Sick

There's a lockdown and it's time to quarantine, so with Miri you locate to a new scene, a plush cabin by a lake, a great place to take a break, put your feet up 'til routine can reconvene. An uninvited guest, knocks on the door, he's a friend you find it tricky to ignore, so he joins the isolation, and then demonstrates frustration, you retire for the night, not wanting more. Alas, a good night's sleep's not on the cards, as the silence is soon broken, the quiet jarred, an aggressive strain makes entry, most resistant and unfriendly, and the antidote will leave you deeply scarred.

Not the worst film from the genre you'll come across.

This was just a mediocre slasher movie with hardly any edge-of-the-seat moments. It was another COVID themed movie. I've seen a couple of others but they were quarantine themed.

Once in a while I come across a movie where I despised the protagonist and felt no sympathy towards them whatsoever. This was another one of those movies.

In this instance it was Parker that I despised. She was careless, promiscuous and very much self-centred. I felt sorry for Miri who suffered simply for being there with Parker. I felt sorry for DJ and Mr. Lyons who basically died because of Parker.

I felt sorry for Pamela and her husband and could understand why they were doing what they did. Simple revenge for their son's death because of COVID which they believed Parker was the one that infected their son at the party.

Anyway this was just an average movie which is surprising for Blumhouse because they usually produce some really decent movies.

Set during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, college students and friends Parker Mason (Gideon Adlon) and Miri Woodlow (Bethlehem Million) head out to Miri's parents lakeside house to ride out quarantine. The two have the unexpected visit from Parker's boyfriend DJ Cole (Dylan Sprayberry) who came hoping to get some perspective on their relationship only to find Parker has no interest in being exclusive but allows him to stay until morning. However the three soon discover they're not alone as a masked killer begins terrorizing them with their secluded hideaway now isolating them from help.

Sick is the latest film from Scream writer and creator Kevin Williamson and director John Hyams. Williamson's inspiration for Sick came about during the pandemic where noticing the isolation and effects thereof thought it could be put to good use for a horror film. Alongside Williamson, the movie is also the screenwriting debut of co-writer Katelyn Crabb who had worked as an assistant to Williamson on the 2022 Scream. Now debuting on Peacock, I'm happy to say that Sick is a solidly entertaining time with bloody fun and Williamson's trademark sense of humor.

The movie does a good job of setting itself up with an opening kill sequence featuring Joel Courtney's Tyler that establishes the early days of Covid going through a grocery store and despite plenty of people in the store it's a very isolating experience as Tyler walks through the aisles inundating with vaguely sinister text messages on his phone. While there've been plenty of Covid films only a few have really stuck out as legitimately good such as KIMI or Glass Onion while others such as Songbird or The Bubble were not, I'm happy to say that Sick is closer to the level of the former than the latter. Once the movie gets started it doesn't let up and John Hyams does a good job of putting the script to film with some intensely directed attack scenes using a handheld camera and during the lurking scenes Hyams doesn't use ANY orchestral stings or jump scares and instead opts for creeping dread to build fear and tension. In many ways I was reminded of that Mike Flanagan film Hush from a few years ago that much like Sick was a minimalist slasher film in an isolated countryside. I don't think Sick is quite on par with Hush as I wasn't all that hooked with the characters initially and thought the opening with them partying in the house dragged a little bit, but once the action kicked in I did feel like I got to know them a bit more and I was invested in the outcome.

Sick is fun, humorous, and quick slasher entertainment that will be a welcome viewing for fans of the genre. While some of the character setup drags a little bit, at 77 minutes not including credits Hyams and Williamson create an effective and efficient piece of horror entertainment and I hope to see them collaborate on another project together.

Director Hyams creates a few tense moments that blends with righteous thoughts and bloody entertainer.... Oddly manages a clear winner that easily survives on the grounds of pandemic catastrophy.... Short & sweet runtime ensures a pure slasher thriller with vibrant lighting in the dark ambience,camera work is a major asset in holding audience live until the end... Early scenes does have an impact on our minds on facing the reality check like shortage of toilet papers and refusing to assist some one an deadly situations on pandemic times raising a human values rare existence... Overall a unique slasher thriller that needs a attention.

There are some movies you know 5 minutes going into it that it's going to be worth the while. This was such a movie. The beginning was suspenseful out of the gate and had me looking away. Great action, scary, decent acting and the kind of slasher that I would gladly see a sequel of. It had me jump several times and was just generally creepy. It actually had a similar feel to Scream which I love. It had also a sense of realism that this could actually happen that I appreciated. The characters actually did semi-intelligent things as opposed to just plain stupid decisions. It didn't insult the viewers intelligence. Finally I really liked the homage to the whole period of lock down COVID. There were a few parts that actually had me laughing because of how ridiculous and paranoid the first days of lockdown were for people. They need to make more slashers like this that are truly scary from beginning to end. Keep them coming!