Ick

Joseph Kahn's Ick is a wild, messy, and occasionally brilliant ride... a horror-comedy that's as ambitious as it is uneven.

Set in a world where a parasitic, plant-like "Ick" has spread unchecked, the film follows Brandon Routh's Hank, a washed-up science teacher, and Malina Weissman's sharp-witted student Grace as they uncover the Ick's true, terrifying potential.

The movie's strengths lie in its visual flair and Routh's charismatic performance. The Ick itself is a standout monster: grotesque, dynamic, and genuinely unsettling. The humor lands more often than not, and the nostalgia-baiting soundtrack and aesthetic will delight fans of early 2000s pop-punk.

But Ick stumbles in its execution. Kahn's breakneck pacing leaves little room for character development or coherent world-building. The sociopolitical commentary feels tacked on, and the supporting cast is often reduced to caricatures. It's a film that prioritizes style over substance, and while that style is undeniably fun, it's not enough to mask the lack of depth.

Verdict: Ick is a 7/10 watchable, entertaining, and packed with energy, but ultimately more derivative than innovative. If you're a fan of chaotic, nostalgia-drenched horror-comedies, you'll find plenty to enjoy. Just don't expect anything groundbreaking.

I swear, there is not a camera shot longer than 12 seconds in this entire movie. It is liking watching some random one and a half hour flashback montage scene, it was like the flashback opening of the film just never stopped! Kills the movie. The acting is good, the idea behind the film is okay but I think the director/writer threw too much thought into the ick metaphor and ultimately made it null and void. This should have never got a big screen release. The soundtrack is cancelled out because using tons of different songs for 20 seconds each just gets old however whoever scored the film did an excellent job, shame their talent was wasted on this mess. I definitely know Ick is not the type of film you pay money to watch.

I wondered what I was watching at first as the beginning starts very much like a comic book or a send up of a typical American High School Movie but boy am I glad I stuck with it.

It moves so fast that if you're not careful you miss some of its funniest moments.

This is not a serious movie so if you want to be scared then this isn't for you. But if you want to be entertained then this ticks the boxes.

Just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

If you're the kind of genre fan who can't get enough of Cooties, Night of the Creeps, or Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, then Joseph Kahn's ICK is your next late-night obsession. Equal parts slime soaked satire, throwback creature feature, and goofball gorefest, ICK is a B-movie with A-level confidence, a film that knows exactly what it is and owns it every gloriously gooey step of the way.

Brandon Routh delivers another enjoyable performances as Hank Wallace, a washed-up high school football star turned reluctant science teacher with a personal grudge against mediocrity, and now, apparently, aliens (I think). When a parasitic lifeform begins infecting his sleepy hometown, he's forced to team up with sharp witted student Grace (Malina Weissman, absolutely owning every line) to save the world or at least their zip code.

The script balances absurdity and affection with surprising finesse. While the satire could have easily veered into "try-hard" territory, it never does. Instead, it feels right, organic, self-aware, and just grounded enough to work. Think They Live, but with alien goo and gym class trauma.

Let's talk about that goo. The CGI? Well... it's fine. Serviceable. Some of the larger-scale creature shots look like they were rendered on a monster energy drink budget, but honestly, it just adds to the film's low-fi charm. Would practical effects have elevated it? Absolutely. But in fairness, some of the creature sequences are too bonkers to pull off practically without quadrupling the budget. Thankfully, the film leans into its own ridiculousness, never pretending to be more polished than it is.

Where ICK really surprises is in its heart. Beneath the eye-rolling puns, exploding heads, and sarcastic monologues, there's a genuine emotional throughline. Hank's journey from burnout to unlikely hero has weight.

ICK is exactly what the horror-comedy genre needs more of bold, messy fun with a sharp bite. It's not trying to win awards. It's trying to make you laugh, scream, cheer, and say, "What the hell did I just watch?" and in that, it completely succeeds.

What initially drew me to pick up this movie was the cover. And with it being a movie that I had neither seen before, nor actually ever heard about, of course I had to check out what director Joseph Kahn had to offer.

The movie's synopsis sounded interesting enough, but I have to admit that the movie itself sort of fell short of entertaining me. I just found it to make zero sense with the 'Ick' stuff that was spreading around in the town. And the characters in the movie had about as much depth, layers and personalities as wet paint. So it was a bit of a struggle to sit through this movie. So I can't claim that writers Joseph Kahn, Dan Koontz and Samuel Laskey put together a particularly great script that catered to my preference in entertainment.

Of the entire cast ensemble in the movie, I was only familiar with Brandon Routh, Mena Suvari and Jeff Fahey. Despite the fact that the movie didn't have much of any noteworthy script, the acting performances were actually fair.

The special effects in the movie were adequate, but could only do so much to make up for the shortcoming of an inadequate script.

If you enjoy horror movies, then "Ick" is hardly a movie that I would recommend.

My rating of director Joseph Kahn's 2024 movie "Ick" lands on a four out of ten stars.