 Aisha Dee as Sissy is the standout. She plays Sissy with a palpable level of anxiety and fragility so deeply embedded in her past experiences that her journey in the film is both expected and shocking. Sissy (2022) Teen best friends Cecilia and Emma, after a decade run into each other. Cecilia is invited on Emma's bachelorette weekend where she gets stuck in a remote cabin with her high school bully with a taste for revenge. Written and Directed by Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes A Horror Movie Review by: Mark Walker Cecilia (Aisha Dee) runs ‘Sincerely Cecilia’, a growing social media account that provides spiritual guidance to those who are struggling with life and need support and reassurance when times are tough. With over 200k followers Cecilia is an influencer on the rise and has even managed to garner some interest from celebrities and companies seeking to endorse their products. (I did chuckle at the wonderfully named, “Elon Mask” facial product.) However, that is just the public face of ‘Sincerely Cecilia.’ Behind the scenes Cecilia appears to be a relatively normal young woman, living in a mildly untidy apartment and eating cold pizza for dinner, until… … a chance encounter with her childhood best friend, Emma (Hannah Barlow) leads to an invitation to Emma’s bachelorette weekend and an uncomfortable reunion with Cecilia’s school bully, Alex (a delightfully bitchy Emily De Margheriti). It was Alex who formed the wedge between Cecilia and Emma that eventually ended their BFF relationship. Seeing Alex dredges up old wounds for everyone (literally and figuratively) as well as Cecilia’s childhood nickname “Sissy, The Sissy” that she has been fighting to put behind her ever since. The pain and animosity of the past is too much for Alex and Cecilia to put behind them and, as the tension rises, things spiral out of control and the weekend turns into one of murder and mayhem. Sissy examines the power of social media and bullying, of belonging and acceptance. It explores the complexity of identity, both external and internal, how we see ourselves and how we think others see us. The effects of bullying last a lifetime and, while most people don’t resort to murder, Sissy forces us to explore how hard you can hit back at the people who almost destroyed your life. The beauty of the film is that neither Sissy, Alex nor even Emma are exactly innocent; they all played a part in the past trauma. But who should you identify with? The bullied or the bully receiving (disproportionate?) justice? Both Alex and Sissy have grudges to bear, but are their actions and behaviours justified? Sissy blurs the lines between right and wrong in the same way social media often portrays a biased, one-sided view of the truth. The film does an excellent job of instilling the audience with a sense of empathy and sympathy for people doing horrible things, as you find yourself debating whether or not you would do the same and whose side you should really be on? This all presents Sissy as the bastard child of Promising Young Woman and American Psycho. There are elements of revenge and a darkly humourous undertone that explores the issues around identity and belonging much like American Psycho did, just in an updated environment of celebrity and social media. Just how important and influential is a big online following? Is there any truth in the online world? The cult of celebrity that surrounds influencers is also studied here; fans and stans believing everything their heroes tell them without question. While the behaviour in Sissy is an awfully long way over to the right of my ‘NORMAL to ****ING MENTAL’ scale, the outcomes, in this day and age, are very much believable. The writing and direction here is great and the cast is fantastic, but Aisha Dee as Sissy is the standout. She plays Sissy with a palpable level of anxiety and fragility so deeply embedded in her past experiences that her journey in the film is both expected and shocking. I haven’t seen her in anything before, but she plays a blinder in Sissy! She is, in one moment, a delicate victim who needs a reassuring hug and, in the next, a stone-cold angel of retribution! I have seen criticism of Sissy that it doesn’t address the obvious issue of racism, and that this is a missed an opportunity. While some of the behaviour in Sissy could well be embedded in racism, the film does a great job with straightforward representation. For example, Jamie (Daniel Monks) is a great character who just happens to be disabled, but his disability is not a focus of the film, until he needs to run away from danger, of course. The issues front and centre here are friendship and how childhood relationships can be the most intense experiences of our lives and, when they break down, they can also be the most devastating with far reaching and long-term consequences. Sissy comes with some great practical effects and, although they are low budget, they are suitably icky. Practical effects in horror are always better than CGI in my opinion. Yes, ILM can render a pretty impressive dinosaur but, if you want a head to explode, sometimes it is just better to just fill a bag with offal! Some of the practical effects in Sissy are obviously on the cheaper side, but they are all the more visceral, stomach churning and (dare I say it) satisfying for it. Sissy doesn’t hold back and has plenty to keep gore hounds happy. I think I spotted a couple of CGI shots which weren’t quite as effective, but they are fleeting. I say this a lot when reviewing films, but I can’t really talk any more about the plot in Sissy without giving it all away. While the plot isn’t exactly complex, there are enough little twists and turns to grab your attention and I don’t want to spoil anything. I went into Sissy with just the basic blurb and thought it was going to go in a slightly different direction from what it did. While you have a fairly good idea of where it is heading once everything kicks off, it is still a hell of a lot of fun getting there! I can imagine this would have been fun to watch in a crowded cinema. In a couple of other recent reviews, I have used my new, patented “wristwatch” method of scoring films and, for Sissy, I can safely say I didn’t once check my watch during the film. **** it, just watch it when it comes out, it’ll be worth it. CHECK OUT TODAY'S OTHER ARTICLES BELOW
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