The Smile: Uncovering the Terrifying Real-Life Horror of the Monster

Parker Finn’s 2022 horror film “Smile” has a novel premise and a monster that is difficult to describe. The film begins when the lead character, a therapist named Rose (Sosie Bacon), has a strange encounter with a student, Laura (Caitlin Stasey). Laura is in a panic, having spent several days beset by hallucinations. She has been seeing people she knows appearing out of nowhere and grinning at her fiendishly. She knows these people are, in fact, a singular shapeshifting demon of some kind, and it is encouraging her to die by suicide. Then, as she predicted, Laura also pastes on a bleak, intense smile, and slits her throat right in front of Rose.

Rose soon begins experiencing similar hallucinations, wherein people she knows appear in her mind’s eye, all of them wearing a scary rictus. Rose soon discovers that the grinning entity is an ancient supernatural creature that feeds on trauma. Seeing someone else take their own life infects the witness, and they carry around mental images of death at all times. Once the suicide witness is properly terrified, the demon can possess them and then force them to take their own lives in front of a new “mark.” The new mark is then infected and the cycle continues.

Rose, through a great deal of investigation, learns the demon’s pattern and — for the climax of “Smile” — flees to a remote cabin. The entity might be able to kill her there, but there will be no witnesses. Rose will break the cycle. Before she can do so, however, she gets to see what the demon looks like without its shapeshifting disguises.

As it happens, it looks like a 10-foot version of her dead mother, but wicked and witchy. The demon then pulls its skin off and climbs down Rose’s throat. It’s all very unsettling.

The outsize, skinless entity — listed as “The Monstrosity” in the credits — was played by Marti Matulis, a longtime creature actor and genre performer who started his career on “Star Trek” back in 1998.

Marti Matulis began his career playing an uncredited, human-looking alien called a Ba’ku in Jonathan Frakes’ “Star Trek: Insurrection.” It would be one of the few times audiences would be able to see the actor’s face, as would begin to take more and more roles that require him to cover his visage in monster makeup. He soon became a go-to creature actor, likely encouraged by his notable 6’4″ stature. Matulis was welcomed back to “Star Trek” in the early 2000s, playing a monstrous Reman in “Star Trek: Nemesis” and a reptilian Xindi in “Star Trek: Enterprise.”

After that, Matulis was everywhere. He played one of the Sleestaks in “Land of the Lost,” a bug-eyes alien in “Men in Black³,” and the title apparition in “The Apparition.” He also played various creatures in the horror TV shows “Sleepy Hollow” and “Teen Wolf,” and portrayed the man wearing a severed pig head in “American Horror Story.” Many may further recognize him as the central demonic incubus George from the cult TV series “Evil” (although Matluis voice was dubbed over by actor Euan Morton). Meanwhile, Matulis was allowed to show his face in a 2012 episode of “Grimm” and a 2017 episode of “Z Nation,” pictured above, proving he doesn’t require six hours in a makeup chair to give a good performance.

Matulis returned to “Star Trek” in 2022 to play various background characters in “Star Trek: Picard.” He also portrayed a horn-faced alien pirate named Vane in season 3 of “The Mandalorian,” making him one of the few actors to straddle both popular “Star” franchises.

“Smile 2” is due in theaters on October 24, 2024, and Matulis is not listed in the credits, so he may not return to play the skinless, blood-soaked monstrosity. A pity, really. Fans may take comfort in the fact, though, that Matulis’ monster will persist, even if the actor isn’t on camera. There will always be someone to grin malevolently and then pass the evil onto a new victim.