There haven't been a lot of highlights in Kevin Williamson’s post-Scream career. I like The Faculty and I Know What You Did Last Summer, but other than that? Teaching Mrs. Tingle was a disaster. Craven and Williamson tried to recreate the winning Scream ticket with Cursed, but from all I’ve heard, the title aptly describes the fraught production. I’ve never seen any of his television work.
Despite all that, Kevin Williamson will always hold a special place in my heart. Scream is a masterpiece. The film manages to be an ironic satire of the genre, but also functions as a genuinely great slasher movie. It also has the best characters of any film of its kind.
I missed Sick when it was released in 2022. I was too busy working, commuting, reading, and writing books to watch a lot of movies at the time. When I heard that Williamson was involved in Sick, I moved it to the front of the line.
Sick is a Covid-era slasher, with the pandemic serving as the focal point of the story. It’s a good idea for a horror film, and in fact the depictions of 2020 conditions are the most frightening aspects of the movie. God, did we really live through all that? It seems like a bad dream.
In Scream tradition, there’s a pre-credits murder to set up the story. From there a pair of young women retreat to a secluded cabin, where they intend to hang out, drink, and cut loose a little. That’s nothing new for them. They’ve been partying a lot, often in defiance of the pandemic dictates.
A male friend crashes their sleepover, and before you know it, a stalker is on the hunt.
Slasher movies often have convoluted motivations for their killers. In Sick, the reasons are chillingly plausible.
Covid-19 could have brought America closer together. We should have united and did whatever it takes to prevent more deaths and ease the conditions for first responders. Instead we got conspiracy theories, hysteria, rage, blame, and hatred.
Did the whole thing get blown out of proportion? Was it really a global conspiracy to decimate the population?
Would it have killed people to simply go along with the mandates? Stay home, mask up when you must go out, and get the vaccination. Vaccinations help us combat polio, tuberculosis, chicken pox, rabies, diphtheria, whooping cough, and other maladies.
I wasn’t surprised about the pandemic. What surprises me is how we haven’t had more deadly mass infections. Thanks are due for the medical researchers who labor to prevent them.
Yes, I got the Death Jab, as some called the vaccination. I didn’t hesitate to do so, but I admit I was a little nervous going in.
One of the biggest arguments was that the vaccine was developed too quickly. I choose to believe that a lot of heroic people, many of the smartest and most capable in the entire world, worked around the clock to see it through.
I ain’t dead yet, despite my best friend assuring me I would die if I took the shot. I might add that he is now dead after getting Covid a couple of times, followed by pneumonia and organ failure.
This may seem off-topic, but it really isn’t. Watch Sick and see what I mean.
Sick is an effective slasher, slickly made, with good performances, and some juicy death scenes. I was unfamiliar with the exception of Jane Adams, who I’ve liked since I first noticed her in Todd Solondz’s Happiness. Adams also appeared in some Joe Swanberg movies I like a lot.
Sick is worth a watch for slasher completists. It’s also an acute reminder of a time that is quickly fading from memory, even while the effects of Covid-19, both medical, and social, continue to plague us.
Written by Mark Sieber
Despite all that, Kevin Williamson will always hold a special place in my heart. Scream is a masterpiece. The film manages to be an ironic satire of the genre, but also functions as a genuinely great slasher movie. It also has the best characters of any film of its kind.
I missed Sick when it was released in 2022. I was too busy working, commuting, reading, and writing books to watch a lot of movies at the time. When I heard that Williamson was involved in Sick, I moved it to the front of the line.Sick is a Covid-era slasher, with the pandemic serving as the focal point of the story. It’s a good idea for a horror film, and in fact the depictions of 2020 conditions are the most frightening aspects of the movie. God, did we really live through all that? It seems like a bad dream.
In Scream tradition, there’s a pre-credits murder to set up the story. From there a pair of young women retreat to a secluded cabin, where they intend to hang out, drink, and cut loose a little. That’s nothing new for them. They’ve been partying a lot, often in defiance of the pandemic dictates.
A male friend crashes their sleepover, and before you know it, a stalker is on the hunt.
Slasher movies often have convoluted motivations for their killers. In Sick, the reasons are chillingly plausible.
Covid-19 could have brought America closer together. We should have united and did whatever it takes to prevent more deaths and ease the conditions for first responders. Instead we got conspiracy theories, hysteria, rage, blame, and hatred.
Did the whole thing get blown out of proportion? Was it really a global conspiracy to decimate the population?
Would it have killed people to simply go along with the mandates? Stay home, mask up when you must go out, and get the vaccination. Vaccinations help us combat polio, tuberculosis, chicken pox, rabies, diphtheria, whooping cough, and other maladies.
I wasn’t surprised about the pandemic. What surprises me is how we haven’t had more deadly mass infections. Thanks are due for the medical researchers who labor to prevent them.
Yes, I got the Death Jab, as some called the vaccination. I didn’t hesitate to do so, but I admit I was a little nervous going in.
One of the biggest arguments was that the vaccine was developed too quickly. I choose to believe that a lot of heroic people, many of the smartest and most capable in the entire world, worked around the clock to see it through.
I ain’t dead yet, despite my best friend assuring me I would die if I took the shot. I might add that he is now dead after getting Covid a couple of times, followed by pneumonia and organ failure.
This may seem off-topic, but it really isn’t. Watch Sick and see what I mean.
Sick is an effective slasher, slickly made, with good performances, and some juicy death scenes. I was unfamiliar with the exception of Jane Adams, who I’ve liked since I first noticed her in Todd Solondz’s Happiness. Adams also appeared in some Joe Swanberg movies I like a lot.
Sick is worth a watch for slasher completists. It’s also an acute reminder of a time that is quickly fading from memory, even while the effects of Covid-19, both medical, and social, continue to plague us.
Written by Mark Sieber
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