a short story by his son, Joe Hill).
Stephen King most definitely keeps his finger on the pulse when it comes to developments in genre fiction, and there is definitely a lot for him to be excited about in the weeks when it comes to upcoming horror movies. As noted, Halloween is almost upon us, and in October we'll be seeing the arrival of exciting titles including David Brucker's Hellraiser, David Gordon Green's Halloween Ends, and John Lee Hancock's Mr. Harrigan's Phone (which is based on Stephen King's 2020 novella of the same name).
You can keep track of all Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV with our handy guide, and you can celebrate all of the projects that already exist with my weekly Adapting Stephen King column (and by building your own Ultimate Stephen King Collection).
