Sick marks Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer writer Kevin Williamson’s return to the slasher arena. Co-written by Williamson and Katelyn Crabb, Sick is directed by John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, “Black Summer”).
The COVID pandemic set thriller occurs during the early lockdown. It follows best friends Parker (Gideon Adlon, The Craft: Legacy) and Miri (Bethlehem Million, And Just Like That) quarantined alone at an isolated family lake house. But they’re not alone for long.
The horror feature premiered earlier this week out of TIFF, where our own Joe Lipsett said in his review, “the never-ending attack, and the violence – often filmed in unflinching long takes – is mean and vicious.”
Bloody Disgusting spoke with leads Adlon and Million out of TIFF about working with Williamson and what it’s like shooting a visceral home invasion thriller.
Adlon distilled it down to a single name in horror when asked what it was about the script that enticed the actors. She said, “I want to do many things. I want to do all the genres, and if you’re going to do a slasher, it should be a Kevin Williamson slasher. So that drew me to it. Also, of course, what we all experienced during COVID, and the fact that a home invasion is one of my worst fears and playing into that was pretty interesting.”
For Million, it was the horror as well as personal experience that made her character relatable. She answered, “It was firstly Kevin Williamson. This is my first movie. To be able to work is insane, but also, this is my first time out of college. The pandemic happened while I was in my senior year, so all of this was happening very quickly. I had a lot of feelings and emotions, and I didn’t know how else to get them out. Then through my work and to be able to be given an opportunity to do that and create, in what I think is, a time capsule piece. It’s very real. And so that, I feel as an artist was super exciting to be a part of. It’s a movement; it’s a timestamp. So that was special.”
Million continued, “The team behind it was just legendary. John was just the best director to work with. To have Gideon’s name already attached when I was auditioning, she’s done so many things. I don’t think there was a world where I could have read the script without being moved. That’s not always the case when you get these self-tapes and are auditioning for jobs. We auditioned to live these moments because this is the first time doing that and with somebody who knows the genre so well. There was such a trust in all the other creatives on the team that I felt like, okay, if there’s one thing I could do, it’s this. I know how to do this.”
Sick operates on a steady incline of suspense, intensity, and violence. Million explains what that’s like from her perspective: “I think what I loved is that Kevin Williamson and Katelyn are so good at building up this momentum in the sense of, even as an actor, no matter how many times I’ve read the script, every time we come in for the new scene, you see the wrench, you see the extra wrench that’s added. You can’t play it the same way the whole time. You’re like, okay, you’re scared? All right. But now Gideon’s in the lake. How does Miri feel about that? You’re scared. Miri’s scared of all these things. What are you going to do? It’s so specific and grounded in that reality. And the set is already so creepy. It’s a beautiful house, but this vastness and space make you feel alone, scared, and relaxed. You want to relax, but you feel like you can’t. If you do, something could happen. All the circumstances, I feel, allowed us to drop in, in a way, a couple of therapy sessions.”
Adlon follows up by pointing out a curious detail, “We were barefoot the whole time too.”
Their characters are running and fighting for survival across various terrain completely barefoot. This was something Adlon felt adamant about, too.
“Do you know why we are? Because they were like, here’s your shoes. I was like, ‘I’m not going to put on shoes if there’s a killer in the house.’ I was like, ‘I’m going to be barefoot.’ She gets stabbed in bed. She rolls off the bed. Uh-huh. We were barefoot.” Adlon added that her co-star also felt strongly about this, “‘Do you want to be barefoot?’ She went, ‘Fuck, yeah. That’s the only thing that makes sense.’ So, we did it.”
If it wasn’t already apparent, the characters in Sick get put through the wringer. What’s a home invasion slasher without a whole bunch of blood?
Adlon teased how much with her sticky experience: “Oh, the blood is so hard to get off. Sticky. Sticky as fuck. Beyond that, we weren’t wearing any makeup in the film except for the blood and water. They would spray so much water on us for the sweat. I’ve been saying all day that slashers are the best form of therapy. Grunting and getting primal, running, crying, and screaming. You’re exhausted.”
Sick premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and will screen next at Fantastic Fest and Beyond Fest.
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