Customer Reviews

Masters of Horror: Lucky McKee - Sick Girl

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

It's a common flaw for the MOH series: you're tossed an idea that wouldn't make for a bad little horror story, but the execution is ruinous and the tension is deflated by a running time that's forty minutes too long. Take "Sick Girl," for example.

An entomologist who has a bad habit of taking her work home with her loses in her apartment a bizarre Brazilian bug. This happens at about the same time that she finds an equally bizarre girlfriend. The two sexy ladies frolick and cavort, but one of them has an encounter with the AWOL insect, an encounter that leaves her ... altered. What fate lies in store for the lovers? What will become of the strictly conservative granny-ish landlady? The lovably sexist coworker? The adorable little girl in the ladybug costume?

This horror-less gem takes an hour to answer these questions, and by the time they're resolved, it's hard to remember why you were ever supposed to care. Adding to the mix of Reasons Why This Thing Bites is the incompetent acting of our two lesbian leads. I'll admit I know little about horror veteran Erin Brown, but if her performance here as Misty Falls is any indication, she's very good at moaning, screaming, and looking through her bangs in a sultry, come-hither kind of way. And that's all she's good at. Angela Bettis was great in "May," but she performs every scene here with the studied grace of a telephone pole, and she delivers every line as if she just underwent orthodontic surgery. If those idiosyncracies are meant to be intentional, then I guess at least they're employed with some consistency, but I found them grating. They are to acting what constipation is to reticence.

Worst of all, however, is the tongue-in-cheek attempt of the movie to make a sly little statement about true love, about infidelity and dedication, and about the supernaturally wholesome power of childbirth and rearing. I'm known for reading too much into things, and I (really really really) don't want to give the MOH overlords any more credit than they're due, but there was so much empty space in the script that they had to fill it with something. Instead of tension, spookiness, or dread -- y'know, stuff you'd expect in a horror -- there's a lot of pablum about relationships and dating. It doesn't take much of a leap to see there's a theme at play, and it's as flat and uninspired as every other part of the product. I'm not saying I disagree with the message (such as it is), but the delivery needs some serious work. Or maybe just an econo-sized can of industrial-strength Raid.

This movie is just great, I saw it for the first time on Showtime In Australia and cannot wait to see it again. Its got a great plot and some very interesting characters. There are also some very sensual girl on girl scenes, although not very graphic (sorry guys). Its got a wonderful director and the fans of the movie May will not be disappointed. Angela Bettis plays a more gown up role in this movie and also sports a deeper voice (probably added for effect). This movie is well paced and kept me interested all the way though, don't miss this gem!

The Masters of Horror Series has a tendency to over-emphasize the "Master" part. While Lucky McKee may be well on his way to entering that hall, he is by no means a master. But at the very least, he does direct horror movies. (When did half these guys become "Masters of Horror"? Was I Sleeping?)
Anyway I loved his first movie "May" but never saw his second one "The Woods" So I went into this flick with almost no expectations what-so-ever. And what I got was a lesbian love story with a 6-legged twist. The best way I can descibe it is if "David Cronenberg" directed an episode of "Tales from the Crypt".
There's relatively no blood in this film. (Something I generally need in a horror movie) And yet suprisingly I wasn't disappointed. The acting was pretty convincing. (Which I think was a good distraction from the lack of gore.) Misty Mundae played the childish, fast-talking, artist Misty, and Angela Bettis seemed at home as the "stiff as a stiff" entimologist Ida Teeter. They did such a good job with their roles, they actually forced me to like the characters. Even the supporting cast was enjoyable.
The plot was straight foward. Lesbian gets a bug in the mail; Lesbian falls in love; Bug bites Lesbians Lover; Lover becomes impregnated with bugs love children and as a result completely flips out of her brain cell.
All in all, it was a quick story, with good pacing, a few gross out scenes to drive it along, believable acting, hokey yet enjoyable special effects, (I don't know if I mentioned naked lesbians, or not), a hilarious scene in a chinese restaurant, all ultimately leading to its metamorphic ending, which will disappoint some but please most.
1 Star for the pace
1 for the characters (What can I say? I Love Lesbians)
1 for the gross-out factor,
(Her ear, the pillow, and finally the metamophisis) and
1 Star for the twists & turns
(o.k. so there's only 1 or 2 minor twists;
but this flick deserves a 4th star because its definitly
better than average)
MORAL OF THE STORY: Safe Sex means Checking your Pillows
for Man-Eating Bugs

I have not seen all of the series but I was disappointed with the ones I did of the Masters of Horror. That being said Lucky McKee in my humble opinion is not a Master of Horror. This is a good little horror film really well done. A really strange and well told story of a Lesbian entomologist.

