Editor's note: The following article contains spoilers for Sick.
Even before getting a wide release, Sick made a buzz among horror enthusiasts due to its pandemic-themed slasher thrills. After a successful run in film festivals, Sick is finally available on Peacock, where every horror fiend can witness the slick and bloody glory of the movie, tightly directed by John Hyams (Alone). Sick is pure serial killer fun, and it couldn’t be different with a screenplay co-written by newcomer Katelyn Crabb and slasher king Kevin Williamson (Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer). Since part of the fun in slasher movies is unmasking the killer and revealing what pushed them to such a gruesome path, let’s break down the movie’s ending and explain how everything fits together. Don't forget to wear your facemask!
A Killer Quarantine
Sick takes place in 2020, during the peak of the COVID pandemic that spread through the world. After a cold opening where a man named Tyler (Joel Courtney) is followed by a killer and slayed inside his apartment, Sick focuses on friends Parker (Gideon Adlon) and Miri (Beth Million). Miri seems concerned about safety measures, while Parker doesn’t care much. Still, they decide to lock themselves in Parker’s father's lake house and enjoy a good time, planning the ultimate quarantine getaway experience.
At first, Parker and Miri's quarantine seems harmless, as they are alone and don’t have contact with anyone else, which means they can enjoy themselves safely. Things get messier when Parker’s wannabe boyfriend, DJ (Dylan Sprayberry), crashes the party and joins the girls. And after the trio decides to go to bed and sleep off the alcohol and drugs, another person joins their quarantine with no previous warning: the masked killer who murdered Tyler.
Sick is structured as one big chase scene, as Parker, Miri, and DJ fight for their lives. DJ is the first to die, sacrificing himself to give the girls the opportunity to escape. That doesn’t go as planned, though, as his death is wasted, and the girls remain in danger. So, a few minutes later, Miri is pushed from the house’s second floor, breaking her leg badly. The tides seem to change after Parker manages to bash the face of the killer until the floor is covered in blood. However, the killer is not alone, as a second masked man gets to the house right after the first supposedly dies.
Parker escapes to the lake and uses a raft to cross to the other shore while being chased by the second killer. Meanwhile, Miri uses wood from a stool as a makeshift cast. The first masked man wakes up and goes after Miri, but the girl finishes Parker’s job by stabbing the killer in the neck. Meanwhile, on the other side of the shore, Parker breaks into a neighbor's house to ask for help and accidentally turns the man into a victim. Then, she keeps running away from the killer on a nearby road, hoping a driver can pass by and save her. That does happen when Pamela (Jane Adams) finds Parker and asks the girl to wear a facemask before climbing onboard. Unfortunately, as Parker soon finds out, the mask Pamela offered her was dipped in chloroform, and the woman is part of the killer’s club.
Sick of Selfishness
Pamela drives Parker and the second killer back to the lake house. There, they reveal why they are targeting the girl. The second killer, Jason (Marc Menchaca), is the husband of Pamela. Together, the couple had two children. Their oldest son lies on the floor nearby, killed by Parker and Miri. Their youngest, Benji (Logan Murphy), had an even worse death, alone in a hospital bed, unable to breathe. Benji was infected with COVID by Parker, who kissed the boy at a party. Parker, in her turn, caught the disease after making out with Tyler, the cold opening’s victim.
Parker tries to defend herself and tell the couple she’s not sick. Pamela is cautious enough to do a quick test on Parker immediately, rubbing the positive result on the girl’s face. Since Parker had no symptoms, she thought it was okay to keep sneaking out of lockdown and partying with dozens of strangers. She was selfish and careless, helping spread the disease that eventually killed Benji. That’s why Jason and Pamela armed themselves and tracked down the contamination network, killing the people they thought were responsible for their son's loss.
While the killer couple is distracted by Parker, Miri tries to use her laptop to call for help. Jason notices someone is using the wifi and realizes Miri is still alive. After Jason leaves the room to hunt Miri, the girls attack Pamela and restart the movie’s big chase. Jason is the next one to die after being pushed from the top of the stair into the sharp prize antlers lying on the floor. Then, the final duel against Pamela happens at the mansions’ garage while the girls are trying to start a buggy car.
During the last fight, Parker spills gasoline all over Pamela. After that, when the woman is focused on splitting Parker’s skull with an ax, Miri lights the woman on fire, putting an end to their nightmare. Pamela runs to the streets, her body engulfed in flames, while police cars arrive from the horizon. Miri’s call for help worked, and law enforcement came to the lake house as fast as possible. Still, it was too late to prevent the death of Pamela and Jason.
While it’s easy to understand how grief and trauma can lead people to do awful things, Pamela and Jason took things a little too far. Even so, Parker was responsible for spreading COVID. So, while the killers had to be stopped, Parker is not your regular heroic final girl. Sick might look like your average slasher on the surface, but the movie explores the pandemics and how selfishness ended up taking so many innocent lives. Pamela’s hands are dripping with blood, but Parker is far from being innocent herself.
Sick is currently available on Peacock.