(Credit: Netflix)

Standalone horror isn’t really a thing that exists anymore, with the low-cost and high-reward model of the genre ensuring that in most cases studios are quick to pull the trigger on a sequel. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened to a terrifying tale currently making a major splash on Netflix.

Stretching a short film out to feature length is a tough task that doesn’t always reap rewards, but Parker Finn didn’t seem to face any issues expanding his 11-minute festival favourite Laura Hasn’t Slept into the 117 minutes of Smile.

The short was a high concept tale that finds a woman telling her therapist about a recurring nightmare she’s been having, where a man with a grin etched onto his face is constantly smiling at her. It’s been driving her to the brink of insanity, and she’s ultimately pushed over the edge during a fateful appointment that ends with the forceful removal of her own face.

It definitely wasn’t enough to sustain a movie, but Finn used the basic crux of Laura Hasn’t Slept to inform the opening scene of Smile, setting the stage for the unknown entity that follows. From there, the filmmaker expands the mythology of the mysterious beastie, which has a habit of leaving nothing but death and devastation in its wake.

Second-generation star Sosie Bacon takes point as Rose Cotter, a psychiatric therapist who witnesses one of her patients committing suicide right in front of her. Funnily enough, she’d been telling her doctor about a smiling presence that’s been following her everywhere she goes, and now Rose is the latest to fall victim to the curse.

It’s maybe a touch on the long side at nearly two hours, but Smile nonetheless makes effective use of its central premise. It helps that Bacon’s performance is an excellent one, even if she goes through the majority of established horror protagonist beats, including a loosening grasp on her own sanity and a failure to convince anyone that what she’s seeing is actually real apart from that one guy from her past who also happens to have a crush on her.

Audiences didn’t seem to mind anyway, with Smile soaring to $217 million at the box office, and now it’s striking fear into the hearts of Netflix subscribers everywhere. Since being added to the content library, Finn’s debut film has scared up a storm to become one of the ten most-watched movies in the United Kingdom.

For anyone who wants to see more, fear not, because the sequel is scheduled to hit cinemas in October 2024.