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Back In My Day: Ick at TIFF 2024

George Yonemori
Photo Courtesy of TIFF: Joseph Kahn

Directed by: Joseph Kahn

Cast: Brandon Routh, Malina Weissman, Harrison Cone, Taia Sophia


Skibidi Toilet was the first meme that made Generation Z feel old. That catchy Garry’s Mod animation showed us we’re no longer in the spotlight. I’ve accepted the passage of time and wholly welcome the next generation’s brain rot the way millennials accepted mine. Change is inevitable. Don’t ignore it, or even worse, fight it. You’ll look like a loser. Prolific music video and film director Joseph Kahn’s electrifyingly funny horror comedy Ick satirizes stagnation. Set in the all-American town of Eastbrook, Hank Wallace (Brandon Routh) has everything a 2000s all-American high school football star could want: a blonde cheerleader girlfriend named Stacy (Mena Suvari) and a shot at the NFL until mysterious black vines, known as the Ick, sprout from the ground during the big game, costing Hank his dream future. He lives in Eastbrook as a pitiful science teacher 20 years later, blasting Creed and fawning over his high school days. After the growing yet normalized Ick massacres a high school party, Hank finds renewed purpose in protecting his eye-rolling student and potential daughter Grace (Malina Weissman). 


Having directed Taylor Swift and Eminem videos, Grammy-winner Joseph Kahn’s music video background comes out swinging here. Ick feels like a 2000s pop-punk music video in how it rarely slows down. In an interview, Kahn says he considered including Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” but thought it would muddy the line between serious and ironic. I don’t listen to any of the bands featured, but hearing them here gave the experience a thick layer of semi-ironic joy. Kahn says the music choice came from wanting to explore the fun turnover point between millennials and Gen Z. Many 2000s bands haven’t reached timeless status and sound hopelessly dated—a brilliant choice for this story. 


Rapid-fire dialogue mocks extreme progressives and conservatives. Grace’s boyfriend, the obnoxious Dylan (Harrison Cone), is a standout. How he manipulates progressive language to justify terrible behaviour was hilarious. How both sides blame everything except the apparent Ick problem (climate change, COVID-19, etc…) made me and most everyone else in the early afternoon exclusive press and industry screening laugh. I loved seeing the townspeople’s stagnant worldview that prioritizes traditions, like prom, over their kids’ lives. My biggest TIFF regret was missing this film’s late-night public screening—it would’ve been a riot watching this surrounded by drunk people. 


None of the ideas are profound or remarkably fresh. I can easily see how someone could think it dated or taking cheap shots, but there were more hits than misses for me. This film knows what it is and nails all its goals. Routh’s terrific performance as Hank Wallace makes him a loveable loser. The central drama of Grace potentially being his daughter engaged me because I wanted to see Hank win. Having his mediocrity be from something out of his control was a wise writing choice to make him endearing. The gore and frantic action scenes look great. The Ick’s biomass and tar design resembles the old Prototype games or Bloodborne. Overall, Ick is so much fun and will be one of my go-to midnight movies.


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