An internet-legend claims that if you visit a random video-chat site, and type "I did it for the lulz" three times, "Smiley", a killer with an emoticon carved into his otherwise featureless face, is supposed to appear behind your chat partner... And kill them.
Not wanting to move into the dorms, college freshman, Ashley, moves into a house-share with a stranger, fellow freshman, "Proxy", a keen user of 4chan's /b/ image board (home of Anonymous).
Proxy takes Ashley to a party organised by her fellow /b/tards, where she learns about, the myth of Smiley, and witnesses it for her self when a boy that the party invokes him on a chat-roulette style website.
Later, to prove to themselves that it was a prank, Proxy convinces Ashley to try it for herself... And it works.
When the boy who tried it at the party turns up dead, it seems that the legend of smiley isn't told in full; after killing the victim, Smiley comes after the person who summoned him; And it looks like Ashley is next...
Do you cringe when movies try to invoke real world things that they don't quite understand? If so, then use of 'pedobear', '4chan' and 'B' should set you off nicely, and the portrayal of hackers will make your toes curl.
Personally, I stopped worrying about hacker portrayal in movies when in 1983 when Mathew Broderick almost caused WW3 with his IMSAI 8080. It's time to just accept that Hollywood hackers are not like real ones.
Apart from that though, this is a fairly fun attempt at making a creepypasta movie, and I think they made the right choice in writing an original story, rather than making 'Jeff the Killer' or some such (although I understand a Slenderman movie is in the works).
Smiley's face is creepy enough, although inconsistent with his stated origin (supposedly he's a madman who stitched his own eyes shut and carved a smile into his face - whereas that face clearly never started with human features).
The ending left a little to be desired, attempting to explain the last 90 minutes, but leaving a few glaring gaps that could easily have been avoided by changing a few scenes in the first act.
The acting and production are no better or worse than you'd expect for a disposable teen horror, and that's exactly what it is; a watchable, but ultimately forgettable, time filler.
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