Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Gideon Adlon, Bethlehem Million, Dylan Sprayberry, Marc Menchaca, Jane Adams, Joel Courtney, Chris Reid, Duane Stephens, Logan Murphy.
The inevitability of it all is such that not even a pandemic can stop the forces of a home invasion film revolving around the descent of grief and the need for revenge.
The question of whether events inspire art or does art take the lead has perhaps never been more acutely observed than that in which surfaces in the wake of the Covid pandemic. Everybody has an album that they credit the disease to, all and sundry makes sure that the disease is acknowledged as being part of the process and the inspiration for how the endeavour has shaped the overall consciousness, and cinema is no different in respects to that in which it has been influenced…the difference is that cinema can go further, cinema can turn the influence on its head and give it an edge that makes it perfect for horror.
Coupling it with the scenario of the home invasion, Kevin Williamson and Katelyn Crabb’s presence in their script Sick is worthy of immersing yourself in, if only as a reminde that your actions during the pandemic could have repercussions in the event of cross contamination, in directly influencing their health, and possibly the emotions of death.
Parker Mason is a young woman who has seen the disaster coming and has convinced her friend to run to the sanctuary of a family retreat in the wilderness and ride out the initial surge of the worst pandemic to hit the United States of America in 100 years.
The pandemic though is one that took many lives indiscriminately, and for thousands the fact that they were asymptomatic meant very little, almost without thinking they went about their business in the belief that they were free of the disease; and therefore, Parker Mason is an example of what millions of people around the world did, they condemned others to their own fate.
By placing the pandemic amongst the ritual horror of the home invasion, the creative team behind the film have tapped into the fear of the psyche, the double edge sword that insists we walk under the banner of culpability for our own actions, and the deserved retribution of the anger when someone else’s loved one dies by our lack of thought.
Whilst the home invasion angle has been written many times, the novelty of adding the virus to the situation gives it a delicious thrill, albeit minor, that adds to the performance of Gideon Adlon in the role of Parker.
No doubt as time marches on, the figure of the pandemic will be an ever present when cinema requires a spectre to hang its grip from, and one that in art proves that we perhaps are more directed in aping what we see on screen, for how many, hand on heart, would follow in the footsteps of the supposed wronged.
Ian D. Hall