when you strip it of its covid gimmick, sick is a slick and well-directed home invasion slasher with some exceptional chase sequences—something the genre’s recent output has been sorely lacking (i’m looking at you, 5cream)—but then, when you place it in conversation with other kevin williamson-penned slashers like scream and i know what you did last summer, its flaws become very apparent…are we settling for mediocrity because none of the genre’s contemporary auteurs can craft a chase sequence quite as masterfully as williamson can? by no means does williamson need to reinvent the wheel every time, but does this movie have anything substantial to offer besides its novelty gimmick and prolonged 30-ish minute chase sequence?

the first act of this movie is a slog, and we can hardly form an attachment to any of the protagonists despite spending so much time with them before shit hits the fan…even miri, the archetypal sidekick (and also most rational character of the bunch), isn’t as personable or charismatic or well-developed as, say, a tatum riley or a helen shivers, let alone a sidney prescott. the second act is an action spectacle for the books—a lesson in tense, nail-biting suspense that doesn’t give viewers even a second to catch their breath. unfortunately, this fleeting moment of greatness dissipates as soon as the killers are unmasked. in the final act, the movie becomes corny—due to the anticlimactic and borderline laughable reveal and its meandering dialogue-oriented nature which stands in stark contrast to the brisk action-packed second act

i consider kevin williamson one of my favorite screenwriters—if not my absolute favorite screenwriter…there, i said it—but this script doesn’t feel on par with the rest of his repertoire. maybe it’s just because i’m tired of hearing about the pandemic at this point, but sick doesn’t feel as clever or as funny as williamson’s earlier work. the height of the pandemic was not even 3 full years ago, yet the jokes are already dated. i have a feeling it won’t age well either, but i could be wrong…maybe this movie will actually become better the farther removed we are from the pandemic?? in the words of katy perry, “time, the ultimate truth teller”

suffice to say, sick is by no means my favorite modern slasher—nor is it my favorite kevin williamson script—but i don’t hate it nearly as much as this review probably makes it seem. i actually had a lot of fun with it (although i don’t think i’ll ever watch it again, oop), and it succeeds in one very crucial area where a lot of other modern slashers fail: chase sequences. this movie is worth watching for the second act alone