‘Smile’ director shares the short film that inspired the smash hit horror

It’s been just over a month since Parker Finn’s Smile hit theaters and cursed horror fanatics with an ear-to-ear grin. With a budget of just $17 million, Smile managed to gross $210 million worldwide and it’s still showing in select theaters globally, so that number could still climb in the coming weeks.

What many fans might not know is that Parker Finn made his directorial debut with Smile, but the screenplay — also written by Finn — was based on his 2020 short film titled Laura Hasn’t Slept. And now, courtesy of IGN, some footage from that same short film has made the rounds on social media, particularly Twitter. Laura Hasn’t Slept stars Caitlin Stasey as Laura Weaver, who reprised her role in Smile two years later as Rose Cotter’s patient and the main focus of the official trailer.

Starring Sosie Bacon, daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, Smile follows Dr. Rose Cotter, a therapist who witnesses the traumatic death of her patient and then inherits a supernatural curse that presents itself in the form of smiling strangers. The film also stars Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey, Kal Penn, and Rob Morgan.

Smile takes heavy inspiration from blockbusters like It Follows and Truth or Dare, but the concept somehow manages to stay wholly inventive and unique, even though it shares some similarities with the aforementioned films. In Laura Hasn’t Slept, which almost acts like an origin story for Rose’s patient, we see Laura in a therapy session with a middle-aged man, discussing her recurring nightmares. By the end of the clip, the room around Laura begins to deteriorate and slowly but menacingly, her therapist begins to bare a chilling smile. It isn’t hard to see similarities between Finn’s short film and the finished product, which boasts some startling and convincing jump scares and a plot that just keeps on giving. It will certainly satisfy the taste buds of horror fans for years to come.

Right now, Smile is still showing in select theaters, but it won’t be too long before it finds a new home on VOD.