Smiley (2012) Directed by Michael J. Gallagher

You could say this is being an horror flick for the internet generation. Finally an horror movie that uses the internet phenomenon effective and creatively, or well, for its first half at least.

You tell this a movie made by people who at least know something about its subject. It was not just some 60+ year old Hollywood executives saying; hey, the interwebs is popular now days, lets base an horror movie around it! And then create a movie that already was 5 years behind with its subject and was mostly relying on big clichés and stereotypes. The way they used the internet and webcam sessions in particular made it apparent that the film-makers were still in touch with the 'internet-geration' and knew all about viral videos and the way internet hoaxes are born. This is the foremost thing this movie has going for it but it most definitely is not a movie that is without its flaws.

The way the movie starts of makes it seem like this is going to be a typical modern horror flick, in which a killer, supernatural or human, you don't really know for sure yet, is on a killing spree. however the moment that the movie starts to become something different and you realize there is more to the story, it just becomes a less interesting and effective genre movie, also because it starts to become pretty early on already where the movie is heading at with its story and what the big twist at the end is going to be. Or well, at least for me it started to become apparent quite early on already, probably because I have seen plenty of horror movies already, doing the same sort of things, in one way or the other.

It's a bit of a shame all, since this movie definitely showed some real potential and also seemed to have plenty of good ideas in it, that just weren't always handled that well. It had a good killer and a good concept behind it, that could had caused an internet hype but I don't think this movie shall leaves it mark all across the internet. It's not quite daring or effective enough for that.

It's definitely a problem that the movie tries to be clever and tries to make you doubt about what's real and what's not and what's truly going on in its story. It's a problem because it isn't really done in a very subtle way, which also definitely makes it just far too apparent where the movie is heading at. It also seemed that the movie was trying to get a bit more deep and serious with things but it's never really handled in a provoking and interesting enough way.

So it's really being a movie that does plenty of things right but also still does plenty of things wrong. I'm still giving it the benefit of the doubt, since it most definitely is a good looking movie, with also some effective genre moments and touches to it. It's definitely more watchable than just the average modern genre attempt, though the weaker, less interesting and less effective second half of the movie still takes away a lot from it.

7/10

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