I think soon enough we’ll be at a point where the new generation of filmmakers will be making movies that reflect on the COVID pandemic and how it traumatized the world. The team of John Hyams, Kevin Williamson, and Katelyn Crab concoct what is easily one of the most clever slasher movies of the year, and yet another genre gem in what promises to be a year full of them. “Sick” is a movie that reflects on a COVID ravaged society that also explores ideas about self responsibility and how actions can have dire consequences.
Best friends Parker and Mary decide to quarantine themselves during the COVID epidemic at Parker’s father’s lakeside cabin for as long as possible. When they arrive, what seems like a serene trip that helps them wait out the lockdown turns in to a nightmare when they’re stalked by a masked intruder with a hunting knife. Merciless and ruthless, the killer is hell bent on murdering both women, especially now that most of civilization is isolated and locked inside.
“Sick” is a marvelous slasher film, one that becomes so much more interesting and complex as it progresses. While it is a classic home invasion thriller with a gnarly slasher, Kevin Williamson and Katelyn Crab also use COVID as a framework for an intriguing narrative. The slasher that intrudes in to the cabin feels perverse in many ways in how nothing is off limits for him. What has become a world of social distancing and masking has gone away with a killer who wants to be up close and personal. The advantage of lockdown becomes one of their strengths in pursuing the girls.
Gideon Adlon and Bethlehem Million are fantastic in the roles of two shaken friends that are warding off COVID paranoia and have to deal with this new threat. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Jane Adams, who is simply incapable of giving a bad performance. There are so many great stalk and slash moments as Hyams is able to build a ton of suspense with such limited setting. Hyams is also able to convey the brutality in the murders as he rarely cuts away from the cat and mouse assaults, even staging a great pursuit on a river raft. “Sick” is a slick Kevin Williamson and Katelyn Crab narrative that invests very heavily in surprises and plot twists, and the movie delivers on every front.
What we think is going to be just a simple slasher film has a great dimension to it that will inspire a lot of audiences to stir in their seats. I often sat dumbfounded with where Williamson and Crab were going, but they inevitably build up to a narrative that explores themes about random actions having tragic consequences, and personal responsibility. The way Williamson and Crab turn the tables on the audience is masterful and I was engaged all the way through to the end. “Sick” is a clever, sometimes genius slasher outing, one that embraces the classic tropes, while subverting them with timely social commentary. I loved it.
Now Streaming on the Peacock.