Christmas Horror Short Review: A Smiling Woman Christmas (2021)

From AMCOfficial and writer/director Alex Magaña, comes A Smiling Woman Christmas. A festive spin on the Smiling Woman series, released late 2021.

If you’ve following along with the series to date, this entry is going to feel very familiar. If you’re a first-time viewer, you might find yourself underwhelmed. The Smiling Woman series of horror shorts surround an entity that possess the body of its victim, using them to find its next and so on. The how and why of the entity is a mystery, yet it only strikes when people are alone, and seemingly only late at night.

How do you know if you’ve been targeted by it? You’ll start receiving unusual anonymous text messages and be watched by a silent figure from a distance. Eventually, it will get up close and personal, exposing its most memorable trait – its wicked smile.

Now, dependant on actors, the smiles we’ve seen across the series have ranged from ‘manic’ to ‘she seems pleased’. A Smiling Woman Christmas’ titular character falls into the latter category. The smile is almost sweet, not much in the way of threatening.

Alongside that. We have a story that is almost a repeat of the original tale. Aside from some festive inclusions. A young woman at a train station late at night becomes the next target of the smiling woman. Some subtle chills work here but far too many jump scare attempts just become an irritation. It ends in half-hearted fashion, where even the Christmas vibes just feel forced.

This is a series that is really giving diminishing returns but overall, can still be quite enjoyable. A Smiling Woman’s Christmas might be the worst of the bunch so far though.