Sick Girl

Let's cut to the chase. The creator-provided synopsis goes, "A girl who wants to protect her little brother, f*ck her older brother and torture everyone else out in the barn." Any questions? Well, while undeniably accurate, the film isn't quite as simplistic as this would suggest. Izzy (Andrews) is left to bring up her young brother (Trepany) after her older sibling heads off to Iraq with the Marines - both parents are absent, and the reasons for this are, interestingly, never made entirely clear, though we have some evidence for Izzy's involvement. The only one who helps out is Barney (McGarr) a biker who plays Santa Claus at the local hospital, but it's soon made clear that Izzy is entirely capable of fending for herself. Especially when a proto-thug at the local school decides to pick on her kid bro.

Izzy is an intriguing mix, a character somewhere between Juno and Dexter; to those she loves, she is fiercely loyal, yet anyone else had best not cross her, or the results will be horrific, in ways beyond your imagination - certainly, at least one sequence goes well beyond **our** imagination! I think it's her sheer cold-blooded approach that is the most chilling thing here, and Andrews is simply phenomenal in the role, possessing a calmness which is completely unnerving. Even when engaging in brutality of the most appalling sort, you suspect her heart-beat rarely goes above 85. She even takes time out to lecture small children on the evils of bullying, where her philosophy is, "There's nothing wrong with hurting things smaller than you - providing you also take on things bigger than you. Then size is irrelevant." Cold: very cold. If you want to peer into the abyss which is the very darkest corner of the human psyche, then this is low-budget cinema at its brilliant best. However, you should be aware that you might see things you will not easily forget.

Did Uwe Boll direct this? What a worthless piece of trash. The murder scenes were amateurish and predictable, and there is no story whatsoever. If it wasn't for the penis scene, I would of gave this a 1. It's hard to believe films like this even make it to script let alone DVD. I guess I can keep talking being I can't post this comment until I get 10 lines in. What else can I say? The Christina Ricci lookalike did a decent job of acting like a white trash psycho, but the writers and directer should be ashamed of this mess. Do they just let anybody direct nowadays? I have a 3 page script about the same subject that has a lot more potential than this entire film. If you're going make a revenge/slasher/gore kinda flick, either get some good fx guys or have a half-ass story.

Writer-director-producer Eben McGarr opens us up to the world of Izzy, where parents are dead, one brother is in the military and the other is just starting to grow up. What lengths would you go to in order to protect your family?

This film has been floating around film festivals and conventions for a while now... and I've had an interest, particularly after hearing about the cameo from Andy Signore ("The Janitor"). Now thanks to Synapse, we all have the chance to see it on DVD (though, for me, it helps to review films as a job).

The biggest criticism I can give of this film is the dreadful mixing on the sound. Much of the dialogue is too quiet and the sound effects and score are too loud. So, you end up not hearing what everyone says and getting blasted by the music. It's more than just a little frustrating. The plot is a bit convoluted at times, the CG is awful, and the acting is cheesy, but these negatives are forgivable.

What has gotten this film so much attention is the sheer nastiness in the violence. Kids forced to kill kids, sodomy, rape, dismemberment, suicide... not all of it is as gory as you might want, but much of it is more graphic and gory than you'd expect. I don't want to give away how extreme it gets, but let's just say if you want gore and violence, it gets more and more intense as the film goes along, and you will not be let down.

Get a copy of this from Synapse. Order it today. Do not hesitate. You could rent it, but seriously I think this might be one you want to keep on your shelf for just the right occasion.

With both her parents dead, and her older brother Rusty (Chris W. King) serving in the marines, Izzy (Leslie Andrews) is left to raise her younger brother Kevin (Charlie Trepany), with a little help from a family friend, biker Barney (John McGarr). In her spare time, Izzy enjoys torturing and killing anyone who gives her or Kevin a hard time.

While Sick Girl does its very best to be extreme and shocking, with Izzy urinating on a nun, killing children, harbouring incestuous desires, hacking off a bloke's todger, and raping a girl (via the use of a makeshift strap-on), the effect is seriously undermined by flat direction and some of the worst acting imaginable, with Leslie Andrews leading the way with a particularly dreadful central performance, her lines delivered in a monotonous drawl that robs even the most intense moments of their power to disturb.

It says a lot about how bad this film is that Fright Night actor turned gay porn star Stephen Geoffreys — who has a supporting role as Kevin's teacher Mr. Putski — subsequently returned to the world of man-on-man XXX movies (with Three Dicks Are Better Than One 3). He probably found it less embarrassing

Alright, let's see. An intriguing and original story. An awesome leading lady. An absolutely chilling score. Shocking, intense, gruesome, gory, vile, and scary as all hell. Yeah, that basically covers everything. I've finally found it. The Horror masterpiece of the decade. True Horror fans, I give you Sick Girl.

Izzy, for the most part, is a fairly reasonable, dare I say nice person. Izzy lives with, and takes care of her 9 year old brother, Kevin, while her older brother serves in Iraq. All we ever learn about the parents is that they're gone. You could say Izzy has a lot on her plate, having to raise a sibling, and all. Not to mention Izzy misses her older brother a little too much, if you catch my drift. A lot of people go through life, having no idea what to do with their stress. With others, it simply comes natural, whether it be sex or drugs, or what have you. But with Izzy, she just up and realized one day that life would be so much more fulfilling if she could only kidnap, torture, torture, torture, rape, castrate, and kill whoever she wanted, whenever she wanted. So, anyway, that's what Izzy's been up to. Little bro, on the other hand, Kevin's got his own problems. The local bullies have been giving the little fella a hard time. If you think Izzy is above torturing and killing small children... well, she's not, which is all that needs to be said about that.

I am in my late 20's, and I can honestly say that this is the first time a Horror movie has scared me since I was a little kid. Feeling that queasy, that shocked, and that impressed, all at once was not at all what I expected from a modern Horror movie. I just can't praise this dismal, graphic masterpiece enough. Besides being horrifying, original, and gory, another word also comes to mind. Interesting. As in, it's awfully interesting to observe how vulnerable someone who is already slightly disturbed, can be. All it could take is one disappointment, or tragedy, or even a bad day, for one to suddenly cross that line from "slightly disturbed" to "ferocious killing machine", with seemingly no chance of return. It happens. Even to big sisters. Comparing this pitch-black diamond to pseudo-indy garbage like High Tension or Hostel, would be insulting. If anything, Sick Girl should only be compared to the elite, such as Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer, or Maniac. Sick Girl is a morbid little beauty, just waiting to be discovered, hopefully by someone who can appreciate real Horror when they see it. Lastly, I am totally counting on more from the refreshingly disturbing Leslie Andrews, who is ultimately what made this movie work so well. Now, that's what I call a scream queen!!