Movie Review: Although the framing device of COVID-19 may leave some viewers cold, Sick is aptly titled due to its clever camera movements, brutal action sequences, and polished design. A win for director John Hyams.
Sick is the latest action/horror picture from director John Hyams. It’s his follow-up to the 2020 film Alone and feels like a natural successor for the filmmaker. In both movies, protagonists are quickly pushed into a battle to save their own lives from relentless attackers that feel just shy from being the boogeyman reincarnated. While Alone takes place mostly in the outdoors wilderness, Sick opts for a luxurious remote cabin secluded from neighbors and the outside world.
I’m not too familiar with much of Hyams’ work beyond his last few releases, but it’s clear the veteran director has a keen eye for long action set pieces and grueling confrontations between good and evil. It’s also worth noting that his films rarely venture into the territory of being flashy. While he may have the skill and talent for a big budget project in the future, these aren’t that. Alone was a limited release in theaters and Sick went straight to Peacock.
I’d also be curious to see how Hyams picks his projects because he has very few writing credits to his portfolio at this moment. Alone was written by Mattias Olsson and Sick was co-written by Katelyn Crabb and Kevin Williamson (whose other credits include three Scream films and I Know What You Did Last Summer). I bring this up because for all the heavy lifting that John Hyams does with his slick camera transitions and punishing physical plot devices, there are some choices in the script that hold back the punch of what he’s accomplishing.
In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Parker (played by Gideon Adlon) and Miri (Bethlehem Million) choose to stow away at Parker’s lavishly decorated lake cabin to avoid possible contamination from the outside world. Although not entirely convinced that the virus is as dangerous as medical scientists and media corporations are claiming that it is, the two college students use this as an opportunity to disconnect from their friends and family around them.
That is until their first night turns deadly when multiple individuals slowly begin to enter the picture, including Parker’s on-again, off-again fling DJ (Dylan Sprayberry). Their harmless getaway soon becomes a fight to save their own lives in a film that pulls off one twist and turn after another.
This premise allows seasoned visionary John Hyams to stage cleverly placed tension points throughout the extended setting of a lake cabin surrounded by trees and water. It’s clear that from both the film’s visceral cold open and its ramping tension throughout the exposition that Hyams knows when to show his cards or when to hold them close to his chest. Sick milks every second of the clock in order to hide information from the audience, and Hyams uses long tracking shots to great effect and works with lighting to develop a specific tone for the film.
More Reviews for Horror Movies like The Pope’s Exorcist (2023)
But I also imagine that he may be stretching the tense moments because he knows where the weaknesses are within the story. Its COVID-19 framing device is downright laughable at points and it comes to a head in a final revelation that nearly tanks that Hyams had worked so hard to achieve up to that point. Once the intentions of the intruders are fully revealed, it’s like watching a trainwreck happen in real time.
When this point happens in the film, Sick becomes less like a lean thriller with enough inventiveness to feel fresh and more like a typical Halloween film where Michael Myers just won’t die. An eerily deranged performance by Marc Menchaca manages to salvage some of the blown energy, but I couldn’t help but feel let down by how Sick chooses to end its story. Rather than being a tight genre exercise, it becomes a hollow critique on a generation that faux-doesn’t care about how COVID may affect us.
Even with a lacking story to combine with a highly orchestrated execution, Sick manages to stick out from typical thriller/horror fodder that lands on streaming services year after year. About two acts through, I was genuinely digging it – I basically had no fingernails left. The performances by both Gideon Adlon and Bethlehem Million are equally as winking as, say, the meta Bodies Bodies Bodies from last year, but they’re just in a film less interested in visual flare for style. Sick feels more like a perfectly concise Shudder release as opposed to what A24 typically goes for.
So while its commentary on generational concerns and COVID-19 may ring hollow and cause a few eyerolls, I still dug enough of what John Hyams accomplishes to recommend it to a fan of the genre. If you can’t stomach the despondent classics of The Strangers or You’re Next, maybe steer clear of this one. But if you’re a sick (no pun intended) and twisted individual like me, Sick may be right up your alley.
Sick is available to stream on Peacock Premium
\Sick Movie Cast and Credits
Cast
Gideon Adlon as Parker
Bethlehem Million as Miri
Dylan Sprayberry as DJ
Marc Menchaca as Jason
Jane Adams as Pamela
Joel Courtney as Tyler
Crew
Director: John Hyams
Writers: Kevin Williamson, Katelyn Cobb
Cinematography: Yaron Levy
Editor: Andrew Drazek
Composer: Nima Fakhrara
Sick movie on Letterboxd
Sick movie on IMDb
1 thought on “Sick Movie Review: A Lean and Mean Thriller By John Hyams”
Comments are closed.