Directed by John Hyams, “Sick” is a horror slasher set during the global lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The horror that the coronavirus brought into our daily lives is still fresh in our minds, and on top of it, there is a man with a knife going around killing people. There is fear and panic all around; everyone is scared of the unknown, and getting away with a little sneeze in a convenience store is almost impossible. “Mask up” is the most commonly used phrase, and physical contact with a stranger is almost driving people into a state of frenzy.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Summary: What Is The Film About?
The camera follows a young man, Tyler, at a convenience store. The war for the last roll of tissue is very real. People are panic buying; after all, no one knows for how long they will be staying inside their houses. Tyler showed interest when he received a text asking him if he wanted to party, but he did not know the sender. Even after asking him to reveal his identity multiple times, the sender continued to tease him. The condition of attending the party was that he had to test negative, further adding to the mystery of the stranger. While Tyler tried to ignore the texts, he was a little shaken when the stranger texted him a picture of him from the convenience store. Someone was following him, but why?
After reaching his apartment, Tyler realized that the door was unlocked. Soon after locking the door, the television started automatically. Tyler was frightened, and he guessed that the stalker had followed him to his apartment. A man in black clothes attacked him from behind with a knife. Tyler resisted with all his strength, but it was not enough to defeat him. By tricking him, the man stabbed Tyler to death. After Tyler’s death, we are introduced to two girls—Miri and Parker. They were traveling to Parker’s lake house to spend the quarantine together in isolation. The house was perfect for quarantine since there were no other houses nearby apart from a house across the lake. The two uploaded pictures of the exotic house to their social media accounts. While they were excited about their stay, Parker was confused when she received a text from a stranger. The message indicated that he was aware of the conversation they were having. Miri believed that it must be someone who noticed their social media updates and wanted to spook them. The girls ignored the texts, but clearly, the same man in black clothes who killed Tyler was following them. What was the connection between the two girls and Tyler? What was the masked man after?
‘Sick’ Ending Explained: Who Was Killer Hiding Behind The Mask? Did Miri And Parker Survive In The End?
The sudden ring of the doorbell left Miri and Parker horrified. Parker held a knife close to her as she bravely opened the door, but no one was in sight. As they turned around, they noticed DJ, their friend. DJ came to the house unannounced after checking Parker’s social media. He was in love with her, but they were not officially together. She was not looking for a serious commitment and feared falling in love with him. There was an emotional connection between the two, but Parker tried to hide her feelings. The three partied that night in the basement, using the sanitizer spray as their party gear! Tired after all the alcohol and weed they consumed, they decided to call it a night. DJ went to sleep in the living room while the girls slept in their separate rooms. The man in black removed their phones as they peacefully slept. DJ suddenly woke up from his sleep, noticed his missing phone, and realized that there was someone else in the house.
DJ reached out to Parker and asked her to get to the car while he tried to save Miri. The stranger was about to attack Miri, but luckily, DJ reached her at the right moment. He asked Miri to run to the car while he tackled the man. Even after putting up a great fight, DJ was overpowered and brutally murdered. The girls tried to drive away, but they soon realized that the tires were punctured. Parker and Miri entered the house and tried to escape through the window, but Miri fell off the roof and broke her leg. Parker managed to attack the stranger and smash his head in. But she soon noticed another man enter through the door. He was emotional upon noticing the body of the other stranger. Even though for a second, Parker felt a sense of relief after bashing the man, she now realized she had another person to deal with. After running out of the house, she noticed Miri was lying on the ground and was alive. She asked her to pretend to be dead while she tackled the stranger. She crossed the lake, and the man followed her to the neighbor’s house. He killed Mr. Louise, the neighbor, and Parker was back running for her life.
After reaching the road, she stopped a car. The woman driving refused to allow Parker to enter her vehicle without her mask on. She offered her an extra mask that she was carrying, which turned out to be laced with chloroform. The woman and the man brought Parker back to the house. She conducted a COVID test on Parker and waited for her to regain consciousness. Parker learned that the man she killed a while back was the couple’s elder son. They explained that they were after Parker because of the party she organized, which resulted in many people testing positive. They blamed her for not taking the necessary protection during the pandemic and risking the lives of others. They tracked down Tyler and killed him because he was the one who infected Parker. Benji, the man Parker kissed at the party, was their younger son who died alone in the hospital after getting infected.
Parker’s test result was positive, and while Parker was surprised because she did not have any symptoms of the viral disease, Pamela explained that she was asymptomatic. During their conversation, the man noticed that someone was trying to connect to the house’s WIFI, and they concluded that it must be her other friend. While Jason went out to search for her, Miri attacked Pamela from behind, and they pushed her out of a window. When Jason returned, the girls were ready. They pushed him off the first floor, and he landed on a decorative antler. The girls ran to the garage and tried to drive a jeep, but it had run out of battery. As they were searching for an alternative, Pamela came running at them with an axe. With no other option in hand, Miri set her on fire. Pamela ran for her life, but she eventually collapsed on the road and died. Covered in blood, the girls survived an unimaginable night. As dawn broke and police cars approached the house, the horror was finally over.
While the lockdown phase was a horror show in itself, “Sick” plays around with dark comedy to elevate the panic and stress that people experienced. Jason and Pamela had lost their minds after losing their younger son, especially at a time when they could not be there with him during his last minutes. They could not seek revenge on a virus; therefore, they wanted to murder those who were partially responsible for his death. They did not have an answer when Parker questioned them about why Benji was at the party kissing a stranger. The parents believed that only by killing Parker and Tyler would they be able to bring some peace into their lives. While it is pretty sick to think of, if people started killing those who got them infected, it would surely have been a bloody, messy apocalypse.
“Sick” is a 2023 Drama Horror film directed by John Hyams.
