The new horror movie Smile appeared in theaters on Friday, September 30th. With this being one of the first movies of the spooky season, some reviews and moviegoers have found this one of the scariest movies in a long time. 

“This was the first time I saw a horror movie in a movie theater, and I think it was just scarier. Being in a dark room where everyone is equally as scared as you definitely made it scarier,” said Anusha Shelatkar (‘26). 

In the movie, Dr. Rose Cotter experiences some traumatic events that lead to her having hallucinations that she cannot explain. She must go back into her past to figure out why and what is happening to her and face the fact that this is her new reality. 

“The reason I love horror movies so much is because they build on a simple formula, and a simple basic human feeling. They don’t try to do all of these crazy, complex things. Everything is really straightforward and clear and still good,” said Drama Teacher Kyle Johnston. 

Bringing in 22 million dollars in just less than a week, box office sales are continuing to skyrocket as people are intrigued by the deceiving title and attempting to get into the spooky spirit. 

“When I went to go see the movie, I was not expecting it to be as scary as it was. The title made me think that it was going to be more creepy rather than really scary,” said Dante Solari (‘24). 

Smile will be in theaters all throughout the month of October at both The Regal movie theater in Dublin and the Livermore 13 Cinema in Livermore. Smile shows us that everything has a negative side, even if it’s not always obvious. 

“I haven’t seen Smile yet, but I am really excited to go see it this weekend. It looks like it is right up my alley, and I love horror movies. On top of that, going back to that basic human expression of smiling and taking it and flipping it in this way, that is terrifying,” said Johnston.