Sick

Being a killer in slasher films during the COVID era is no walk in the park. You may have respiratory protection, but what about those two-meter distancing rules? It's sympathetic for its dynamism and rawness of action, as well as its grounding in the offered space, and how Kevin Williamson even plays with the COVID madness in the twist. However, the unrealistic resurrections and unnecessary logical lapses eventually put it in the quarantine of mediocrity. It’s a pity the killer didn’t don a rubber mask. Pennywise and Art the Clown from Terrifier would have had a worthy competitor. (23.01.2023)

Eine Neuheit von dem Horrorfilm-Drehbuchautor, der durch die Scream-Filme berühmt wurde. Ein schablonenhafter, aber nahrhaft scharfer, schwungvoller und handwerklich hochwertiger Slasher-Film mit kopierten sowie überraschenden Momenten. Über das Covid-Motiv muss man eher schmunzeln, es ist aber potenziell real. Die Menschen sind verrückt. (04.03.2023)

A home invasion/slasher film with a Covid theme and the first nice piece this year. The story a classic template. A group of friends go to a remote lake house to spend lockdown, but they are ambushed by an aggressive killer. It doesn't have the classic slasher props (the killer doesn't have a cool mask, he's not immortal, his reveal isn't shocking and he doesn't have a slow walk), but it does have a great touch of Scream. The killer's running, the knife, the aggression, and he doesn't fight with his victims. After the opening 30 minutes of introductions, the film picks up a great pace and doesn't let up until the end. The murders are both imaginative and quite enjoyably gory, the victims and the bad guy get a good beating and the pain comes through, which is very welcome. In terms of craftsmanship, it's also a job well done, absolutely no reservations here (the CGI fire at the end is surprisingly cool), and I have to praise the twist/motivation of the killer, it’s refreshing and definitely unexpected in the genre. The only thing that annoyed me was the adherence to the covid rules, but you can ignore that. Otherwise it's a very enjoyable, entertaining and very action-packed genre film, and I'm happy to throw in an extra star. 7/10 (14.01.2023)

An enjoyable home invasion film that besides its maturity also benefits from a great "parody" of the Covid era, which is hilariously apt. Most slashers fall down on the stupidity of the main characters, the dullness of the killers, the lack of innovation or the uninteresting setting, but Sick doesn’t have any of those problems. The characters and the killer are reasonably intelligent within the genre, the setting of a secluded lakeside villa is attractive enough to keep the viewer entertained by the chases around the neighbours and not lose interest, and technically the film is also okay. For a slasher, Sick is certainly the better thing to come along in recent years and the short running time makes it a pretty brisk evening's entertainment. (14.01.2023)