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.

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!

Parker and her best friend take off to her family's secluded second home to quarantine during the rise of the COVID 19 pandemic, but a stalker has followed them there, and a Nightmare scenario begins.

The trailer really interested me, I'm intrigued by people's views and actions in regards to the pandemic, and I love a good slasher movie, the result was a competent and quite exciting mix.

Really interesting to consider who's side you're on, I won't give Nothing away, but by the end, you may well question if you're on Parker's side of not.

It's not heavy on the politics, they don't push a narrative either way, Covid plays a part, but it's just the backdrop for the situation.

Competently acted and visually pretty good, there are definitely a few thrills and spills along the way, it certainly opens with an audience grabbing scene.

This was pretty good.

7/10.

Plot

Due to the pandemic, Parker and her best friend decide to quarantine at the family lake house alone - or so they think.

Cast

Marc Menchaca was the only one I was familiar with though Gideon Adlon was excellent here.

Verdict

Within horror the slasher sub-genre is way down there. I'm not sure if I'm just not keen on them or if it's because I'm burnt out watching them but I'm rarely impressed. They tend to be extremely formulaic and Sick, follows the formula to the letter.

A totally predictable slasher film with an unimpressive killer and interesting but flawed motivations I walked away from Sick feeling like I'd already seen it because for all intent and purpose I in fact had.

It looks the part (Except for that house which looks like it's made of inflatable yellow buffers) and our leading lady is solid but there's nothing memorable about it. It's entirely colour by numbers and that's just plain lazy.

Rants

With the COVID setting I knew what I'd find in the one star reviews and as usual you didn't disappoint. The conspiracies, the paranoia, the use of the word propaganda by people who don't know what it means. The fact that people deny and politicize a pandemic that killed millions of people is horrifying. Can you imagine if the internet existed in the times of Polio and TB, the paranoid chaotic absurdity regarding vaccines? What a scary thought.

The Good

Gideon Adlon Interesting killer motivation

The Bad

Very predictable Instantly forgettable Bland supporting cast That house, I mean seriously what was that all about?

Movies like this live or die based on the decisions of the protagonists and while the ones in this film make some decent decisions, as the movie progresses they become increasingly dumb. It's a shame because there are some effective thrills and a solid premise here.

It balances the tone of satirizing Covid while also not completely disregarding the pandemic. The Covid stuff does lead to some pretty funny jokes though. It's a bit predictable as you can guess the killer's motives and it loses some momentum near the finale. For a Peacock Original, Sick is a decent jaunt into the world of pandemics and home invasions.