This Sucks

A feature-length dark comedy written and directed by Cameron A. Mitchell and starring April Denise Scott, Emily Fletcher, Eric Flores, Rachel Amanda Bryant, Michael Hooper and Thresa Richardson.

The COVID-19 pandemic is taking place and three young people in California are spending Christmas holidays together inside a house during quarantine. These individuals are Jess (Scott), a former make-up podcaster who is now struggling with depression, Carly (Fletcher), whose family is trying to convince her to move back with them and Ted (Flores), a homosexual. These three characters (including Jess' former boyfriend, Jake (Hooper)) are being invaded by imaginary demonic-lookin entities that represent their personal issues. As time goes by, the protagonists will attempt to deal with their problems, while also helping each other.

Perhaps what stands out the most are the demonic entities. As mentioned, four persons in this story imagine that they are interacting with human-like entities that resemble some sort of demon, with red skin, horns on their head and goat-like legs. And each entity has a different appearance (at least facially), one that resembles a person that is related to the character who sees that entity. For example, Jess imagines that the entity resembles Jake, while Carly sees her sister, Ocean (Bryant). Therefore, the entities represent the person who is responsible for their troubles and their presence is an interesting way of exploring the characters. Demonic entities aside, the screenplay does a good job when it comes to explroring the characters and their struggles and the adult humour adds to the experience and so does the comedic music by Charlotte Partt. And recognition also goes to Siani Johnson's creative editing.

Negatives regarding this feature? Overall, the pace is slow and makes the film feel overlong. This is probably because the plot is primariy character-driven, paying less emphasis on the story, nevertheless, the film does seem to have a duration that goes on for longer than necessary.

The performances are great and some of the cast play two characters. Scott is a woman who is struggling with depression, caused partially by the pandemic, partially by the experinces she had with Jake, partially by her controlling mother (Richardson) and partially by a person she cares about leaving her household. Scott also portrays the demonic entity that pursues Jake. Fletcher is a naive, talkative and kind-hearted person who deals with her sister's attempts to convince her to return home. Then, there is Ted, the cheerful and optimistic homosexual who has an entity that resembles himself, indicating that he needs to confront himself in order to get better.

Mental health is a major theme in this story, particualry depression. Friendship, support, self-reflection and family values are also significant. As the plot takes palce during COVID-19, this feature is a commentary about that global pandemic, exploring how it affected people, especailly during quarantine. The film also involves the Black Lives Matter movement.

A story set during the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring how the lives of several characters develop during that time. There are humourous parts and emotional parts and the character development is executed well. Some might dislike the slow pace, however, in the end, this is an interesting viewing about dealing with personal issues and having support.