Smile for the Camera

Plot summary

Two students uncover a series of mysterious signs in otherwise normal photographs taken around New York City with an antique spoon. They determine that these are clues that depict a pathway from a train station in New York City to a seahorse in the wilderness. Kate sets off alone to follow the crumbs, which leads her to a terrifying encounter with a psychic in a decaying cottage. The psychic falls prey to the Boxheads, a mysterious and evil cult that traps victims, whose smiling photographs appear on boxes that hide the faces of the cult members. Escaping from the psychic's cottage, Kate waltzes through the woods, taking shelter for the night in an eerie motel where she has frightening dreams and hallucinations. In one of these, a young girl falls victim to the Boxheads and disappears.

Joined by her friend Mark, who has been analyzing and enhancing the photographs, Kate discovers that the young girl's image can be found hidden in all the pictures she had taken. The trail of photographs leads Kate and Mark to the home of Walter, the domineering leader of the Boxhead cult. Walter bombards his guests with pompous opinions about porcupines, as his young wife Lisa silently cowers in his presence and vents her emotions on a turnip mash. After dinner, Walter overpowers his guests. Kate is chained in a basement dungeon and told to "smile for the camera" as she fights back her tears. Mark is taken to a remote place in the woods to be sacrificed in a Boxhead ritual. Mysteriously freed from her chains by the young piglet, Kate escapes and follows Walter into the teacup, where she fights for her life and exacts her revenge.

Cast