Smiley (2012 film)

Smiley is a 2012 American psychological slasher film directed by Michael Gallagher and made by Level 10 Films.^[1] The film stars Caitlin Gerard, Melanie Papalia, Keith David, Shane Dawson, Andrew James Allen, Toby Turner, and Liza Weil.^[2] The film was released on October 11, 2012.^[3][4]

Plot

The plot revolves around the titular Smiley killer, the subject of an Internet myth. Supposedly, if a person on a ChatRoulette-style website types the phrase 'I did it for the lulz' three times, their chat partner will be murdered by a killer called Smiley, so named because he mutilated his own face by stitching his own eyes shut and carved his mouth into a smile.

A college student named Ashley (Gerard) becomes friends with Proxy (Papalia), along with her friends Zane (Allen), Mark (Turner), and Binder (Dawson), who is mocked by his classmates for having reported a case of pedophilia, earning him the nickname Pedobear.

One night Ashley and Proxy test out the Smiley myth with a random person online. After typing 'I did it for the lulz' three times, initially nothing happens, but then to their horror, the stranger is murdered. Proxy convinces Ashley to stay silent. However, Ashley is quickly driven over the edge by Smiley appearing on the video-chat site whenever she logs on. She eventually goes to the police; there she tries to convince them, to no avail, to investigate the murders caused by Smiley. The police basically dismiss her, implying that she is going crazy and quite possibly on the receiving end of a large, elaborate prank.

When Proxy is unable to contact Zane, she video chats Ashley, in hysterics. Ashley goes to his house to check on him, only to find him shot dead. Instead of calling the police—who refused further involvement.-- Ashley picks up the gun while Proxy, on video-chat, types 'I did it for the lulz' three times in order to draw Smiley to Ashley, due to Ashley's request. Ashley has plans to kill him. However, she accidentally shoots Binder, who had been coming over to check on her. Moments later, Smiley appears and slits Binder's throat. Ashley is then chased by multiple Smileys, finally throwing herself out a window to escape them.

It is then revealed that all Ashley's classmates—including Proxy, Binder, and even the babysitter murdered in the opening—are all part of a fringe group of Anonymous. Together they created the legend of Smiley. We find that all the people involved did this as a large prank. Binder starts to talk about Smiley, saying that he is alive and this would not be the last of him. This causes an assumption that he is the real Smiley, or somehow a follower of him.

Later, Proxy is video-chatting with Zane, questioning their morality. When she asks why they did what they did, Zane types 'I did it for the lulz' three times. A "real" (The others had masks but this Smiley had the smile carved on his face and his eyes stitched) Smiley appears behind Proxy, kills her, and then waves at the webcam. After the credits have scrolled by Ashley suddenly gasps still alive.

Cast

• Caitlin Gerard as Ashley
• Melanie Papalia as Proxy
• Shane Dawson as Binder
• Andrew James Allen as Zane
• Liza Weil as Dr. Jenkins
• Toby Turner as Mark
• Roger Bart as Professor Clayton
• Keith David as Diamond
• Patrick O'Sullivan as Cooper
• Nikki Limo as Stacy
• Jason Horton as Flasher
• Bree Essrig as Kim
• Darrien Skylar as Mary
• Michael Traynor as Smiley
• Shanna Malcolm as extras

Production and release

Gallagher began working on Smiley after performing in some episodes of the Totally Sketch series on YouTube.^[5] As he was producing the film himself, Smiley had a small budget and Gallagher was active in various different parts of the film such as advertising and seeking MPAA approval.^[6] Gallagher initially debated using stockings with a smiley face painted on it as Smiley's mask, but discarded the idea because it "just wasn't scary enough".^[7] He chose to go with the iconic mask after imagining a "guy who stitched an emoticon into his own face and thought, "Wow, that's really creepy.""^[7] Theatrical rights for the film were purchased by AMC Theatres who gave the film a limited screening on their independent platform on October 12th, 2012.^[8][9][10]

There are two versions of the film: one rated TV-14 and one rated R.^[11] The film played in select AMC theaters throughout the United States, with fans able to request to host screenings of Smiley in their cities via Tugg.^[12]

Reaction from 4chan and Anonymous

Prior to the film's official theatrical release Gallagher and his family began receiving threats from people alleging to be from 4chan and Anonymous.^[6] Personal information for Gallagher, his family, and anyone that had worked on Smiley was posted online with the recommendation that people use it to harass them.^[13] In an interview with Fearnet, Gallagher stated that the site had posted the information as part of "Operation Fuck Smiley" and that "Their goal was to spoil the end of the movie, post pornography and gore on any website that talks about it, rate the movie really low... it was this horrible vendetta, like they wanted to destroy it because we talked about 4chan in the movie."^[13] The validity of these claims were questioned by Cole Strycker, author of Epic Win for Anonymous, who expressed suspicion that Gallagher was trying to use the death threats as a publicity stunt to promote the film.^[6][14] In response Gallagher has asserted that the death threats were real and were not being used as a publicity stunt.^[6]

Reception

The film received largely negative reviews and holds a 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on an average rating of 3.2/10 based on 20 reviews; several reviews called the film a "rip off" of Scream and Candyman.^[15] Criticism centered around claims of the film being "dull" or "generic", with additional criticisms over the acting, direction and cliches.^[16][17] Smiley received negative reviews from The A.V. Club^[18] and The New York Times.^[19]

Bloody Disgusting panned the film, stating that the writers "took a strong, modern idea, over-thought it and turned it into a generic '90s movie that’ll have you throwing popcorn at the screen".^[20] Variety called the film "uninspired", saying that "the mayhem here is neither especially gory nor suspenseful".^[21] Mark Olsen of The Los Angeles Times gave a more positive review, calling the film a "more or less satisfying low-key creeper". Olsen praised Gerard, Weil, David, and Bart's performances, however called the story-telling "repetitive".^[22]

References

External links

• Official website
• Smiley at the Internet Movie Database
• Smiley at Rotten Tomatoes
• Smiley at Box Office Mojo
• Smiley at Metacritic