10 Horror Movies With Terrible Concepts But AMAZING Execution
2. Smile
The marketing for Smile did a frankly horrible job of selling it as anything other than another braindead high-concept horror flick in the vein of Blumhouse's Truth or Dare. And admittedly, the concept sure is daft - a trauma demon spreads a curse by killing its intended victim while forcing them to wear a massive smile, in turn passing the curse on to whoever witnesses the death.
It's incredibly easy to picture a deeply terrible rendition of this movie, yet credit to debuting filmmaker Parker Finn, who basically delivered a best-case scenario for this type of story.
From the tight visuals to the unsettling atmosphere and surprisingly nuanced approach to its central theme of trauma, Smile has far more on its mind than merely serving up gory thrills. Abetted by a strong lead performance from Sosie Bacon - yes, daughter of Kevin - this remains one of the most pleasantly surprising, can't-believe-it-wasn't-schlock horror flicks of the last few years.