The Big Picture

• Smile offers top-notch scares in 2022, introducing a new horror entity that preys on trauma-stricken victims in a chilling narrative.
• Dr. Rose Cotter faces her own demons while battling the malevolent entity, delving deep into her past trauma.
• The film's unsettling ending illustrates the cyclical nature of trauma, proving that confronting inner demons may sometimes lead to a horrifying fate.

With a genuinely frightening atmosphere and some of the best scares in 2022, Smile got into theaters to scar the minds of horror-fiends just as the Spooky Season begins. The feature debut of writer and director Parker Finn is bound to become one of the horror hits of the year, with a tight script that plays with classic horror tropes while still bringing something new to the table. And that’s all thanks to the unique evil entity of Smile, a manifestation of trauma that jumps from person to person while it searches for new victims.

Since Smile’s villain can alter the perception of its victims and make them see people and places that are not really there, the movie’s ending can become somewhat confusing on a first watch. After all, during her final duel with the entity, Dr. Rose Cotter’s (Sosie Bacon) mind is so fragile from the constant attacks of the evil force that it’s hard to distinguish reality from hallucination. That’s why we’ve prepared a handy explainer that tells you everything that happened at the end of Smile while also explaining the rules that bind the dark entity of the movie.

‘Smile’ Entity Explained

Smile follows Dr. Rose Cotter, a psychiatrist who begins to be tormented by bone-chilling visions after she witnesses the gruesome suicide of a patient, Laura (Caitlin Stasey). Before slicing her own throat with a shard from a flower vase, Laura told Dr. Cotter an evil entity was chasing her everywhere she went. So once the psychiatrist started to suffer from similar hallucinations, Rose decided to investigate what was really going on.

As it turns out, Rose is cursed by trauma, which in Smile is represented by a shapeshifting apparition that scares its victims until their minds are shattered. Once they're so traumatized they can no longer resist the entity’s influence, the evil spirit possesses their bodies and forces the host to graphically take their own lives in front of another person. The witness, traumatized by the event, becomes the new target of the entity. So, the grim spirit keeps alive as long as it has people spread their trauma, affecting other people's mental health in a never-ending chain. While suicide seems inevitable, there’s another way to escape the chain and survive the creature’s attack. And that is choosing from your own free will to scar another person’s mind.

While investigating the entity, Rose gets in touch with Robert (Rob Morgan), the only person to survive after being cursed by trauma. Robert is in jail for the murder of a woman in the worst way he could come up with, in front of an innocent witness. Smile’s creature, satisfied with Robert's sacrifice, jumped to the new witness instead of killing the current host. So, Rose only has two options: wait for the creature to possess and kill her or murder another human being. But instead, Rose decides to lock herself in an isolated house and confront her trauma once and for all.

Dr. Rose Cotter Is Easy Prey As She Already Lives With Trauma

Rose is such a delicious meal for Smile’s entity because she already carried a lot of trauma before watching her patient die. When she was ten years old, Dr. Cotter watched her mother (Dora Kiss) kill herself after mixing pills and alcohol. That event shaped the psychiatrist's entire life, as she chose a career in which she could help other people suffering from mental health issues.

When Rose decides to face her trauma, she locks herself in the house where she saw her mother die, which is now falling to pieces after being abandoned for decades. There, the evil entity of Smile takes the shape of Rose’s mother and forces her to relieve the moment that defined her destiny. As it turns out, Rose found her mother when the woman was still alive. However, instead of calling for help, Rose ran away, condemning her mother to die alone. That’s why Rose carries so much guilt inside of her and why she works herself to exhaustion while trying to support her patients.

While Rose is responsible for her mother’s death, she was only ten years old at the time and lived in constant fear of her mother’s erratic behavior. Now that she understands the human mind, Rose knows her mother needed help. Still, she could no longer blame her younger self for a decision made out of fear. Rose decides to let go of her trauma and forgive herself, believing that will weaken the creature that haunts her. Instead, the spirit reacts, transforming her mother into a giant and deformed monster. But Rose decides to fight back, knowing that trauma only lives inside her head. Rose comes out on top in their final confrontation, destroying the creature once and for all.

'Smile's Final Scenes Show That As Long as There’s Trauma, the Entity Wins

The first thing Rose does after putting an end to the entity’s curse is to visit her ex-boyfriend Joel (Kyle Gallner), a cop who had been helping her throughout. Rose explains to Joel she broke up with him because she felt vulnerable by his side and didn't want anyone to get too close after what she did to her mother. However, now that she forgave herself, she is also ready to apologize and acknowledge the pain she caused Joel. Rose’s curse put her through hell, but at least the experience forced her to face her past and heal old wounds. Or did it?

Just as Rose thinks she got away from the entity, Joel starts to smile. The world around Rose fades away, and the psychiatrist realizes she never left her mother’s old house. The creature was torturing her one last time before it possessed her body.

The entity invades Rose’s mind just as the real Joel arrives at the home, willing to rescue his old fling. However, instead of rekindling their love, Joel’s arrival allows the creature to kill Rose while there’s a witness to push the curse chain forward. So, the entity uses Rose’s body to pour gasoline all over the psychiatrist, lighting a match just as Joel comes through the door. Rose’s body is smiling while she burns away, and we can see in Joel’s eyes he will be scarred for life by that disturbing suicide. Joel’s life won’t last long, though, as he’s now the entity's next victim. In the end, there’s no way to escape trauma.

Smile is currently streaming on Prime Video in the U.S.

Watch on Prime Video