8 Great Horror Villains Trapped In Terrible Movies
7. Smiley - Smiley
Maybe the worst film on this list - and that's saying something, given that it's sat next to four Killjoy movies. Smiley is an Internet meme made real, an urban legend slasher flick about an Internet spook who murders those who those who visit his website (surprisingly not a Tumblr blog). A cross between The Ring and Urban Legend, Michael J. Gallagher's Smiley has a lot of promise but throws it all away on a ridiculous story, unlikeable characters and boring action. And yet it has something truly special in its titular villain, never looking anything less than terrifying throughout. What could have been a modern version of Hellraiser with similarly grisly emoticon faced friends instead turns out to be a sub-Scooby Doo slasher mystery that is far more boring than a film about a man with an emoticon for a face ever should be. The online slasher film has since taken off with (marginally) better results thanks to the likes of Unfriended, The Den and Open Windows, but just looking at Smiley still smarts because of what could have been. Sadface.
A film critic and professional writer of over ten years, Joel Harley has a deep and abiding love of all things horror, Batman and Nicolas Cage. He can be found writing online and in print, all over the Internet and in especially good bookstores.
