Sick

April 2020. Great parts of the United States are in lockdown. Which is why college student Parker and her friend Miri decide to spend quarantine in a gigantic summer home by a lake. But during their first night there, they are attacked by a masked intruder. Much of »Sick« is reminiscent of films like »Scream« and »I Know What You Did Last Summer«. Which should not be surprising, since the screenplay for John Hyams’ claustrophobic slasher movie was written by Kevin Williamson in collaboration with Katelyn Crabb. But this story of an exceedingly bloody night at a lake is more than just an attempt to use the pandemic and its social-distancing rules as the ideal background for a classic slasher-story. As he did with »Alone«, Hyams expertly utilizes the slasherscenes to create a powerful maelstrom that makes the audience almost physically experience the attacks. And this maelstrom has another, rather perplexing effect. Once in it, the clear contrast between good and evil, victim and perpetrator dissolves over time until only sadness and horror remain.