Sick (2022) Review
Spoiler-free so you can read before you watch
Horrorific content by christina on September 14th, 2022 | Movie Review | Home Invasion, Killer, Thriller, Isolation, Virus
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It's about two college girls who are quarantined during the coronavirus pandemic when a home invader comes after them.
Sick was directed by John Hyams (Alone) and stars Gideon Adlon (Witch Hunt, The Craft: Legacy), Beth Million, Dylan Sprayberry (Malibu Horror Story, The Row), Marc Menchaca (No One Gets Out Alive, The Retaliators, and Alone), Jane Adams (Always Shine, The Brute Man, and House of Dracula), Logan Murphy, Charla Bocchicchio, Duane Stephens, and Jihae Song.
As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages, the world, some films and television shows are smartly choosing to acknowledge the global crisis. In these alternate realities, characters are living mask-free while the audience is left to wonder what could have been had the pandemic never happened. Sick is a mean and scary slasher movie that will transport you back to the early days of the pandemic. Directed by John Hyams and co-written by Katelyn Crabb, this movie cleverly uses the vulnerability of that era to isolate and slaughter its ensemble.
The film's opening immediately gives the viewer a sense of dread and unease as we are transported back to the early days of the pandemic. We see shoppers scrambling for supplies, and it is clear that Williamson and his team are going for a more classic horror feel with this film. Phone calls from unknown numbers can quickly turn a familiar setting into a scary one. In Sick, the first ten minutes are fierce, lingering, and frightening. The movie's opening scene is very foreboding and sets the tone for the rest of the film. The audience is in for a lean, mean, relentless horror movie.
The situation here is depressingly simple. During the initial COVID-19 lockdown, Parker and Miri are two college girls quarantined together at a remote lakehouse. Not long after they settle in, they begin to receive mysterious text messages. These messages quickly escalate into a brutal home invasion by a masked assailant. Parker and Miriam are quick to react and eventually discover the horrifying motives of their attacker.
The horror movie "Sick" takes advantage of the culture of the COVID-19 pandemic to create a more frightening story. The use of safety methods like masking, contact tracing, and social distancing makes the movie even more terrifying. For example, in a grocery store, a character receives a photo of themselves taken from behind. When they turn around to look at the crowd for possible suspects, they're greeted by a sea of faceless masked strangers. This is a truly harrowing moment that will send chills down your spine. A horror movie that takes advantage of the fact that everyone is wearing masks is a clever idea. "Sick" is an intelligent movie that knows how to execute this idea.
A new horror movie that tackles the COVID pandemic head-on could be a difficult sell for modern audiences who seem keen to ignore the significant changes of the past few years. However, the fear factor of Williamson and Crabb's script comes from its courageous stance on the reality we are all still facing. We're more isolated than ever, which makes us vulnerable to deadly viruses and potential human killers.
Most of all, I love how scary this movie is. It doesn't spend time on unnecessary things like developing the characters or creating misleading scenes. This horror movie is anything but fun. It's a nonstop rollercoaster of terror, from the first scene to the last. There's no slowdown, no respite from the fear. Home invasion has never been so horrifying.
Worth Watching?
A24's new horror movie Sick is the complete opposite of their previous project, Bodies Bodies Bodies. While Bodies Bodies Bodies had a lot of potentials to be a scary movie, it ultimately failed to deliver on the scares. On the other hand, Sick is a scary movie that will leave you feeling spooked long after the credits have rolled. This horror movie is not pretending to be anything other than what it is: a terrifying and disturbing film. There is no attempt to sugarcoat the terror and violence, which makes it all the more horrific.
