Twenty years ago, Ella Winters was the it girl. She made a name for herself in Hollywood and throughout America as the sole survivor in the cult-classic slasher Grad Night. But the real horror is what happened when the cameras weren’t rolling—something terrible that Ella and her co-stars agreed never to speak of again. Shortly after the movie’s premiere, Ella disappeared from the acting scene under the pretense of caring for her ailing mother, hoping for a quiet life out of the spotlight to ease her guilty mind.
Since her mother’s passing, Ella has decided to return to the silver screen. And with the cast and crew of Grad Night in the process of filming a reunion documentary, Ella has an express ticket back into Hollywood’s good graces. Weighed down by the secret she’s been keeping all these years, Ella apprehensively makes the trip to the original set—a cabin in rural Tennessee—to reunite with her castmates for the first time in more than a decade. But when the actors begin to meet the same gruesome fates as the characters they originally played, falling victim to someone dressed as the Grad Night villain, it’s clear their secret is out.
Now, the question is: Can the final girl survive one last nightmare?
Smile for the Cameras is a fast-paced, locked-room psychological thriller with a ‘90s slasher feel. The story follows Ella Winters, the iconic “final girl” from the cult classic slasher film “Grad Night,” who left Hollywood years ago with a terrible secret. With her mother now passed away, Ella agrees to return to the original filming cabin for a “reunion documentary” in an effort to revitalize her career. But soon after arriving and conducting her first interviews, castmates start dying in ways that mirror the original movie’s killings, and Ella must confront haunting secrets from the past and fight to survive one final nightmare!
The writing is contemporary, witty, and fully engaging, perfectly tailored to a cinematic slasher-style thriller. The story toggles back and forth between “Then” and “Now” timelines, both from protagonist Ella’s POV, presenting stark differences between younger and older Ella in naivety and maturity. Interspersed throughout the story are suspenseful movie script scenes from the slasher film “Grad Night,” which has similar vibes to real-life nostalgic films like Friday the 13th and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Together, the dual timeline and movie scenes create a multilayered, addictive storyline that keeps readers entertained and constantly guessing on what’s coming next!
The pacing in this book mirrors a tension-filled horror film, with slow-building palpable dread that transitions to pure terror once the killings begin. The story climaxes with sudden, brutal murders and edge-of-your-seat chase scenes—which culminate in Ella living out her “final girl” role in real life. The over-the-top twist ending comes out of nowhere and requires readers to suspend their disbelief—but it also pays homage to similar endings from 90s horror films and will delight fans in the same way!
Ella Winters is a compelling protagonist whose emotional arc carries the entire story and is very satisfying by the end. Her sacrifice as caregiver for her mother makes her admirable, and her genuine inner monologues make her deeply relatable. In the “Then” timeline, she comes across as very naive and a people pleaser, as she’s determined to please the shady director, Cole, and her fellow castmates to prove her talent and garner future lead roles. At the same time, she’s the most emotional character, and the secret that they all bury at the end of filming has a profound effect on her for decades afterwards, counteracting all her efforts to achieve stardom!
The supporting characters have the same names in the story and movie scenes and similar personalities—this was a clever move by the author in preventing the shifting timelines and interspersed movie scenes from getting confusing. The mix of characters perfectly tailors to the slasher film archetype—there’s the jock (Leo), the comic relief character (Riley), and the doomed love interest (Aries). One by one, they all fall victim to the killer in brutal ways, leaving likeable, relatable Ella as the “final girl”—who readers will be emotionally invested in and rooting for!
Overall, Smile for the Cameras is a campy, heart-pounding slasher thriller that is entirely binge-worthy. The story has just enough emotional depth to have readers invested in the characters’ survivals and a shocking final twist that may surprise even the most seasoned thriller readers. It’s perfect for horror fans who enjoy cabin-in-the-woods fright fests, old-school slasher films, and slow-buildup psychological suspense!
