🎬 Movie Overview
-
Title: Smiling Woman 5
-
Release Date: 2021 (direct-to-web short film)
-
Genre: Micro Horror / Short Psychological Thriller
-
Director: Alex Magaña (series creator, writer/director of Smiling Woman shorts)
-
Cast: Felissa Rose as Nurse Angela (the Smiling Woman), Katy Ford and Jessi Sampogna among others
-
Where To Watch: Available online via platforms like Facebook Videos and ACMofficial channels
1. Plot Summary
While working the graveyard shift in an ICU hospital, nurse Angela (Felissa Rose) encounters the unsettling Smiling Woman, a silent figure in a yellow dress who haunts her through the night. Alone and increasingly unnerved, Angela faces a mysterious presence that visits, smiles, and invades her routine—hinting at possession or psychological terror without fully explaining the entity’s motives.
2. Notable Elements
-
Felissa Rose’s chilling presence: Known for Sleepaway Camp, Rose brings credibility and horror heritage to the figure of Angela/smiling woman. Her silent menace anchors the short.
-
Setting and simplicity: The sterile hospital ward at night heightens isolation and fear. With minimal dialogue, tension builds through sounddesign and brief visual intrusions.
-
Series continuity: This episode continues the pattern of previous Smiling Woman shorts, where isolated individuals encounter the same silent tormentor in different mundane settings—now elevated through hospital-based dread.
3. Themes and Messages
-
Isolation & vulnerability: Angela’s late shift accentuates the horror of being alone at night—an environment ripe for psychological collapse.
-
Possession without dialogue: The Smiling Woman never speaks, yet profoundly affects those she targets—gesturing at horror that’s both supernatural and mental.
-
Repetition & dread: The series format reinforces the inevitability of being found by this entity—its relentless nature across unrelated victims adds to its haunting mythos.
Advertisement
4. Personal Impressions
Strengths:
-
Felissa Rose’s return—now as the Smiling Woman herself—lends the short world-building consistency and horror lineage value.
-
The ICU setting is smart and effective: flickering monitors, hushed corridors, clinical gurneys become tools of suspense.
-
Despite its brevity, the episode is unsettling and memorable—its minimalism is its greatest strength.
Weaknesses:
-
Scarce exposition or context may leave viewers unsatisfied if they want plot clarity—this is mood over narrative.
-
Production value is modest—lighting and framing sometimes feel amateur—but it suits the low-fi aesthetic of Vine-era horror shorts.
5. Audience Recommendations
✔ Best for fans of short, psychological horror that thrives on minimalism and atmospheric dread.
✔ Appeals to viewers who enjoy consistent horror anthology formats with recurring motifs.
🚫 Less suited to audiences expecting complex plot or cinematic polish; this is pure micro-horror.
6. Conclusion & Rating
Smiling Woman 5 delivers exactly what it intends—a brief, disquieting encounter with an otherworldly presence in a familiar yet frightening setting. With Felissa Rose embodying the Smiling Woman, and Alex Magaña’s confident direction, it builds quiet terror in just a few minutes.
Final Recommendation: Perfect for those looking for fast, eerie chills and atmospheric tension in bite-sized form.
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5 stars)