Sick (2023) - A Review

Sick - the new pandemic movie that dropped just weeks after the 2023 new year, feels a little late to the party.  Granted, virus and pandemic movies have been a staple in horror, even before the Covid virus took hold of our world. Contagion, Carriers, The Crazies, It Comes at Night, Quarantine, and so on. Many of the pre-covid virus movies focus more on the wild-fire spread of an infection that oftentimes takes down entire cities or countries, leading to an end of world conclusion or implication. After covid hit, we had a few covid-specific virus movies, most notably Host, the first horror movie that dealt directly with current event topics like quarantining, masking, and chatting with friends on Zoom. For the next year or so we were in a deluge of covid horror, a few of the more notable ones would be Stay Home, Songbird, and Safer at Home. In 2022 it seemed like we were finally veering away from horror with covid-tones. And then here comes Sick. A movie about a killer that shows up at a remote home where two girls are quarantining. We see tell-tale signs of covid life, like wiping down groceries with disinfectant, wearing masks (and being yelled at for not wearing a mask), long grocery lines, toilet paper shortage, food delivery services, and those awful teen “end of the world” parties. And while we’re still undoubtedly living in a Covid world, watching Sick felt a little like going back in time.

Sick was written by Kevin Williamson - the writer of 1996’s Scream, and perhaps because I knew this, everytime the killer wielded their large knife and chased the unsuspecting screaming young woman around the house, it felt extremely familiar. Even though the whole of the movie lacked the humor and self awareness that Scream is known for, it is very apparent given the entirety of the plot, that it was written by the same writer. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I guess I was just hoping for another flash of brilliance from the mind who brought us Scream. But instead, we got a dulled down covid version of a movie we saw in the ‘90s.

Despite this lack of creativity, I genuinely had fun with Sick. It’s a solid teen slasher with a few good kills and an extremely satisfying final scene. The actors are solid, including our main character Gideon Adlon, who I thought was a terrific final girl. She fought like hell, ran fast, used her brain, and her guttural “get off me” screams were both chilling and powerful. And though I don’t have an eye for directing style, Sick’s director John Hyams also directed Alone, a favorite movie of mine from 2020 about a serial killer who targets a woman traveling alone, and the cat and mouse pursuit that follows. All in all, you could do worse for a late night horror movie at home. Watch with a friend! Without a mask! And cough a few times! It’ll be hilarious. Sick is streaming on Peacock now. Check it out!