Hey gang, Valkor here. Lately, when I've been watching and reviewing films, I've been kinda cynical towards them; it's not on purpose that I feel this way, it's just that the films… well they just take me there. So I decided to try my best with this next film – Sick Boy DVD, to be less cynical, maybe take it easy if the film is bad. But in the end… it took me there. Major spoilers ahead.
Sick Boy centers on Lucy (Skye McCole Bartusiak), just out of work and now looking for something to bide her time and show her worth, though fiancé Chris (Marc Donato) tells her its OK, she can stay home and write. Well the writing thing wasn't taking off and thankfully her friend Alex offers her a babysitting gig that she herself has to pass up. It's supposed to be easy money, just sit around eat and hey maybe even write! How perfect is that? Lucy accepts the job and meets with Dr. Helen Gordon (Debbie Rochon, Solid State); she finds out it pretty much is an easy gig. Helen's son Jeremy (Cas Rooney), stays in his room never coming out and all Lucy has to do is listen in on him through a baby monitor. Otherwise she's pretty much free to do just about anything she wants. The only rule is to not go downstairs into Jeremy's room. Of course that rule is quickly tossed out the window as on the first night Lucy takes a journey downstairs to peek in on Jeremy. She finds his room door locked and is scared away by the kid when she peeks under the door. But not much happens after that.
On night two, Lucy stops short of completely exploring downstairs when she hears glass breaking. And upon investigating she comes across Walter Gordon (Greg Dorchak), sitting in the shadows with glowing eyes and a hideous growl. He basically tells Lucy to GTFO, which she does but before leaving she has one more meeting with Helen and isn't expected to return the next day.
However on day three, Lucy realizes that her engagement ring is missing and the only place it could be is at the Gordon's home. Unfortunately no one is answering when she calls. She and Chris go to the house and using the key given to them, they enter to do a search. What they find is a dead Walter, Helen is now afflicted with whatever Jeremy and Walter has, and Jeremy and Lucy are about to have a little one on one. The film ends with everyone, except Lucy, dying including an officer who came to investigate. Lucy is taken to a hospital where they send her home, but before she could leave, the cop who died in the Gordon's house… reawakens.
The disease that afflicted Jeremy (and others) is called the "blue flu", because those who acquire the disease turn blue. We learn that the disease started in South America, which is where the Gordon's vacationed. And that's where Jeremy was infected by the disease, so Mom Helen brought him back to the states to try and cure him. The ending leaves things open for the possibility of another film, with a world of infected, blue flu, zombie people. But after seeing this film, I'm not sure I'd want to see a second.
The Good:
For a film that was made with a budget of 50,000 bucks it looks pretty good and they house where they shot it looks amazing!
The Bad:
Sick Boy is a pretty straightforward film and the idea of a babysitter watching over an infected kid seems plausible, but the execution is full of fail. From the jump, main character Lucy comes across as mad annoying and complains way too much for my taste. I simply didn't care about her character and whether she lived or died (regretfully she lives... maybe). Plus she doesn't do much the first two nights she's in the house, just snooping around with nothing eventful taking place. But the worse of the film is sitting through those final 20 minutes, which contains so much dumb it'll make your head spin. I was annoyed by the constant bickering between Lucy and Chris, I thought it dumb they take Jeremy away (kid has no heartbeat, I think you should have left him tied up); Chris gets bitten in the jugular by Jeremy and is near death, but suddenly he has enough strength to hammer a hole in zombie Helen's skull. How the hell did he find a hammer in his near death state? Finally a cop arrives, he sees a zombified Chris and fires, but it turns out to be his reflection in a mirror. Ugh! So you have a lame first half and a second half that's just as lame. Can it get any worse?
Worst Cop Ever:
The final scene at the hospital, the body of the cop who was bitten by Chris is placed in front of Lucy. Why? I don't know, because reasons that's why! Anyway she starts flippin out and there's a cop at the end of the hall, but he doesn't move or react, he just looks annoyed. But even when asked by a nurse for help with a crazed Lucy, he just stands there. And when the dead cop stands up, dude sorta reacts but doesn't do a damn thing.
The Ugly:
Them zombies.
Sick Boy had the potential to be a horror great, but with so many missteps, especially towards the end, it takes its place in the crap pile and it's a film I can't recommend. There's no tension, no suspense, the gore is rather cheesy and the acting is even cheesier, which places Sick Boy in the 1 star out of TOV 5 star range.