Let’s face it, Covid is a thing we’re probably going to have to deal with for some time as it’s been around for three years and no signs of going away soon. While most horror movies have used viruses, plagues and diseases as back stories, Covid will probably be used at the backstory on several horrors/thrillers for years to come.
Glass Onion was set during May of 2020. Then, you had Songbird, released in December of 2020 that was set in 2024 as the world is in quarantine. I haven’t seen it but it got bad reviews. And from what I saw, it doesn’t look very appealing. Sick, is the latest movie with a Covi backstory and it’s not too bad.
The movie written by Kevin Williamson, who first burst on to the scene in 1996 with his surprise slasher hit Scream, pens the movie. The beginning starts out with a young man, Tyler Murphy (Joel Courtney), out shopping at a big-box store where the shelves are mosly bare. He gets a text while shoping of someone asking him if he wants to party. Then, he gets a picture of himself waiting in line at the check-out register. He goes home to his apartment where he is attacked by an assailant dressed in black with a black face mask who kills him.
Then we cut to two college students, Parker Mason (Gideon Adlon) and Miri Woodlow (Beth Million), who are leaving to go to the lake house belonging to Parker’s parents for quarentine. It’s the first weekend in April 2020 at which many schools and businesses were starting to shelter-in-place more seriously as people started dying. It’s a huge two-door house with a log-cabin look. But they get strange texts too about if they want to party and telling them to swim in the lake because the water’s warm.
Of course, the Gen Zers they are, Parker and Miri are almost always on their phones, talking selfies or posting online. The lake house is isolated for a few miles in each direction, Parker assures, as they will be alone. But later that night, D.J. Cole (Dylan Sprayberry), an so-so boyfriend of Parker’s, shows up giving them a little scare. But since Parker has posted where they are, he follows them there hoping to rekindle some of their relationship.
D.J. shows Parker a video he saw online of her kissing some young man named Benji at a recent party, but Parker says they’re not exclusive. A little argument ensues and then everyone goes off to bed as D.J. says he’ll leave in the morning. He crashes on the couch, plugging his phone in the charger next to it. Parker goes off to bed and charges her phone too.
But the mysterious person in black is lurking through the house collecting their phones. And soon they are all fighting and running for their lives. Who the person is turns out to be a nice twist as well as how all these connects with Tyler. The movie is directed by John Hyams, son of filmmaker Peter Hyams, manages to draw some good suspense. There’s something eeire about the person lurking around the house.
At only 83 minutes including credits, it runs just as long as it needs to even though the darkness makes some scenes hard to see. Both Hyams and Williamson know they’re making a low-budget slasher with a small cast. I will say while some might have made the person or persons terrorizing them anti-vaxxers, they are in fact very serious about Covid. The movie is made through Blumhouse Productions which often have a social commentary about their movies.
But Williamson at 57 seems to still know more about today’s youth than he did back in the 1990s. Parker, Miri and D.J., like a lot of young Gen Zers and college kids, have a feeling of living forever. They view this as just another time to have a road trip and party. They turn Dr. Anthony Fauci into a drinking game while watching the news. And even when D.J. shows up uninvited, they still have a little fun. Imagine what it would be like be young, no adults around, no school to worry about and you have access to your parents’ liquor cabinet.
Sick is currently streaming on Peacock. It’s good and worth watching if you just want to watch something that you don’t really have to think about. Hopefully, you don’t get Covid, but if you do, it’d be a good movie to watch in quarentine.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 