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.

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.

This movie is low key brilliant. Saw this to "celebrate" Friday the 13th.

First of all, the title itself. Once you watch, you'll know what I mean. Secondly, it's the perfect time for this to release.

Given what happened with the pandemic and all, it was a genius movie on their end to make this up. They took advantage of what was going on in society and mixed it in with a Scream like atmosphere. Simple yet brilliant.

Some of the scenes in this were downright hilarious. It's very, very subtle, but if you're paying attention, you will laugh for sure (or at least roll your eyes).

I didn't expect the film to have the twist that it had. You wouldn't expect that at all, kudos yet again for taking advantage of the pandemic.

I would have liked more death scenes, but given how the story played out, wouldn't make much sense to have more. The few death scenes that they had were pretty interesting.

This is a solid watch, I would recommend it.

This gets a LennyReviewz Score of: 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?

I'm officially at the age where it's really hard to relate to this generation of whiny, social media addicted kids. I truly wanted all of the characters to die.

Also, even though it's very different, it's still too similar to Scream. From the opening scene, to the knife yielding, black clad killer, to the set pieces, it is very derivative of the better slasher.

The fact that it takes place during the pandemic seems very irrelevant. It feels very gimmicky, honestly.

Three people hole up in a lake house to quarantine. A guy dressed like a ninja shows up and it becomes one of those home invasion flicks, where the victims get stalked and hunted in ever more ludicrous scenarios. Something else happens that was enough to keep me intrigued and from turning it off, though.

But the bulk of the movie is that. People being attacked by masked intruder.

Sure, in the end they try to tie it all back to Covid, but ultimately, this flimsyly plotted trifle will not stand the test of time. Destined for the trash heap of horror history. 86 min is the runtime of this movie and roughly how long it will take me to forget it.

Kitty cat pig. Oink oink.