Movies
[BHFF 19 Review] ‘Sick, Sick, Sick’ Fails to Enchant With the Voodoo Spell It Casts
Sick, Sick, Sick is a hypnotic, visceral look at loss and acceptance, expressed through a story about voodoo zombies that doesn’t fully come alive.
Loss, obsession, and second chances are all ideas that fuel countless horror stories. It’s natural to think about ways for something as final as death to seem less ultimate. It’s comforting to think that we can strip it of its power and feel a little in control. There have been modern stories about reanimating the dead and then there are tales that go back as far as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This is a concept that remains fascinating to audiences because there is no avoiding death. It’s not going anywhere. Sick, Sick, Sick examines the pain of that realization, but also the inability to accept it, especially when an unlikely alternative may be possible. The result is a stylized, emotional look at a girl’s grief and the dangerous places it can go that highlights the unique approach of an upcoming voice in horror.
Alice Furtado delivers what feels like a loving ode to Pet Sematary, only steeped in her Brazilian culture and draped in hypnotic visual flair. Silvia’s life gets turned upside down when the love of her life meets an untimely end. Silvia is destroyed over this loss, but it’s a pain that’s manifesting itself in vicious ways wherein she’s not just depressed, but physically ill over her sadness. Desperate for any sort of reprieve, Silvia apprehensively turns to voodoo for help and is willing to settle with a resurrected version of her beloved Artur than no version of him at all. Of course, this tense situation only becomes more complicated and it’s not long until Silvia wishes that she had just left well enough alone here.
Furtado’s film is at its best when it explores the beauty in imperfections, like how Silvia (Luiza Kosovski) and Artur (Juan Paiva) are able to discover solace in each other. The movie finds a way to give something as debilitating as hemophilia a certain poetic grace. In a similar way, Sick, Sick, Sick is also deeply interested in obsession and how it can consume individuals. The representation of Silvia before and after Artur’s accident is completely different and it’s because obsession has totally worn her down. It’s this dangerous desire that pushes her down the dark path that leads to Artur’s revival.
Furtado’s Sick, Sick, Sick is a sweaty, sexual film and it properly cultivates that atmosphere. It accurately represents that hormonal phase of adolescence where emotions are at an all-time high. Silvia is already prey to those natural emotions, but they make her even more susceptible to her unhealthy obsession that forms. As electric as this is, it’s not enough to act as characterization on its own right. Beyond Silviasti intense love for Artur, there’s not much there to her. Kosovski’s performance does a lot of the heavy lifting here, but it’s still ultimately difficult to fully understand Silvia.
With the threadbare nature of the story, Sick, Sick, Sick makes more of an impression with its gripping ambience. Music and color are used in intoxicating anachronistic ways. At times it often feels like a horror film has been blended together with a passionate piece of French New Wave cinema. The frenetic editing also mirrors Silvia’s hunger to have it all. It often feels like the overwhelming atmosphere and oversaturated color palette is a reflection of how Silvia is in less control of her obsession. Even the film’s repetitious title is meant to be a reflection of the various stages of Silvia’s “sickness.”
The direction that Sick, Sick, Sick goes down may be predictable, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not effective at times. Furtado turns this classic cautionary tale into something that’s distinctly her own and finds rich, disturbing angles to take this material. In many ways, Sick, Sick, Sick even surpasses Pet Sematary in some areas because Furtado is able to take what works from that story and reject what doesn’t fit her narrative. She tries to build something stronger here, but unfortunately, the foundation isn’t secure enough to support it.
Furtado introduces a lot of strong ideas here, but many of them ultimately don’t have anywhere to go. Furtado comes from a history of short films and Sick, Sick, Sick is the kind of story that feels better suited for that territory. There’s not enough to keep this premise going and it’s this thinness of story that inevitably holds Sick, Sick, Sick back. A powerful performance and haunting visuals help elevate this material, but there’s still a feeling of emptiness. This story needs to be pushed to do more and go to increasingly challenging places instead of wallowing in the initial mess. There’s a reason that the big turn in Pet Sematary happens in the later half of the story; it’s simply hard to maintain that premise for an extended period of time. Sick, Sick, Sick is still an enjoyable film that has a lot to offer, but it suffers from these concessions.
Sick, Sick, Sick is a film with endless potential that unfortunately just fails to realize most of it. Alice Furtado is clearly a talented filmmaker and she chooses a story here that obviously means something to her and feels very unique to her voice. That being said, in spite of emotional performances, disturbing ideas, and frightening visuals, Sick, Sick, Sick struggles to reach its hour and forty-minute runtime. There’s a tighter, simpler movie hidden somewhere within Sick, Sick, Sick, but this version doesn’t do it justice. Just like how Silvia thinks she wants to spend more time with Artur, it’s not always a good idea. Less can most definitely be more.
Ghostface is back on the big screen this weekend… well, sort of… with the release of Scary Movie, which marks the Wayans brothers’ return to the horror spoof franchise for the first time since Scary Movie 2 back in the day. It’s likely to be the talk of the horror community for the weekend, but don’t overlook the other six genre movies that were freshly unleashed today.
Here’s all the new horror that released on Friday, June 5, 2026.
The horror spoof franchise is back with Scary Movie now playing in theaters!
