Sick (2022)

If you think back to the peak days of the global pandemic of 2020 then it makes sense that it would inspire a slasher. Everyone was paranoid, many were isolated from others, and the majority of people were wearing masks anyway. This is the fertile ground explored by writers Kevin Williamson and Katelynn Crabb in Sick. 

After an obligatory opening sequence of tension and death, Sick starts properly when we meet two friends, Parker (Gideo Adlon) and Miri (Bethlehem Million, credited as Beth Million), who are about to quarantine together at a remote house by a lake. They are soon joined by DJ (Dylan Sprayberry). And . . . someone else.

The one thing I knew about Sick was that Kevin Williamson was involved. It's always going to get noticed when such a big name in the slasher sub-genre has a hand in another slasher movie. His involvement had me keen to see this, but I also knew to control my expectations. This was, after all, a slasher movie set during a period of time that many of us would probably prefer to forget. Thankfully, Williamson and Crabb set things up nicely, and gain some goodwill by having the first line of dialogue be someone asking about toilet paper in a store, and there's a tone throughout that respects what we all went through in 2020 while also highlighting how crazy it all was. Many people were driven a bit crazy by the whole situation, and I count myself among them.

Having been familiar with the work of director John Hyams in the action genre, it was a pleasant surprise to see his name pop up here. That's on me, considering his previous forays into thriller and horror territory (with at least one feature and some TV work to his credit, including the fun Z Nation and the fantastic Chucky show). Hyams works well enough with the material, although he doesn't get to show off any of his usual style and ability here. Backgrounds are used well, particularly during the many times that characters in the foreground are oblivious to movement behind them, but the main premise makes it a struggle for Hyams to keep things tense and lively enough throughout the 83-minute runtime.

Adlon and Million are decent in their roles, although it would have been nice to have some more established named placed in the middle of the proceedings, and Sprayberry makes the best of what he's given. Marc Menchaca and Jane Adams are both good value, and Joel Courtney gets to play someone who casts as large a shadow over everything as any masked murderer.

Despite dipping slightly in the middle, Sick works well thanks to a strong start and a great third act. The motivation for the murders is actually quite brilliant, and I was smiling at how obvious and well-handled it was as everything started to fall into place. There's nothing new here, but it feels fresh because of the specific time period. Although I would warn people that, obviously, this isn't necessarily something you'll enjoy if you're still recovering from the collective global trauma that saw so much pain, insanity, and death in such a relatively short period of time.

7/10

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Prime Time: Assimilate (2019)

Zach Henderson and Randy Foster are two young men who decide to film life in and around their small town, trying to get a piece of that YouTube fame (or whatever generic video uploading site is standing in for it). Nothing happens in their town, or so they think. Some new bugs have arrived, bugs that bite people. And once someone is bitten, it’s only a matter of time until they change. With everyone radically changing around them, Zach and Randy end up teaming up with Kayla, desperately trying to avoid assimilation while they figure out the best way to fight back against what looks very much like an invasion of creatures that snatch/swap bodies. Because, yes, this is a teen-friendly reworking of Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers.

Director John Murlowski is an odd figure. His filmography covers a wide range of movies, from one of the many Amityville series entries to the infamous Santa With Muscles, and he has helmed a couple of movies that have pleasantly surprised me (including that Amityville movie). This premise seems like an easy one to get right, and Murlowski does a good job with the material, working from a script that he co-wrote with Steven Palmer Peterson. It’s far from perfect, and may be the least of the films based on this material, but it’s tense and entertaining throughout.

The life cycle of the invader is pieced together well, with characters figuring things out as they face increasingly immediate threats, and the way the town is overtaken is impressively quick and plausible. People are changed, that’s obvious, but the aim is to get the new creations outnumbering the original humans as quickly as possible, and a lot of the changes happening so brazenly make things seem more ridiculous when our leads try to convince others of odd happenings.

Joel Courtney and Calum Worth do well in their roles, playing Zach and Randy, and they come across as likeable enough throughout, even when doing the whole “let’s film everything around us and comment on it” spiel that could have easily been built up to turn this into a painful found footage take on the material, and I am very glad that route wasn’t taken. Andi Matichak is equally good in the role of Kayla, a character also given a little brother to try and protect, just to up the stakes, and all three leads are served well by the script. Some of the supporting players have to overdo the change from normal to blank slate, but Cam Gigandet stands out as a local Sheriff who may or may not end up being a dangerous enemy.

Although I didn’t love this, I liked it well enough. And I like it more when I think of the choices made for what NOT to do. No doing the whole found footage thing is a big plus. Not cramming the film with songs to help sell any accompanying soundtrack album. Having the special effects used pretty sparingly, and therefore making them more effective. There are other films in which these things - format, FX work, banging tunes - can, and have, been used to great effect, but this feels like everything was done to make the film teen-friendly without moving too far away from the simplistic brilliance of the central concept. It features youths at the heart of it all, but never dumbs things down or tries to be “too cool for school”. And the third act adds one or two pleasant surprises.

6/10

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