I recently watched Smile and I have to say I was blown away by its take on generational trauma. I haven’t seen a film take that theme on in such a unique way. I was enthralled. I know that It Follows came out a while back with a similar approach and was a huge surprise it. Mostly for how the film was shot in a sort of surreal way. But I never really connected with the central character and the STD theme of promiscuity in the youth. What are your thoughts?
I haven’t seen SMILE yet. My wife isn’t a big horror fan, so I’d usually watch horror stuff with my daughter.
So, I can’t judge.
That said, I was a big fan of IT FOLLOWS specifically for the way it was shot. It had an edgy surreal vibe that felt like I was being physically held back from jumping too deep into the movie. Like their was a layer surrounding the film.
it forced me to lean back to watch it instead of hunching forward into it, and I found myself watching/reacting to the movie differently than I did most horror movies.
You need to watch SMILE! That being said. I have heard a lot of writers discuss the overall surreal and timeless feel of the movie. One thing I know the filmmakers said is that they wanted to film to feel like the characters were trapped in a nightmare which is why everything felt slightly off from the 80’s vibes to the weird Shell E-Reader Phone thing.
That’s why – to me – the visual impact of what we wrote is so important in a script.
I loved Smile, but It Follows stands out more not only as a horror film, but as a commentary on the damage the suburbs had on Detroit and urban decay.
Dug them both. Picking a favorite horror movie is a bit like choosing a favorite child, you love them all in their own ways. Or so I’m told… I don’t have kids of my own. If I did, I’d probably like the one who likes horror movies the best.
That said, “It Follows” got my vote, mostly because it was assigned heads on an impromptu coin flip.
Story wise, they both offer a very interesting take on the theme, and do so in unique-yet-similar ways. If we expand the criteria to Production/Direction, “It Follows” tips the scales for me, the visual language was killer (no pun intended). SMILE hit all the modern notes, and hit them well; IT FOLLOWS feels timeless, not just in the ambiguous time period, but in style. Lots of vintage technique mixed with the modern.
Easy to see the influence “It Follows” had on “Smile.” I’d wager an entire McDonald’s Value Meal that Parker Finn saw It Follows and said to himself: “… hmmm…. that gives me an idea for a short film…”
… Then somebody saw the short and said, “… hmmm… what if this was 90 minutes?…”
Ultimately: “Smile” makes me want to check under my bed before going to sleep. “It Follows” makes me want to look six blocks down the road in all directions before checking under my bed.
