Horror Movie Review: Sick: Survive the Night (2012)

Part Night of the Living Dead, part 28 Days Later but nowhere as compelling as either. Sick: Survive the Night is a zombie horror that gets a couple of important things right but gets many others wrong.

Dr. Leigh Rozetta (Christina Aceto) is scientist living underground at a secret Government facility trying to find a cure to a worldwide infection. Two years after it begun, she is no closer to finding the cure.

The world outside the facility is in ruins with both the sick (this movies term for zombies) and human scavengers dominating the land. Leigh decides to sneak out of the facility one day to go to her parent’s house. She left them there before the outbreak begun and while she doesn’t expect to find them alive, she wants to give them a proper burial.

Elsewhere a group of survivors come under attack from the sick with all but two being killed. Seph (Richard Roy Sutton) and MaKay (Robert Nolan) manage to escape and end up running into Leigh. The trio join forces and make their way to her parent’s house. Once inside though the sick quickly surround the house and as night falls, tensions begin to rise.

Let’s talk about the good first. Sick: Survive the Night is a really sombre of a watch. A literal downer of a film with a grey visual hue and a constant feeling of hopelessness. Considering the end of the world scenario, it fits especially as things get more desperate within the house.

The cast take a little while to spark but once they do, there are some decent scenes built on tension and horror. While no-one knocks it out of the park, the main trio deal with the psychological elements well. Their performances really start to suffer in the final third though as one character in particular really starts to ham it up.

The zombie extras are great though, really going for it and the makeup on many is decent.

At the start I made reference to 28 Days Later and Night of the Living Dead. That was because the bleak scenario is reminiscent of the former while the pacing and location is reminiscent of the latter. However, Sick: Survive the Night can’t hold a candle either. It doesn’t add anything fresh to the zombie genre and often feels like a tired re-tread of better ideas.

We get references to different plot points. The attempts to find the cure and the scavengers that live and hunt amongst the sick. However, neither is explored and the bulk of the story is set within the house. Then it ends and we’re left wondering what was the point of it all?