Depending on how The Woods turns out once it's actually released (c'mon Sony!), Lucky McKee might just be the new voice in horror we need. Certainly his 2002 effort May is proof positive of that and for his Masters Of Horror episode, Sick Girl, he's brought along May star Angela Bettis as well as softcore cult queen Erin Brown (most of you will know her under the name Misty Mundae).

Bettis stars as entomologist, Ida, who is finding that her obsession with all things insect just isn't helping her in her relationships. Another reason might be that she's just a little bit "different" from normal people. But things are soon to change when she's encouraged by her co-worker friend to try and set-up a date with the girl she sees every morning on her way to the elevator.

From there Ida strikes up a quick love affair with Misty (Brown) and they get along perfectly as Misty is just as eccentric. Ida is an excitable, nervous type and Misty is a fast-talking and naïve girl. Soon enough they're moving in with each other, but things start to go sour quickly when the strange bug Ida received from somewhere in Brazil gets free and infects Misty causing her to get a puss-dripping ear and start transforming while people in their apartment building begin to turn up dead.

If you've ever wanted to see a love triangle between two lesbians and an insect now's your chance. Sick Girl is packed with bizarre humour, some gooey effects, and a mutant bug creature in the finale that's pretty damn awesome.

McKee develops his wacky characters well, Bettis perfectly plays another strange girl yet again (it's not quite on the level of her May performance, but she's got this type of role down), Brown shows some good promise given the chance to be in a higher-budgeted production where she's not forced to spend more than half of it naked, and the entire thing is just so quirky you can't help but like it.

Sick Girl doesn't become outright horror until the second half preferring to spend its first half making the characters likeable and building-up the relationship between them before it all comes crashing down in a flurry of slimy antennae and blood splatters.

McKee is quickly becoming one of my favourite new young directors working in the genre and I can't wait for The Woods, but in the meantime Sick Girl fills that void and hopefully with his higher profile we'll get to see his first effort, the independently made All Cheerleaders Die, come out on DVD. (Chris Hartley, 5/31/06)

Directed By: Lucky McKee.
Written By: Sean Hood, Lucky McKee.

Starring: Angela Bettis, Erin Brown, Jesse Hlubik, Marcia Bennett.

Picture Ratio: 1.77:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: Like all of Anchor Bay's entries discs for the series, Sick Girl looks quite good with solid clarity and no grain. There's nothing here to complain about.

Extras: All of the Masters Of Horror discs use the same template and contain pretty much the same extras, but it's the sheer amount of them that makes Anchor Bay's decision to release them seperately instead of a season box set a good move (even if it might be expensive to buy them all, this way you can pick and choose your favourite episodes also).

We get a trailer (plus trailers for seven other episodes), promo trailers for other Anchor Bay DVD releases, a still gallery, a well written text biography for McKee, DVD-rom content that includes the screenplay and a screensaver, on set interviews with Bettis, Brown, and bug wrangler Brad MacDonald; an informative interview with McKee entitled "Blood, Bugs & Romance", the pretty cool "Working with a Master" featurette that graces every Masters disc, and a fun commentary track with McKee, Bettis, Hlubik, and composer Jaye Barnes Luckett.

Sick Girl will be available in a double pack with John Landis' entry, Deer Woman, which releases on the same date.

Visit Anchor Bay for more info.