In ‘Sick,’ COVID’s the frying pan and a slasher’s the fire
Set during the early days of the pandemic, the taut slasher picture “Sick” uses the fear and paranoia of mid-2020 to clever effect. Cowritten by Katelyn Crabb and “Scream” mastermind Kevin Williamson, the film stars Gideon Adlon as Parker, a college kid who is lax about masking and glib about the virus in general, even as she heads up to her family’s remote cabin to quarantine with her best friend, Miri (Beth Million). Parker soon finds that she can’t fully leave the dangers of the outside world behind. First, she gets a visit from her needy ex-boyfriend DJ (Dylan Sprayberry). Then the whole house is terrorized by a shadowy killer, clad in black.
The slasher threat in “Sick” is a metaphor for COVID-19, and for the way everyone once worried that a fleeting mistake — like a mask-slip, or meeting up with a secretly infected person — could be a death sentence. For the most part, “Sick” is just a slickly formulaic mid-budget horror movie, well-crafted by the screenwriters and directed with style and energy by the skilled John Hyams. But the real-world wrinkles aren’t just a cynical way to make the routine more relevant. They give all the bloody murder a meaning.
“Sick.” TV-MA, for violence, coarse language and drug use. 1 hour, 23 minutes. Available on Peacock
‘Kids vs. Aliens’
There are two kinds of aliens in director Jason Eisener’s science-fiction comedy “Kids vs. Aliens.” The movie’s first half is mostly about a nerdy teenage girl named Sam (Phoebe Rex), who gets tired of helping her younger brother Gary (Dominic Mariche) and his friends make DIY superhero movies at their sprawling waterfront Nova Scotia home. When a handsome bad boy classmate named Billy (Calem MacDonald) takes an interest in her, Sam neglects the children and lets a whole pack of wild teens into the house, to drink and party and trash the place.
That’s when the other aliens show up: rampaging monsters from outer space, who don’t care which humans are supposed to be cool and which are geeks, because their only interest is in using them for spaceship fuel. A frenzied and violent chase ensues as Sam rediscovers her inner action hero and fights to save the gang.
“Kids vs. Aliens” never rises above the level of fannish pastiche. Its clumsier and more cliched moments — and there are many — are perhaps meant to be passed off as the kind of stuff Gary and his pals like. But while the script (co-written by Eisener and John Davies) is weak, there is an endearingly scruffy vibe here, goosed by some cool-looking costumes and effects.
“Kids vs. Aliens.” Not rated. 1 hour, 15 minutes. Available on VOD; also playing theatrically, Alamo Drafthouse, downtown Los Angeles
‘There’s Something Wrong With the Children’
There’s a strong idea — too briefly explored — at the center of “There’s Something Wrong With the Children,” a supernatural horror film that’s also about the gulf that develops between old friends when some of them become parents. Zach Gilford and Alisha Wainwright play Ben and Margaret, a childless couple who talk a lot about how they love their freedom. Carlos Santos and Amanda Crew play Thomas and Ellie, who evangelize for fatherhood and motherhood but reluctantly admit that raising two youngsters has left them with too little time to keep their marriage fresh. When their kids disappear down a deep hell-pit near the vacationing couples’ rental home, they mysteriously reappear with new, more mischievous personalities. The subsequent finger-pointing exposes the cracks in the adults’ relationships.
Director Roxanne Benjamin and screenwriters T. J. Cimfel and David White have a good handle on the dynamic between their four leads; and their movie hits its peak in a tense scene where they air their grievances, saying things they can’t take back. But the kids figure into that argument only tangentially. Before they’re possessed by forces from the beyond, the kids are often relegated to the background, brought out only when convenient to the plot. Afterward, they become fairly standard-issue devil-imps, causing damage that only occasionally seems personally targeted toward the grown-ups, in scenes too blandly reminiscent of dozens of other “cabin in the woods” movies. There’s something wrong with the children, all right. The filmmakers can’t figure out what to do with them.
“There’s Something Wrong With the Children.” Not rated. 1 hour, 31 minutes. Available on VOD
‘All Eyes Off Me’
Writer-director Hadas Ben Aroya’s Israeli drama “All Eyes Off Me” is a fine example of a “relay” film, in which a minor character from one section of the movie becomes a major character in the next, and so on. The picture begins with a prologue featuring Danny (Hadar Katz), a free-spirited bisexual at a wild party, looking for Max (Leib Levin), the boy who recently impregnated her. The story then shifts to Max, who has fallen deeply in love with Avishag (Elisheva Weil), who tests his devotion when she asks him to start physically abusing her during sex. The film ends with Avishag crushing on an older and more spiritual man, who is confused about why a beautiful young woman desires him.
Ben Aroya seems more concerned with exploring small moments of awkward human interaction than with making a grand statement. Because of this, there’s an elusiveness to “All Eyes Off Me” that can be a bit frustrating, as Ben Aroya lingers on long, circular conversations — or extended, explicit sex scenes — with no clear goal in mind.
But the film is bracingly frank about the younger generation’s pursuit of sensual pleasure (and pain). And it’s graced by Weil’s superb performance as Avishag. She’s at once fascinating and frightening.
“All Eyes Off Me.” In Hebrew with subtitles. Not rated. 1 hour, 28 minutes. Available on VOD