Sick

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?

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 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.

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.