Masters of Horror: Sick Girl (Lucky McKee, 2006)

I've been a fan of the Masters of Horror series for a while, but one of those I've never been able to track down until now is the one I always figured would be my favorite, Sick Girl. Lucky McKee is one of those artists who makes far too few pictures (in fact, if you consider Sick Girl a short--it weighs in at exactly sixty minutes--McKee has directed only three features, and co-directed a fourth, since he burst on the scene in 2001), and since everything he releases is a gem, that can be frustrating. Put McKee and Angela Bettis together and every time, at least so far, the result has been magic. Really, there was no way to go wrong with this. Then I popped it in, once I'd finally gotten my hands on a copy, and I see the name "Erin Brown" go by. And I start thinking, "why does that name sound so familiar?" And it just wouldn't come to me. Then, a few minutes later, I see one of the most downright beautiful women in all of film, and it's as if someone had wheeled in a huge cake and strippers had jumped out of it, right in my living room: LUCKY MCKEE IS DIRECTING MISTY MUNDAE! (Erin Brown is Mundae's real name.) Misty Mundae, the most beautiful softcore star on the planet! Honestly, I can't even begin to imagine a better definition of "all's right with the world" than that.

Plot: Ida (Bettis, who teamed up with McKee in May), an attractive but socially awkward entomologist, has just had her most recent girlfriend break up with her because she was "really creeped out" by Ivy's menagerie of pet insects. Ida's landlord, Miss Beasley (Marcia Bennett, who's appeared in both of McKee's features since this came out), isn't happy with them either, though her granddaughter Betty (Presumed Dead's Chandra Cain, cute as a button) thinks Ida and her bug collection is the bees' knees, no pun intended. (Betty has a thing for dressing as a ladybug; it's rare you'll see her dressed in anything but a ladybug costume in the entire movie.) In any case, Ida is girlfriend-less, and her jock-macho-chick-obsessed co-worker Max (Jesse Hlubik, another McKee veteran, who most recently teamed up with the director in Red)'s advice isn't helping much. Max does, however, get her to work up the courage to approach the odd, seemingly shy artist who spends her days in the lobby of the building sketching things. While said artist seems just as nervous and socially awkward as Ida, she eventually introduces herself as Misty (Brown), tossing off a self-deprecating "I'm not a hippie!" afterwards, and the two of them end up making a dinner date. Magic happens. However, just before magic happens, Ida is sent a mysterious package from Brazil containing a kind of bug she's never seen before. She means to take it into work and have Max take a look at it to see if the two of them can puzzle out what it is, but it gets loose. And, this being a horror flick, it is of course no ordinary bug...

As I suspected, it's impossible to go wrong with Lucky McKee. It's even more impossible to go wrong with a juxtaposition of Lucky McKee and Misty Mundae, who despite being known for appearing in bad softcore movies, does have some pretty solid acting chops when pushed to do something with them (as she is here). Sean Hood (currently writing the Conan reboot)'s script is overflowing with black, black comedy and features the kind of fountains-of-gore climax that you can't help but laugh at while being repulsed by; it's easily his best work to date. Sick Girl is some kind of perfect storm of creativity all coming together at once. This has been the case with a number of Masters of Horror episodes (when was the last time Joe Dante directed something as good as Homecoming, or Billy Zane act as well as he did in Imprint, for example?), but Sick Girl stands out even in a high-class crowd. As much as I loved Argento's Jenifer, this one's even better. ****

