Smiley (2012)

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 (screenplay), Michael J. Gallagher (screenplay)

Stars:

Caitlin Gerard, Melanie Papalia, Shane Dawson

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Caitlin Gerard	...	Ashley
Melanie Papalia	...	Proxy
Shane Dawson	...	Binder
Andrew James Allen	...	Zane
Liza Weil	...	Dr. Jenkins
Roger Bart	...	Professor Clayton
Keith David	...	Diamond
Toby Turner	...	Mark
Michael Traynor	...	Smiley
Jana Winternitz	...	Maria
Nikki Limo	...	Stacy
Steve Greene	...	Crash
Richard Ryan	...	Kells
DeStorm Power	...	Decepticon
Jason Horton	...	Flasher

Storyline

Ashley goes to her new college while getting over the death of her mother. She meets some new people there including Binder ('Shane Dawson') while at a party and she learns about an urban legend of an online killer that has the nickname "Smiley" who can only be seen on the web and he apparently kills people after they type in "I did it for the lulz" three times. Soon after going to the party Ashley and her flatmate Proxy go online to test it out, with horrific results. She becomes paranoid and she starts to think she sees Smiley all over the place and feels that he may be chasing her, but how can that be if he is not real? Have they somehow released him from the internet?

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Plot Keywords:

urban legend | internet | college | serial killer | student | 

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Taglines:

Are you going insane? Or will you be the next victim.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, terror, language, some sexual references and substance use by teens

Did You Know?

Trivia

Smiley is a parody of the urban legend "Bloody Mary"

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Goofs

Right after the scene where Ashley and Proxy pretend to make out when they decide to test out the myth of Smiley, you can see the full chat log on the screen while they still have to type it in the next scene.

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Quotes

Zane: She fell on her head... and now she's dead... oh god... that rhymed.

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Crazy Credits

At the very end after the credits are done, Ashley wakes up!

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Connections

References The Matrix (1999)

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Soundtracks

Il trovatore : Act I: Tace la notte!
Written by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Sondra Radvanovsky

User Reviews

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 October 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

I Did It for the Lulz

Filming Locations:

Glendora, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Level 10 Films, Andrew E. Freedman Public Relations, Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1