With all the horror movie releases in the past year, it was easy for some to fall under the radar. The sad fate of being overshadowed regretfully happened to the film “Sissy,” released in Sept. 2022. The story follows a mental health influencer who reunites with a childhood friend. Sissy agrees to go with her old friend to a secluded cabin and is forced to face her past, as the villain becomes more and more unclear.

Recently, a lot of horror movies have been hopping on the social media influencer trend, making their main character a popular influencer, giving us a heavy-handed approach to showing how twisted Internet fame is. I’m not a fan of influencer horror movies typically, as they try too hard most of the time to relate to younger fans, and it ends up being a really tough watch. But “Sissy” somehow avoids everything I hate about the usual influencer movies. Sissy, whose real name is Cecilia, is a self-proclaimed mental health influencer who has no actual mental health training. As we see her meet with Emma and old memories begin to resurface, we see why she got into the field that she did. From what Sissy’s memories tell us, Alex, who she quickly finds out is also at the cabin and is not excited about Sissy’s visit, relentlessly bullied her as a child and even stole Emma from her. But as the party goes on and Sissy becomes more and more excluded, her memories start to reveal more about who may be the real villain, as Sissy begins on a murderous rampage.

It’s no secret I’m a big fan of slasher films, so maybe I’m a little too easily impressed with films like this. “Sissy” feels reminiscent of the slashers from before, but also delves into the new and modern aspect it has to show. The film really does a good job of creating a sympathetic villain and some really unlikable victims who I may have cheered for when they died. We actually get to know the characters too with some careful pacing, which is nice, since sometimes slashers move a bit too fast and forget to tell us who the characters are. Aisha Dee is an absolute star and a pleasure to watch go on an insane killing spree. After seeing Dee in “Channel Zero,” I wanted to see her in more horror movies, and she did not disappoint.

My only real complaint about this film isn’t about the pacing or anything similar, it’s the karaoke scene at the start. I hate watching people sing in non-musical films, and this one is no different. It was awkward and harder to watch for me than the actual kills. The first half takes its time to let you know who the characters are, which is fine other than the stupid karaoke number to “Sister” by Sister2Sister.

2022 was a great year for horror and “Sissy” is no different. Although it got hidden behind all the big-name releases, its time will come eventually. I give this movie a whopping four and a half stars out of five. So If you haven’t watched it yet, run to Shudder and put it on as soon as you can. And remember, you are loved, you are special, and you are doing your best.