Horror Short Review: Smiling Woman Pool Party (2023)

It has been a minute but ACMOfficial now bring us the latest entry in their long running Smiling Woman series, Smiling Woman Pool Party. As always, it comes from writer/director Alex Magaña, with a co-writing credit for Jed Brian, and it stars Natasha Bree, Asli Akal, and Cameron Pench.

It’s just past 1am, as it always is in these shorts, and Nicole is distracted at a pool party. Distracted by the grinning woman in the yellow dress looking at her from across the pool. Approached by her friend, Nicole points out the woman, but he doesn’t see her. Then when Nicole briefly looks away, the smiling woman has disappeared.

Then the texts start…

If you’re familiar with these shorts then you already know what happens next and Smiling Woman Pool Party doesn’t make any changes to the tired formula. In fact, it’s a really disappointing entry as aside from the different location, it adds nothing fresh to the series.

At this stage, there are few expectations for there to be anything special from the Smiling Woman horror shorts, but this entry feels particularly lazy.