Although this entry in the "Masters of Horror" series is very light on chills, it followed the formula of other installments from Season 1- Deer Woman, Pick Me Up, Haeckel's Tale, Dance of the Dead etc and it delivered on being goofy. Argento's "Jenifer" differed in that it counteracted it with insanely grotesque and disturbing moments, this one, is surprisingly mild. If the gratuitous bare breast scenes were omitted, "Sick Girl" could have been a PG-13 rated Sci-Fi comedy that may please some but infuriate those who are in need of thrills, chills and graphic horror. With that sad, this quirky entry is highly watchable thanks largely to the over the top performance of Angela Bettis who plays a gentle but nerdy entomologist who is in search of love and just when the perfect girl (Erin Brown) enters her life, a mysterious insect (who was sent to her via mysterious circumstances from Brazil) infects the girlfriend thus jeopardizing the relationship and their very lives. There are a few moments of slimy gore and the climax is decent enough however more was needed to make this truly frightening. I will admit, I am not familiar with Lucky McKee's work. Maybe if I had watched some of his previous work, I would have known what to expect from this. As I already mentioned, Bettis' performance is what kept me entertained. She puts everything she has into her peculiar character in need of love and acceptance and her quirky accent and tone just adds to the fun factor. Brown's performance is not as memorable but she isn't bad either and it's not her fault her character is a little lackluster however since she does become the insects feeding ground, she has the opportunity to make her character a bit more interesting and she does.

"Sick Girl" is a twisted mix of Sci-Fi and comedy with little to no suspense and no real scares. It does offer some mild gore, insect FX and mutations, truly ridiculous characters and a love triangle involving an unlikely threesome. It may not scare you the way you expected but you may find yourself being entertained regardless. Not the best of the series but not the worst either and if you are a fan of Angela Bettis, you definitely want to give this odd little love story a try.

Angela Bettis (May, Toolbox Murders, The Circle) teams up w/ Erin "Misty Mundae" Brown (Shock-O-Rama, Bite Me!) in Lucky McKee's sci-fi / horror / comedy about two gals in love who wind up w/ a major insect problem. Bettis and Brown are perfectly cast as hormonally charged lovers, one an entomologist the other an artist, unaware that a huge bug has escaped in their apartment and has nefarious plans to reproduce! SICK GIRL is a thoroughly enjoyable story w/ some humorous twists and gross-out turns. Well worth owning...

Others may have their favourites, but this one is mine! It has no boring elements in it anywhere, Angela Bettis is superb as the quirky entemologist, even better than her performance as the title lead in "May", (another good movie to watch if you haven't already seen it) but the star of "Sick Girl", for me, is the cutest little green leaf bug I have ever seen; witness him waving his little arms around as though in a greeting, so sweet! This episode has everything, interest, originality, great sets, great effects, quirky lesbian relationship, and insects; most of all, that sweet little leaf bug, a star in his own right! Delightful.

Other good ones in the series, for different reasons: "Imprint" and "Haeckel's Tale".

Really enjoyed this somewhat bent tale. Effects were great, acting superb (loved angela's character) and a very amusing ending. As far as the "hot lesbian action" referred by another reviewer? Were you watching the same movie? Bit of kissing and that's about it. Could have gone further with that part of the story but otherwise very enjoyable "masters of horror" bugfest.

Promising horror director Lucky McKee (May, The Woods) makes his Masters of Horror debut with this first season contribution. Sick Girl re-unites McKee and his May star Angela Bettis (Toolbox Murders) who plays a bug obsessed entomologist. After receiving a package containing a very large, and very aggressive, kind of bug the likes no one has ever seen before, she embarks in a heated affair with a shy girl (Erin Brown, better known as sexy softcore queen Misty Mundae) who has a few secrets of her own. From that point on, a bug bite turns both girl's worlds upside down, especially when one becomes the host and carrier of the bug's offspring. Offering ample amounts of creepiness and skin crawling fun, Sick Girl is one of the more fun entires in Showtime's Masters of Horror anthology. Not to be taken seriously one bit, Sick Girl reminds us how fun the horror genre can be when someone just takes an idea and runs with it. If there's any down points about Sick Girl, it's that Bettis comes off as annoying in her role frequently throughout the episode, but besides that, Sick Girl is a sick blast. All in all, Lucky McKee's Sick Girl only shows more promise from the newbie horror master, and this installment is one of the better entires in the Masters of Horror series.