My Review Of “Sick: Survive The Night”

“Sick: Survive The Night” is a post zombie outbreak film directed by Ryan M.Andrews. The film stars Christina Anne Aceto, Richard Roy Sutton, Robert Nolan, Jennifer Polansky and Debbie Rochon. The story deals with a scientific exploration in curing the virus that causes zombies which leads a young scientist to face the undead and groups of opportunists/scavengers. The official plot  follows Dr. Leigh Rozetta is a young, maverick scientist, who's been living in a secret underground Government facility since the outbreak began. After constant failed attempts to find a cure, Leigh sneaks away to return to her parent's house.

The story is a somber, monotone one that relies on a lot of dialog. Most of the story is about the human experience and toll the zombie apocalypse has on one psychologically as we battle for a “cure”. It is reminiscent of  Romero’s “Day Of The Dead” in pace and stripped down style. The acting is mediocre, with a lot of the characters feeling contrived. It is a clunky drama that does more peacocking of personalities than the material, or cast can actually account for. There are moments when the story almost becomes thrilling, and a few of the cast really get into their character. It is just not enough to save “Sick: Survive The Night” from being a bit dull.

The special effects, for the most part, keep within practical-low budget grade effects that work. I preferred the stripped down zombies that go back to the beginning of this genre. The creature effects are cool enough, however the zombies don’t dominate the film with enough force or energy to really kick “Sick: Survive The Night” into thrilling gear. The soundtrack and sound effects are decent enough to give the film atmosphere, some moments do feel creepy and chilling, it just never seems consistent through the whole film.

Overall, I found myself wondering why? What was the story that this film was wanting to tell? Most of the components are redundant aspects found in zombie horror. I did appreciate the added mix of these scavenger crews roaming around raping and pillaging. However the story doesn’t give enough time for that element to really take off. Most interesting things take place in flashbacks while the main meat of the tale is left to melodrama and mild zombie attacks. “Sick: Survive The Night” isn’t a film that you will kick yourself if you miss it. Mostly it is just a boring movie where people talk too much.