Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily Entertainment GuideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsCannes Film FestivalStar WarsAsian Pacific American Heritage MonthSummer Watch GuideSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Smiley

  • 2012
  • R
  • 1h 35m
IMDb RATING
3.3/10
10K
YOUR RATING
Smiley (2012)
After learning of an urban legend in which a demented serial killer can be summoned through the Internet, mentally fragile Ashley must decide whether she is losing her mind or becoming Smiley's next victim.
Play trailer1:07
1 Video
24 Photos
Slasher HorrorSupernatural HorrorHorrorMysteryThriller

After discovering an urban legend of a demented serial killer, who has nothing but a carved "smiley" on his face, a mentally fragile teenager must figure out if she is going insane - or if s... Read allAfter discovering an urban legend of a demented serial killer, who has nothing but a carved "smiley" on his face, a mentally fragile teenager must figure out if she is going insane - or if she could be the next victim.After discovering an urban legend of a demented serial killer, who has nothing but a carved "smiley" on his face, a mentally fragile teenager must figure out if she is going insane - or if she could be the next victim.

  • Director
    • Michael J. Gallagher
  • Writers
    • Glasgow Phillips
    • Michael J. Gallagher
    • Ezra Cooperstein
  • Stars
    • Caitlin Gerard
    • Melanie Papalia
    • Shane Dawson
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    3.3/10
    10K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Michael J. Gallagher
    • Writers
      • Glasgow Phillips
      • Michael J. Gallagher
      • Ezra Cooperstein
    • Stars
      • Caitlin Gerard
      • Melanie Papalia
      • Shane Dawson
    • 98User reviews
    • 51Critic reviews
    • 25Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination total

    Videos1

    Theatrical Version
    Trailer 1:07
    Theatrical Version

    Photos23

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 18
    View Poster

    Top cast49

    Edit
    Caitlin Gerard
    Caitlin Gerard
    • Ashley
    Melanie Papalia
    Melanie Papalia
    • Proxy
    Shane Dawson
    Shane Dawson
    • Binder
    Andrew James Allen
    Andrew James Allen
    • Zane
    Liza Weil
    Liza Weil
    • Dr. Jenkins
    Roger Bart
    Roger Bart
    • Professor Clayton
    Keith David
    Keith David
    • Diamond
    Toby Turner
    Toby Turner
    • Mark
    Michael Traynor
    Michael Traynor
    • Smiley
    Jana Gallagher
    Jana Gallagher
    • Maria
    • (as Jana Winternitz)
    Nikki Limo
    Nikki Limo
    • Stacy
    Steve Greene
    Steve Greene
    • Crash
    Richard Ryan
    Richard Ryan
    • Kells
    DeStorm Power
    DeStorm Power
    • Decepticon
    Jason Horton
    Jason Horton
    • Flasher
    Billy St. John
    Billy St. John
    • Dad
    Patrick O'Sullivan
    Patrick O'Sullivan
    • Cooper
    Tiger Darrien Blue Skylar
    Tiger Darrien Blue Skylar
    • Mary
    • (as Darrien Skylar)
    • Director
      • Michael J. Gallagher
    • Writers
      • Glasgow Phillips
      • Michael J. Gallagher
      • Ezra Cooperstein
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews98

    3.310K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    1Pictoron

    Worst movie of the year

    The concept of this film is a joke. Jason Voorhees killed because of the carelessness of his camp counselors letting him drown, Michael Myers killed because of his repressed childhood and the psychological effects it had on him, and these douchebags killed... to be the first "viral killer"... Did they even read these ideas out loud!?! How could they not realize how stupid this was?

    Giving this movie 1 star is an insult to all 1 star movies, this movie deserves maybe just maybe 1/1000th of a bronze star... at very best!

    The acting is atrocious too, there's a reason Shane Dawson never made it any further than youtube, because he's a horrible actor! The characters aren't memorable, it's flawed in MANY ways, and I'd go on but unfortunately I'm limited to 1000 words so that is all for IMDb, now for a rant to put up on youtube.
    1ThomasBleedPHD

    The worst slasher film of all time (seriously)

    There are movies out there like "Savage Weekend" and "Fat Crazy Ethel II" that are worse to sit through than this movie, but those have such low production quality they can't even be called actual movies. Smiley, however, is an actual movie, and by that standard, it's easily the worst slasher movie ever made. It's also the worst horror movie ever made. In fact, I even consider it one of the ten worst movies of all time.

    Smiley is a movie made by and starring a bunch of internet celebrities I'm only vaguely aware of. A self-indulgent passion project, this movie was created purely to kick start all of their film careers.

    Smiley is part of a depressingly skyrocketing trend of "Social Media"-themed horror movies. Other entries in this sub genre include the abominable "Megan is Missing" and "Unfriended." A movie that is easily the best of the three, but is still a 4/10 film.

