Sissy: Review

8th October 2022

Cecilia (Aisha Dee) or Sissy to her friends is a social media influencer who talks about the power of positive thinking and mental health to her hundreds of thousands of followers. However, Sissy seems to be the one that needs the most care herself because of a childhood trauma which has stayed with her to this day.

Then one day whilst out shopping she meets Emma (Hannah Barlow) who she hasn’t seen since school and she invites Sissy to her engagement party. Careful not to overstep her boundaries, Sissy is nervous at first. Although as soon as she gets back together with her childhood best friend, it feels like nothing has changed. However, Sissy’s journey in getting to know Emma’s friends may not go as smoothly as intended.

Sissy is a horror comedy exclusive to Shudder which parodies social media as well as taking a sinister look at parasocial relationships and how overstepping a mark can go horribly wrong.

For example, as Sissy meets all of Emma’s friends, she’s horrified to find that she’s still friends with Alex (Emily De Margheriti) who used to bully her at school. Finding herself drawing upon her mental health coping skills, Sissy finds herself withdrawing and wondering if she’s doing the right thing.

However, Aisha Dee gives a great performance and with the help of a funny and insightful script the film manages to stay sympathetic to Sissy’s needs whilst also delighting in how the horror develops.

The topic of mental health could be a tricky one for a horror movie, because it evokes things like Single White Female and Fatal Attraction. However, Sissy has just enough of its tongue in its cheek to maintain the satire.

There’s also plenty there for genre horror fans and the kills are funny and inventive enough to keep the audience interested even when Sissy seems blissfully unaware of what she’s doing. Social media has certainly dealt out its fair share of issues for many people who can’t seem to get away from it. However, Sissy strikes the right balance between the dark and the light as it tells a story about how we all hide a little something of ourselves from others.

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