RICHARD MARTIN REVISTS THE MASTERS OF HORROR: SICK GIRL, DIRECTED BY: LUCKY MCKEE

4/6/2021

We are living in a golden age of horror on TV. Shows like ‘The Walking Dead’, ‘Supernatural’ and ‘American Horror Story’ have effectively taken the genre mainstream, offering weekly doses of gore and mayhem to the masses. Go back a decade or two however, and genre fans had far fewer options to choose from. Anthology shows, like ‘Tales From the Crypt’, ‘Monsters’ or ‘Tales From the Darkside’ were king during the horror heyday of the 1980s, providing cheesy and cheerful tongue in cheek horror in half hour bites. It wasn’t until 2005 that the TV horror anthology show got serious, and delivered arguably the most consistent, memorable and scary anthology show to date.

The brainchild of horror legend Mick Garris, the show’s title is no hyperbole. ‘Masters of Horror’ brought together the best horror talent Hollywood (and beyond) had to offer. Episodes directed by undisputed genre luminaries such as John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Dario Argento and Stuart Gordon were like hour long movies brought to your TV screen. High production values, A-List talent and a free reign to do whatever they pleased resulted in some truly unforgettable work from a group of horror legends let off their leash. These are stories that have stayed with me in the fifteen years since many initially aired and, in this series, I’ll be revisiting all twenty-six episodes, one at a time, to shine a light on a fondly remembered and undeniably influential moment in horror TV history.
Join me as I take a look back at;

Sick Girl
Directed by: Lucky McKee
Starring: Angela Bettis, Erin Brown, Marcia Bennett, Jesse Hlubik
Original Air Date: 13 January 2006
Synopsis: A shy etymologist begins a new relationship with a young woman who is bitten by one of the bugs in her care, causing her to transform into a new and terrifying lifeform.

Revisiting the ‘Masters of Horror’: Sick Girl
Directed by: Lucky McKee

Back in 2006, I had never heard of Lucky McKee. The fact that ‘Sick Girl’ was a reunion of the director and star of modern horror classic ‘May’ completely passed me by. Rewatching this episode again in 2021 I’m all too aware of what a huge deal this is. I’m a big Lucky McKee fan (both movies, and the novels he penned with Jack Ketchum) and as much as I love his recent work, I have to say ‘May’ is still my favourite. So, when you have a Lucky McKee directed episode of Masters of Horror, starring Angela Bettis, my expectations were through the roof.

Much like ‘May’ Angela Bettis plays a bit of an odd social outcast. Her character, Ida, works as an etymologist alongside Max (Jesse Hlubik) and basically spends her time at work, and at home, fawning over her (rather impressive) collection of bugs. Ida also has a crush on a shy young woman who spends her time sketching in the building lobby. After some encouragement from Max, Ida learns her name is Misty (Erin Brown) and asks her out on a date and, much to her surprise, Misty accepts.

Ida and Misty’s burgeoning relationship was one of the episodes many highlights for me. To say both are a little awkward would be an understatement but they have charming chemistry, particularly early on in the episode and both Angela Bettis and Erin Brown are very good throughout, although the latter does get to have a little more fun with her role as the episode progresses.

Around the same time this is happening, Ida receives a mysterious package at her apartment that contains a species of bug that she can’t identify. Her reaction is one of professional interest, whereas mine was more along the lines of “How is she not freaking out having that thing in her home?!”. The ‘insect’ looks like the Arnold Schwarzenegger of the praying mantis family, and I was seriously concerned that when Ida went to pick it up, it was going to take her arm off.

That leads neatly onto another element of ‘Sick Girl’ that works really well. The creature effects are great, straddling the fine line between realistic and cartoonish, which is basically a tone the episode itself hits throughout its runtime. Some of the effects are absolutely disgusting once the episode gets past the halfway point, but there’s always an undertone of black comedy, and a knowing sense of humour, and the visual effects play to that perfectly.

Ida’s date with Misty goes well enough that they both go back to her apartment at the end of it and Misty stays over. Ida has gone to great lengths to hide her (frankly impressive) bug collection in the apartment so as not to scare Misty off, so she does not notice straight away when her latest addition escapes its enclosure and is roaming free in the bedroom. Misty is the first to find it when she gets bitten.

Things take a turn for the body horror from here on out, and anybody who doesn’t want to witness any juicy closeups of pulsating infections and exploding pus may want to check out at this stage. The plot becomes very similar to David Cronenberg classic, ‘The Fly’, but McKee is having a lot more fun with the premise. Misty’s change is not just physical, but also mental. Her personality takes a massive U-turn from introverted oddball to a much more confident, aggressive, and easy to anger state of mind and Ida, who is unaware of the escaped bug that has bitten her girlfriend, wonders if she has made a terrible mistake in getting so close to Misty so soon.

This is one of the many things that impressed me about the episode. On the face of it, it is a fun, slightly silly, tongue-in-cheek body horror story, big on the gooey special effects and humour, but underneath there is a lot of social commentary going on. The episode could also read as a cautionary tale about getting into relationships too quickly. The episode also portrays a gay couple, and this gets more focus than I remembered from my initial viewing. Both have clearly had issues connecting with people in the past, but their sexuality, or their comfort with that part of themselves, is never questioned. They are judged by their homophobic neighbour and landlord Lana (Marcia Bennett) who expresses her displeasure of their relationship in a particularly hateful way, and the additional strain this places on their relationship gives Ida the opportunity to finally stand up for herself after being portrayed as so meek and opposed to conflict throughout. It is a nice moment, well earned, and all the more prominent that such issues are being tackled in what is otherwise a largely fun and light affair.

By this stage, Ida is starting to suspect that the missing mystery bug and her new girlfriends increasingly erratic behaviour may be linked. She comes to this realisation coincidentally around the same time she receives a letter from the mystery person who sent the bug that has infected Misty, as it seems they now have some regrets about their actions, as the letter makes it very clear that the sender was aware what would happen, but were hoping that Ida would be the one bitten. You see, it was Misty’s father that sent it, as he knows that Misty has had feelings for Ida for a long time and did not approve of their potential relationship, so sent the bug in the hopes it would change Ida into something that Misty found to be hideous. Oops…

Now knowing what has caused Misty’s abrupt change in personality, she races to the apartment for a confrontation, and we get to see just how far the transformation has progressed. The big reveal in the final scene was unexpected, but totally in keeping with the tone of the episode. It was funny, a bit silly, and pretty damn gross. A great ending for an all-around great episode.

‘Sick Girl’ was a hell of a lot of fun, taking inspiration from classic 80s body horror movies, and putting a more modern spin on it. Angela Bettis and Erin Brown are both a lot of fun when they’re on screen together and the latter gets to really go all out with a big personality shift. While the episode does tackle some serious themes, these are welcome additions to enhance the experience, and not the episodes primary focus, which is to entertain. In this regard, it’s a spectacular success.

Join me next time as I’ll be looking at episode eleven of the first season, Larry Cohen’s ‘Pick Me Up’. See you then!

Richard is an avid reader and fan of all things horror. He supports Indie horror lit via Twitter (@RickReadsHorror) and reviews horror in all its forms for several websites including Horror Oasis and Sci Fi and Scary