Ick

There is an eight-screen movie theater in my town, and since I'd had some work successes, I wanted to treat myself to a movie. My choices were; yet another Superman reboot, yet another Fantastic Four movie (unsure if reboot or not), yet another Jurassic sequel, Elio, a Smurfs reboot, something called "The Home," and the "How to Train your Dragon live action."

Then, there was this.

It starred Brandon Louth, which made me go hm. Since his turn as the Man of Steel, he has kept fairly busy on television, but I remember his appearance in "Zack and Miri make a porno," which was only a short while after Superman Returns. He seemed animated and relaxed in his role (a very brief but somewhat important one in that movie) and I remember thinking that if they allowed that side of him to come through in his Superman movie it might have been better received.

For the first part, he's in high school and it made me wonder if they used de-aging technology or if, with the makeup he could still look that young even in his mid-40s. I think it might be both. Happily, for the rest of the movie he got to show the side of him that was so appealing in "Zack and Miri."

The movie itself is somewhat of a rapid-fire assault on the senses and is made for a completely different demographic than me. As other reviewers have said, the "Ick" depicted in the movie might be a metaphor for culture rot so prevalent today.

And yes, it does get a little slapdash at the end, but overall it was fun to see a little creativity and fun in a movie for a change. I also got the sense that some of the easter eggs other reviewers have described might reveal themselves more in a repeat viewing.

The length and pacing hit the sweet spots for a movie such as this, and as another reviewer has said, it looks like everybody had a good time making it. I had a good time seeing it, and since Brandon was one of the producers, I want to say thank you to him for turning out something semi-original.

Context: I am 60+ now, degreed and experienced in cinema, with three Generation "Z" boys. So this movie is not for me, it's for them. I only give it 6-stars because it misfits my own entertainment needs. I expect teenagers and young adults who were tweens and teens in 2000-2010 will connect with this much better.

That being said, I would describe this as being a hyper-paced satire that pretends to be about horror but is really about our modern culture, especially that which Gen-Z must suffer through.

The Ick, being a familiar but mostly ignored and unexplained creature that suddenly becomes destructive, is a METAPHOR.

It represents cultural rot, something that grows everywhere and we complacently ignore it until it becomes antagonizing, and many of us continue to try ignoring it, or minimizing it, to our demise.

Once you watch this movie with those lenses it begins to make more sense. Listen carefully to the dialog and you'll hear the indoctrination of critical theory (identity politics and oppression narratives), postmodernism (nihilism), postcolonialism (anti-settler narratives), and capitalism vs socialism debates. All of it is not to preach any of these, but to make fun of it. The Ick not one of these things or the other, it's the ignorance, the complacency, the intolerance, and the polarization of these variant invasive philosophies.

You could even frame the Ick as poststructuralism - which is best imagined as a culture-bomb - wherein all of these other ostentatious disciplines are its components.

In effect, the movie is a lot smarter than it appears, but if you are older than Gen-Z and you are not aware of its goals, then it's look completely dumb and a waste of your time. As I say, if that describes you, it wasn't made for you. It was made for the kids who grew up in our mess.

I cannot say its humor made me laugh a lot, but it delivered some chuckles - it's wit is dry and fast so you have to keep up.

I do think that the editing is very choppy though, and doesn't do it service. Had this been smoothed out a little it would have been more palatable.

An icky vine-like alien growth is a nuisance that spreads throughout the world, but in time people merely shrug their shoulders and get used to it. In small-town America the "ick" is regarded suspiciously by some including Hank, a science teacher and former football player, and Grace, one of his students. Their distrust is soon validated as the ick springs violently into a new phase of its growth.

The premise of people grown accustomed, careless, and capricious to a demon in their presence, is tantalizing. A monster is seen and ignored. However, beyond this alluring theme, there is little depth to the story, dialogue, characters, acting, and scenes. It is good for some laughs but there is not a lot of thought or creativity on display at this world premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

I missed a little bit cause I saw The Home right before this but what I experienced Ick was so great! Nice campy vibes, Brandon Routh has never done horror before and he's awesome in it as Mr. Wallace/ Dad lol. Crazy this costed 19 bucks as a fathom event to see but I'm glad I did and the girl that played Grace is so beautiful!

I swear, there is not a camera shot longer than 12 seconds in this entire movie. It is liking watching some random one and a half hour flashback montage scene, it was like the flashback opening of the film just never stopped! Kills the movie. The acting is good, the idea behind the film is okay but I think the director/writer threw too much thought into the ick metaphor and ultimately made it null and void. This should have never got a big screen release. The soundtrack is cancelled out because using tons of different songs for 20 seconds each just gets old however whoever scored the film did an excellent job, shame their talent was wasted on this mess. I definitely know Ick is not the type of film you pay money to watch.