Marlon Wayans (“Shorty”), Shawn Wayans (“Ray”), Anna Faris (“Cindy”), and Regina Hall (“Brenda”) reunite for the new Scary Movie, with the cast also including Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Jon Abrahams, Damon Wayans Jr., Gregg Wayans, Kim Wayans, Benny Zielke, Cameron Scott Roberts, Heidi Gardner, Olivia Rose Keegan, Ruby Snowber, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, and Felissa Rose.
Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer (“Ghostface”), the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe…
Scary Movie will slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t. A whole lot has changed in the horror genre since the Wayans Brothers were in charge of the franchise; their involvement ended with Scary Movie 2 back in 2001!
Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House) directs Scary Movie 6 from a script written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, original Scary Movie director Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans (Scary Movie 2), and Rick Alvarez (A Haunted House).
From IFC, shark attack movie Chum is now available on Digital.
Alice Eve (Haunting of Queen Mary) stars in shark attack movie alongside Eric Michael Cole, Jim Klock, Elle Haymond, Lisa Yaro, Johnny Gaffney, and Sarah Siadat.
This one sounds very similar to last year’s Dangerous Animals…
Here’s the plot: “A newlywed couple joins friends on a Mediterranean yacht excursion, only to find themselves caught between a predatory shark and a psychopathic killer in their midst-transforming a sun-drenched escape into a fight for survival.”
Jonathan Zuck directs Chum, from a script by Jonathan Zuck and Joe Leone.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling) come together in Carolina Caroline, a sexy crime thriller now playing in theaters.
It’s not a horror movie, mind you, but it’s worth a mention here all the same.
Kyra Sedgwick (Family Movie) and Jon Gries also star in the romantic crime thriller.
Director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s film stars Samara Weaving as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast.
Adam Rehmeier previously directed the films Dinner in America and Snack Shack.
Tom Dean wrote the screenplay for Carolina Caroline.
Similar to Steven Spielberg’s upcoming big screen blockbuster Disclosure Day, Signal One explores humankind’s enduring question: what if we aren’t alone in the universe?
The sci-fi thriller is now available on Digital.
Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Josh Hutcherson (Five Nights at Freddy’s), David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Raoul Bhaneja (Possessor), Emma Ho (“The Expanse”), and Dennis Quaid (The Substance) star in Signal One from director Jonathan Sobol (The Art of the Steal).
When tech billionaire Sam Houston (Quaid) hires the brilliant computer scientist Annika (Fuhrman), she ventures to an isolated facility run by the brilliant, nihilistic creator of LITTLEMOUTH, a machine which can communicate with alien intelligence.
Annika soon learns some humanity-altering facts: that we are not alone in the universe, that alien intelligences are communicating around us at every moment, and that we are likely too primitive to even remotely understand what they are trying to tell us.
When the goal of the endeavor shifts from listening to talking back, the project rapidly devolves into chaos. With contact comes consequences, and soon Annika and the team must work to ensure the very survival of our species.
A schoolyard dare becomes an urban legend in the creepypasta-inspired horror anthology The Summoning. The indie film is now available on Digital from Brainstorm Media.
“A babysitting gig becomes a nightmare of urban legend when three teens summon Baby Blue. Survival depends on uncovering the past to escape a mother’s wrath from beyond the grave.”
Felipe Vargas (Rosario, Hive), Sergio Gonzalez, Brandon Piskorik, Corey Benson Powers, and Brian Sepanzyk direct the segments. Valeria San Martín, Justina Ceballos, Daniela Flombaum, Nannu Spannauss, Agustín Olcese, and Giovanni Onetti star.
The Summoning is written by Camilo Zaffora.
Happy Death Day actress Jessica Rothe stars as a mom struggling to keep her grip on her sanity and memory in the mind-bending Affection, now available on Digital at home.
In Affection, “Afflicted by a mysterious condition that resets her memory, Ellie becomes trapped in a cyclical nightmare with a man who claims to be her husband. She soon must uncover the horrifying truth of her existence—before she forgets it all again.“
Joseph Cross (“Big Little Lies”) and Julianna Layne (“Chicago P.D.”) also star in the sci-fi horror thriller. Affection marks the feature debut by writer/director BT Meza.
Daniel Kurland wrote in his review out of the film’s premiere, “Affection is steeped in existential questions and fears that plague modern society, while it embraces the ethos of the ’80s through bold body horror. Add to that Rothe’s revelatory performance, and Affection is a hidden gem that will connect with your mind, body, and soul.”
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s latest dark fairy tale, The Ice Tower, loosely reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s fable “The Snow Queen,” and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
In the ’70s set film, “Jeanne, a 15-year-old orphan, witnesses the shoot of a film adaptation of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, and she becomes fascinated by its star Cristina (Marion Cotillard), an actress who is just as mysterious and alluring as the Queen she is playing.“
Clara Pacini stars as Jeanne. August Diehl and Marine Gesbert also star in The Ice Tower, and look for a cameo from director Gaspar Noé (Climax, Irréversible).
“For me, The Ice Tower solidified Lucile Hadžihalilović’s place amongst the most fascinating creators of fairy tales today,” said distributor Yellow Veil Pictures co-founder Joe Yanick.
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