10 More Most Shocking Horror Movie Unmaskings

1. Everyone - Smiley

Smiley Movie
Level 10 Films

As horror continued to embrace technology and social media, 2012 brought along Smiley.

Pulling inspiration from chat services and online communities - with a smidge of Candyman and Bloody Mary thrown in - the core premise of Smiley is that the titular killer would emerge behind someone if the person they were speaking to online typed "I did it for the lulz" three times.

In terms of the Smiley figure, their face was designed to look like a deformed emoticon with sown-shut eyes and a carved smile. Once summoned via "lulz", Smiley would proceed to murder whoever had been the focus of their chat partner's typa-typa.

At the centre of this is Caitlin Gerard's Ashley, a college kid whose friends, classmates and even her would-be love interest are all offed in gory fashion by the nefarious presence of Smiley.

When Ashley herself is confronted by Smiley in the film's final act, it's actual multiple Smileys who attack her - which in turn causes Ashley to throw herself from a balcony window to her death.

The biggest shock here isn't even that there's numerous Smileys, but more so it's the fact that it's all of Ashley's 'dead' friends, classmates and would-be love interest who are under the masks. Claiming to be a part of Anonymous, these loons very much did indeed do it for the "lulz" as they aimed to launch the Smiley craze and create copycat killers at college campuses across the country.

After that, the final shots of the film would actually suggest a real Smiley out there, and also show that Ashley survived her purportedly-fatal fall.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.