Movies
‘Sissy’ Review – A Murderous Look at the Perils of Influencer Culture
In an age where the number of likes, retweets and follows you get is more valuable currency than money itself, it’s no surprise that the horror genre has taken to incorporating things like influencer culture into their social commentary. That’s just what happens in Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes‘ darkly comedic satire Sissy, which follows social media influencer Sissy Cecilia (Aisha Dee, Channel Zero, The Bold Type) as past traumas resurface during a bachelorette party (or hen party, since this is an Australian film) weekend that turns murderous.
Sissy follows Cecilia and Emma (Barlow, pulling triple duty as the film’s co-writer, co-director and co-lead), two teenage friends who were inseparable until Alex (Emily De Margheriti) arrived on the scene and bullied Cecilia, leading to a violent incident that forced the two to part ways. Twelve years later, Cecilia is a successful social media influencer with 200,000 followers living the dream of an independent, modern millennial woman. After randomly running into Emma one day, Cecilia is invited to her bachelorette weekend with her friend group and her fiancée Fran (Lucy Barrett) at a remote cabin in the mountains. Unfortunately for Cecilia, that remote cabin belongs to Alex, bringing back Cecilia’s trauma as murderous mayhem ensues.
As Cecilia, Aisha Dee is a real find. She is a flawed but empathetic character that, played incorrectly, would have the audience turning on her in a second, but Dee’s performance imbues the character with the necessary pathos required to make a character like this work. Cecilia isn’t a bad person, but she wants so desperately to fit in that the ways she goes about doing so are awkward, killing the vibe of Emma’s friend group. It’s a situation many of us have been in, and while it can be funny, it’s more often tragic to watch Cecilia try and fail to earn the favor of Emma’s friends. Not helping matters is the fact that Alex repeatedly antagonizes her in front of everyone. There will be viewers who find Cecilia annoying, frustrating or even insufferable, but those with any empathy will understand Cecilia’s actions, even though they may not excuse them.
This is where Sissy‘s critique of influencer culture comes in, but not in the way you might expect. Yes, conversations are had about the validity of influencers, especially the ethical issues of unlicensed individuals like Cecilia offering mental health advice to complete strangers, but the film is more interested in seeing the toll that living online can take on someone and their social skills. When Cecilia is publicly embarrassed by Alex, she retreats to the bathroom to read comments from her fans and watch her likes skyrocket. This has become a crutch for her in times of distress, with the platitudes that her followers leave her (or the schadenfreude she gets from reading complaints about their life problems) acting as a replacement for a real-life social circle. Followers aren’t friends, after all, and no matter how many you have they don’t replace genuine human connections.
There’s a good conversation here about bullying and how much good will that earns the protagonist before we turn on her, and how people can use past trauma as an excuse to behave reprehensibly (even if those behaviors are unintentional). Cecilia’s trauma set her up to fail, but she also hasn’t done any work in the years since to overcome it and better herself. Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t bode well for Emma’s bachelorette party. Sadly, Sissy seems more interested in being a slasher movie as it heads into its third act than it does on following through with this conversation. This makes for a gorily entertaining climax; it’s just not a particularly revelatory one.
Speaking of gore, gorehounds will find plenty to love here, with the third act getting gnarly with its kill scenes. The practical effects are all stellar, with the brutality cranked up to 11 as more bodies start to pile up. The film is never scary, but it’s also not trying to be. Calling Sissy a horror comedy would be a bit of a stretch, but there’s a certain playfulness to the proceedings that prevents things from getting too dark.
Outside of Cecilia, none of the characters are fleshed out, with many being flat-out unlikable (that last part isn’t really a critique, but more so a warning to those who like to root for characters in their horror films). One wishes the film had delved more into Alex’s psyche as well, but it seems content to leave her as a one-dimensional bully. Also, it’s depressing to see a queer horror film’s sole gay male character relegated to predictable stereotypes (he’s sassy and loves Britney Spears. How novel.).
Sissy joins the ranks of films like Tragedy Girls (review), Shook, and Spree (review), genre films that all incorporate and criticize social media and influencer culture to various degrees of success. Sissy falls somewhere in the middle, but those comparisons should let you know whether or not this movie will be for you. At the very least, it’s a gory good time.
Editor’s Note: This SXSW review was originally published on March 14, 2022.
Sissy will premiere exclusively on Shudder on Thursday, September 29.
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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