    Smiley revolves around a boring, lifeless protagonist I can't even remember the name of as she finds herself caught up in the seedy underground world of "Trolling." Here, evil internet trolls go to "The Bee board on Four-Chan" and "hack severs to post CP" and other inane nonsense. I'm not kidding, the dialogue is really like that.

    This movie relies very heavily on internet references, and the creators saw it fit to have characters explain what all of the terminology and lingo means in really blunt, obvious, patronizing expository dialogue. So if you ever wanted to know what "Anonymous" and "Lulz" are, now you can! Of course you don't actually exist because no one with a proper amount of chromosomes cares about any of this.

    Of course, being a movie about the evils of 4chan, Smiley puts a lot of stock into the phrase "I did it for the Lulz!" being haunting. Since the movie uses it over and over and over again. In fact one of the characters even gets a long-winded speech out of nowhere about how it represents nihilism and sociopathy and how it's extremely terrifying as the camera closes up on his pudgy face and smug grin with cinematography and lighting so cartoonish it feels like he's about to morph into a lizard or something.

    But "I did it for the lulz" is not scary. It's not haunting. It's not even unintentionally comedic. It's stupid. It's a stupid phrase with bad grammar and a made up word. It's the type of thing that can only work on the internet ten years ago. It's like trying to make "lol" sound scary. It just isn't, and no amount of spooky low-voiced monologues or turning down the lights will ever make it scary.

    It's hard to talk about this movie with using the word "cringe" a lot. It's the best way to describe the way you'll react to most of the dialogue and plot points: cringe. It doesn't matter if you know about "internet culture" or not. Whether you're a tech-savvy teenager or an old grandma, you'll be sighing, groaning, and cringing your way through this film until it's merciful credit sequence.

    It's impossible to care about any of the characters. The ones that aren't complete blank slates or soulless exposition machines are extremely ridiculous strawmen with lines so over-the-top they should be saying them while tying girls to train tracks. This movie attempts to tackle the casual nihilism of internet communities and gets everything completely wrong.

    I'd really hate to say it, but "Unfriended" took a lot of the concepts this movie attempts and did them far better. Using internet bullying and "trolling" as concepts for a horror movie is a stupid idea, but at least Unfriended was competent enough to make it's terrible characters seem like real people (terrible people, but real enough) and to avoid exposition about dumb internet crap nobody cares about.

    Oh, and Smiley, the movie's killer? He gets about four minutes of screen time, and three of those aren't really him. I won't spoil anything but the twist pretty much invalidates the entire film and comes out of nowhere.

    For some reason, Keith David makes an absolutely humiliating cameo in this and you can't help but feel sorry for him. I expected more dignity from the guy who played Coraline's cat.

    If I had to use one word to describe this movie, it'd be "embarrassing." Even if you watch it alone it embarrasses you. It's a huge embarrassment for the entire cast and crew. I don't even like these guys, but nobody deserves to be a part of a piece of garbage like this.

    They deserve better, and so do you. Don't watch this movie. It's insulting to your intelligence.
    3withitnow

    Potential but failed

    The premise of this film had potential to be a really good enjoyable slasher but it failed. Low budget doesn't always mean a bad film but think it does here. Caitlin Gerard as Ashley is appalling in this. The rest of the cast is better but not by much. Still watched it. It was OK to pass the time. Needs more gore to be a slasher horror or needs more psychological twists to be effective. I can watch many different types of horrors and whether they cost 10 dollars or 10 million dollars to make, usually I find something enjoyable about my favourite genre. Not this time. I got bored. And Ashley screaming just made me want to vomit. I think even if the acting was slightly more convincing it would be a better watch. Alas it isn't so.
    1catfishman

    One Of the Crappier Slashers I've Seen In a Long Time

    Yeah, so I watched 2012's Smiley last night.

    It's a piece of crap with a stupid plot, a stupid attempt at a "twist"… and I'm sure some freakin' hipster will defend it as the direction of the new "Artcore" movement.

    Just because you call a piece of crap a rose, doesn't make it a rose.

    So, a girl starts college, and her partying new dorm mate invites her to a party. Once there she's introduced to "Smiley" – You get in an Internet chat room with someone, and while you are there, you type "I did it for the lulz" three times, and magically something bad happens to the person on the other side of the chat window. Not a terrible idea for a horror movie, but unfortunately, it is a terrible horror movie. I'm not even 100% sure where it went off the track, but it was one of those movies where you just end up waiting for it to end.
    1fcm434

    The New Face of Failure

    The poster for "Smiley" boasts the tag-line "The New Face of Fear" and honestly I did find Smiley's appearance unsettling the first time I saw the trailer. However, all feelings even vaguely related to fear immediately began to disappear less than 3 minutes into the film (more on that in a moment). Still, I give the film one star to stand as a personal reminder for that one moment in time Smiley seemed promising.

