Smile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars**
Smile for the Cameras is a fast-paced and entertaining Slasher ((Lite)). IMO, Smith brought the right amount of Camp to it to get me in the mood for Summer Screams season.
This book is told in three ways: a present perspective, a past perspective and through the screen play of a decades old cult-classic Slasher Film, Grad Night.
Our protagonist is Ella Winters, who was a young, inexperienced actress, just trying to make her way in the industry, when she got tapped to play the Final Girl role in Grad Night. It certainly changed her life.
20-years later, Ella’s star has burned out. She retreated from the spotlight after filming, as she had great difficulty putting behind her some traumatic events that happened during the shooting of that iconic film.
She used the excuse of her ailing mother as her reason to retreat from the Hollywood life, but now that her mother has passed, Ella is thinking of making a comeback.
When her agent offers her the opportunity to participate in a Grad Night reunion documentary, she’s quite hesitant at first, but as her agent points out, it could be the perfect way for her to reemerge onto the scene.
Ella eventually agrees, and makes her way to the original filming location, a cabin in the woods in rural Tennessee, for the reunion weekend.
When the people on site begin being murdered in gruesome ways similar to the film, and the original cast suddenly finds themselves stalked by the Grad Night killer, it becomes clear this reunion was a trap. Perhaps as payback for something they did all those years ago.
Ella would happily give up Hollywood forever if she could just make it through the weekend. Who will survive?
This was fun. I enjoyed how the original script of the film, and the past perspective, which followed Ella during that original filming, boosted up the action in the present.
For me, all three of the aspects played off each other very well and contributed to a well-rounded Slasher story. I felt Smith did a great job keeping it all distinct and easy for the Reader to engage with.
It is quite dramatic, the characters each seeming to add fuel to the fire in their own ways. I felt for Ella the whole way through. She was quite young during the filming of Grad Night, and was definitely influenced by her fellow cast members. She was a bit deer in the headlights.
The ending was somewhat meh for me, but I never guessed it, so good on Smith for keeping me on my toes. My head was spinning as I tried to figure out who was killing everyone. That was hidden quite well, I thought.
Overall, this an entertaining Horror story, with a classic Slasher vibe. It’s a great read for Summer and if you love Horror that brings Camp, you’ll def find that here.
Thank you to the publisher, Bantam, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This gave me exactly what I was looking for!
