Sick Girl (includes trailer)
September 6th 2010 00:51
MASTERS OF HORROR presents SICK GIRL
Get out the bug spray and prepare for your skin to crawl – Masters Of Horror have done it again with one of their finest instalments yet from horror wunderkind Lucky Mckee, the director of The Woods and the excellent, May.
Sick Girl works on so many levels at once that it’s like a master class in directing, especially considering the low ceiling of it’s b-movie aspirations. The fabulous Angela Bettis, star of May, has been called upon again for her absolutely hilarious and delightful portrayal of social misfit Ita. Bettis played an outcast in Mckee’s previous film May, but completely differently to here. In May, Bettis was frightening, alienated and disturbed, but in Sick Girl she’s quirky, paranoid, off the wall, strangely endearing and highly eccentric. Ita is an entomologist who lives in an apartment filled with wall to wall glass cases of creepy crawlies, which she keeps as pets. Ita is attracted to the fairer sex and unfortunately her love for bugs doesn’t bode well for her when she a female date over at her apartment.
Ita, in all her awkwardness, resembles a real life version of Goofy and regularly pours her heart out to Max, her co-worker, who she divulges her girl troubles to. He gives her dating advice and there is a running joke through out the film over Ita’s stories suppling material for Max’s 6 am shower.
One day Ita returns home to find a grossly large bug waiting for her, sent in a package all the way from Brazil. This bestial looking creature has an almost alien quality to it, defying all normal description of known insect with it’s aggression and killer instincts.
When Ita meets Misty (played the queen bee of erotic trash cinema, Misty Mundae) they hit it off, but Ita’s new aggressive pet creates havoc and threatens to get in between these two lovers and in Misty’s head in the most gruesome way possible. Think Dario Argento’s Creepers meets David Cronenberg’s The Fly in one of the quirkiest, creepy and solidly entertaining horror films in recent memory.
On paper this sounds like truly low brow trash, but director Lucky Mckee takes a fresh character driven approach to the material. Sick Girl takes it’s foundations of gory mutations and lesbianism and instead delivers a film rooted in real world emotions and consequences. Ita’s sadness and frustration concerning her love life is truly tangible and as Mckee did in his first film May, he uses this very vulnerability to mine for resonant emotional horror that strikes a chord with it’s viewer.
The scenes between Ita and Misty have a tender, theatrical poignancy to them, as they get to know each other on their first date. You cringe as Ita comes dangerously close to embarrassing herself in front of Misty, but she is not alone in her nervousness around this new courtship and the scenes have a tenderness that emerge which create a close bond between the audience and both of the girl’s. Misty Mundae show’s real potential here as she rises to the challenge of the film’s subtle comic touches and character driven horror. Misty has had something terrible happen to her and you become more aware of the underlying tension that’s clearly building towards an inevitably gruesome pay off.
Sick Girl plays off the theme of Ita and Misty rushing into their relationship. The dread and gross out visuals take off as Misty becomes more possessed and troubled. We know that there is a doom written all over the future of this happy couple. At the same time you get a sheer thrill out of seeing how it will unfold and how truly disgusting this might actually get as Misty’s behaviour changes, parts of her begin rotting and she gets a taste for worms or cockroaches, depending on which one is in closer reach.
Sick Girl makes the most of it’s 60 minute running time, forcing everything to be very well structured. Constantly multi-layered in it’s story telling, Sick Girl has some powerhouse moments of sublime direction, it’s perfectly paced and not a single shot is wasted as it all wraps tighter around the viewer causing them to grin, squirm and get thoroughly invested into the characters and the horrors which suck us right up.
Fantastic stuff!
My other Master Of Horror review, for IMPRINT can be found here
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
I havn't actually seen the The Woods, but I obviously love May as you do. Maybe have another watch of Sick Girl I think it's impressive simply due to how much is going on in it on all those different levels at once.
Thanks for reading.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Watching it and realizing it was that story all over again wasnt too pleasant for me, so the film was sort of ruined on me.
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
nice wrap up and you have peaked my interest!
Is this commercially available at mainstream DVD stores?
A classic lure in place here too, lesbian lovers.... a lot of straight women secretly like it and straight men love it!
cheers
fog
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
May I recommend you check out May first, which was this director's first film and his best by a long shot (May is available in a lot of places as it has a large cult following). Sick Girl simply felt like an extension of my love for May. May also has Angela Bettis in the lead role and features Anna Ferris in her only decent performance as a lesbian seductress (in fact Ferris is so good in it she's unrecognizable).
As for Sick Girl - The only video store you can rent Sick Girl from that I'm aware of is the Neutral Bay Blockbuster which has an insane collection. If you cant organise that then email me and I can probably lend you a copy as the stores which sell it like Jb hifi would only sell it in the Masters Of Horror boxsets.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Awkward lesbian frolics never go astray either in the entertainment arena.
Comment by Ookie
Some of Bettis' films are only for the art crowd, but May is the best, and Carrie is very good.
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
I loved May and have yet to do a review for it. If you're interested you can see my review for Carrie here
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD