Sick is as good as you’d expect from a thriller horror movie about covid made for a streaming service you probably don’t have. The film certainly has its moments of competence, but it derails and is only worth the trouble if you have nothing else to watch.
The movie takes us back to the time of Covid lockdowns. Toilet paper is out of stock, people sanitize everything, masks are mandatory, and everyone stands six feet apart. A killer is hunting down seemingly random teens, but we won’t know why till the end. The movie will focus on a pair of college girls who quarantine at a secluded cabin. But the killer has followed them to their haven. The two must now run for their lives as they try to survive the night. Can they make it out of quarantine alive?
The acting is fine, but the leads aren’t good enough scream queens to carry the movie. The weakness in their abilities is particularly noticeable towards the end after the climax. I think they did the best they could with what they were given, but I don’t think they would do better in a different movie. The story is dumb, but I appreciate that there was an attempt at creating deeper characters. It was an attempt that ultimately fails, but it was nice to see characters that aren’t the usual archetypes. The movie isn’t terrible. Some very well-done tense and suspenseful moments were pretty scary, but the movie loses its momentum towards the end, making it a flop in my book.
They ran out of ideas after the big reveal. The ending is disappointing. There are a lot of issues with the realism of the movie that I could have forgiven if this movie was more fun. People in this movie tend to teleport and gain almost superhuman survival abilities when the plot asks for it. It isn’t so I suggest you skip it unless you are starving for content.
There isn’t much more to say about this movie. It is a dumb thriller based on a simple concept that doesn’t pan out all the way. You can stream it on Peacock, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it unless you’re starving for content.
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Isolation is a pretty common trope to the slasher flicks, and if the ad is anything to judge by, it hits those beats pretty steadily. Instead of sex being the kiss of death, it’s unsafe COVID interactions. The random killer has a connection revealed in that final twist, again, a classic trope right out of Friday the 13th. There is that classic slasher humour for the set up of that “Do you have a mask?” scene while the Final Girl bangs on the car door for help. Makes one wonder how many more COVID themed movies we will see in the near future or some return to the Cronenberg style body horror of infection.
Thanks for the review, I can shuffle this one towards the bottom of the pile to check out.
I didn’t even think about the lack of sex in this movie. I like that the genre is evolving its tropes a bit, but I don’t think this movie pushed its self far enough. It has some solid horror moments, but it clearly ran out of ideas towards the end. They do a lot of humor involving masks and social distancing, by that time the scene you mention came around, I was pretty numb to it. I have noticed that a lot of media has been involving Covid culture and it is going to be interesting how it will shape storytelling moving forward. If you are going to watch this movie, I suggest you start to skip around when it slows down. Thanks for reading!
Good.
Thanks