    "Smiley" is not only bad, but it's exceptionally bad to such a fundamental degree in both film-making and writing that every problem is encapsulated in the phrase: "BAD BLANK 101". Bad acting, pacing, atmosphere, dialog, characterization, direction, cinematography, editing, and sound are all astoundingly present as if "Smiley" was the meeting place for the reunion of elements in hack film-making.

    As a film alone the characters are painfully flat; the acting is atrocious and the main character acts like a being from another planet; the dialog is so bad it smells; every single one of the "scares" are some of the cheapest jump scares in modern horror (that's saying something); the pacing is slower than a slug; during the long-drawn out scenes of fundamental philosophical waxing from the college professor (Roger Bart) that same slug is glued to the floor; I will not spoil anything here because the ending still remains an incomprehensible mess that started in less than 3 minutes.

    Two minutes and thirty-two seconds into the film is a jump scare by a little girl that is simply a soft then LOUD noise made for no other reason than hack writing. Get used to that because those are the only kind of "scares" in the entire movie. The problems really begin as the audience and babysitter are told by the little girl about an urban legend killer, the titular Smiley, a mysterious killer (in that he's never explained, we're just expected to take the horribly shoe-horned exposition from the little girl that Smiley is a well-known urban legend, yet the audience doesn't know; Gallagher just expects us to blindly accept this). How does the little girl know this? Who is she? If Smiley is based around the NOT-Chatroulette then is it an international urban legend? All of these questions are just a few examples of what I kept asking the film which gave me nothing in return.

    Then the awful writing comes into play as the audience learns of how "Smiley" is summoned beginning the long endurance test that was this movie. The Smiley killer is summoned (ala Candyman) by typing out the phrase "I did it for the lulz" three times to someone on Not- Chatroulette causing Smiley (dressed in Michael Meyers' one piece jumpsuit) to sneak up behind the person you typed the message out to then stabs them in the back (with Ghostface's knife no less). Let that sink in. The killer is summoned through Chatroulette.

    Now here's a quick lesson to future horror writers and filmmakers: if you want to create a new horror icon then its important to remember that often timelessness trumps modernity. Sure, technologically based horror movies can make some of the best in the genre (Ringu, Videodrome, Kairo, Christine, Poltergeist, etc) and there's nothing wrong with being hip to the now (if done right), but the technology has to age well and be recognized as being a staple of everyday life with the majority of the public and Chatroulette has not aged well at all. In fact, Chatroulette is stale and by having the killer revolve around such an unbelievably dated concept severely hurts the potentiality for the character only speeding along its inevitable fade into obscurity.

    Smiley might as well have been summoned by wearing a haunted pair of Crocs. Of course Smiley might have appeared more if the characters were wearing haunted Crocs because Smiley rarely appears in his own film. The rest of the film is just awful acting, horrible dialog, and one middle- finger of an ending.

    What else is there to say? Smiley is just all-around bad in every single way possible regarding filmmaking and writing dumbing down or ripping off intriguing concepts from far superior horror films to create a poorly-stitched together amalgamation of first year philosophy, general science, and psychology. The only amusement is watching Roger Bart trying to make "I did it for the lulz" sound ominous and if you want to see that I'm sure Youtube will provide for you.

    More like this

    Dream.net
    1.3
    Dream.net
    Müjde
    1.2
    Müjde
    Aaraattu
    3.7
    Aaraattu
    321 Action
    1.0
    321 Action
    Keloglan vs. the Black Prince
    1.6
    Keloglan vs. the Black Prince
    Piranha II: The Spawning
    3.8
    Piranha II: The Spawning
    Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace
    2.6
    Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace
    Cumali Ceber 2
    1.2
    Cumali Ceber 2
    The Beast of Yucca Flats
    1.9
    The Beast of Yucca Flats
    Jiu Jitsu
    2.9
    Jiu Jitsu
    It's Pat: The Movie
    2.8
    It's Pat: The Movie
    Khaali Peeli
    2.5
    Khaali Peeli

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Has only sold 30,000 copies
    • Goofs
      When the detectives are talking to Ashley and they reveal the Youtube video where she's smashing her computer in the library, you can clearly see the editing options on top of the video (edit video details, edit annotations, audio swap, etc.). This would indicate that the detectives were the ones who uploaded the video, as they were logged into the account where the video was uploaded.
    • Quotes

      Binder: [on Ashley] Damn... I never got to fuck her!

    • Crazy credits
      At the very end after the credits are done, Ashley wakes up!
    • Connections
      Featured in Phelous & the Movies: Emoticonly (2013)
    • Soundtracks
      Il trovatore : Act I: Tace la notte!
      Written by Giuseppe Verdi

      Performed by Sondra Radvanovsky

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ16

    • How long is Smiley?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 12, 2012 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • I Did It for the Lulz
    • Filming locations
      • Glendora, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Level 10 Films
      • Andrew E. Freedman Public Relations
      • Paramount Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 35 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Smiley (2012)
    Top Gap
    What is the French language plot outline for Smiley (2012)?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb app
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb app
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb app
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.