YMMV / Smile Tapes

• Aluminum Christmas Trees: There actually is a species of flora that causes the victim to smile before they die, the hemlock water-dropwort (the victim, however, will not go a murderous spree, with a 70% fatality rate on consumption the victim will simply die soon after).
• Awesome Moments: As grim as the situation gets, the discovery of the Variant C's weakness shows that humanity isn't going down without a fight. After a survivor is cornered in his apartment by a Variant C that saw him scavenging for food, he finds a kitchen lighter and a can of bug spray, and lights the bastard up the moment it breaks down the door.
• Funny Moments: In "Far History", which is a heavily corrupted educational documentary on theories of how life on Earth originated, the narrator prefaces his explanation for how early life could have survived on a hostile young Earth with this gem: "In the last episode, I told you that the Earth was literally Hell."
• Memetic Mutation: It's pretty common to find people making "When the impostor is sus" jokes thanks to the Slasher Smile that the infected have being pretty similar to that of the Jerma picture associated with the meme. Malformations aside, the patient with Variant C has a particularly close resemblance to the meme, making this connection all the more apt.
• Nightmare Fuel: Enough to warrant its own page, it's an Analog Horror series after all.
• Realism-Induced Horror: Despite some supernatural elements being implied, the root horror of the series comes from the simple and plausible central idea of an incredibly infectious, deadly, and mutable virus that results in horrific physical and mental effects on its victims.

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