Sissy – REVIEW
Image: Aisha Dee as Cecilia in Sissy. Image: film still
This small Aussie flick best categorized as a black comedy horror thriller, is the surprise film of the year that should not fail to find an audience in cinemas.
The story centres on a young woman named Cecilia who was nicknamed Sissy by bullies at school. She reconnects with Emma, an old school friend whom she hasn’t seen in 15 years. Emma invites Cecilia to her hen’s night in an isolated country cabin and this chance meeting rekindles traumatic memories of her being dumped as best friend by Emma during her early school years.
It’s time to avenge the bullying she received from the arch bitch who is also in attendance and so the killings commence, initially by accident but as the old traumas rapidly resurface, they become premeditated.
In the tradition of And Then There Were None, this film contains many graphic murder sequences intertwined with a quasi-comedic style of storytelling, yet simultaneously chilling and haunting.
“You can’t connect with anybody Sissy!! You’re a psychopath!” yells one of the girls as true colours emerge fuelled by excessive alcohol.
Would Sissy’s mental health have deteriorated had she not bumped into her old school friend? Did the universe have them reunited so that Sissy could have her revenge? Ultimately, is Sissy really crazy?
Flashbacks feature heavily in the process of storytelling and notably, quality performances by a small and fresh young cast are praiseworthy. The unpredictable finale should leave audiences in shock, a small twist that detracts from the ideology that ‘crime doesn’t pay’.
Underneath the murder, gore, and mayhem of this neatly packaged low budget feature film surfaces the realistic theme that mental health is fragile and can be adversely affected by the most distant of childhood memories.
★★★
