Film Title: Sissy
Cast: Aisha Dee (Cecelia), Hannah Barlow (Emma), Emily De Margheriti (Alex)
Director: Hanna Barlow, Kane Senes
Writer: Hanna Barlow, Kane Senes
Distribution: Shudder / Netflix / Madman Ent
Production: Arcadia and Dems Entertainment
Release Date: July 2022 (Fantasia Film Festival); Netflix Release
Review by: Mother of Movies
This review contains major plot spoilers and discusses violence, bullying trauma, and gore. Proceed with caution if you’re sensitive to revenge-horror themes.
Sissy is an Australian horror film that takes the revenge-slasher template and flips it on its head, trading predictable kills for genuine character complexity and a cast that refuses to fit into tired stereotypes. It’s violent, it’s darkly funny, and it’s streaming on Netflix with practical gore effects that land harder than you’d expect from an indie production.
Mother of Movies loves Australian horror, and Sissy, now streaming on Netflix, proves why. This 2022 standout from Down Under doesn’t just lean into Aussie bushland and accents; it even gives our humble meat pie a cameo. Directed by writer-director duo Hanna Barlow and Kane Senes, the film originally premiered at 2022’s Fantasia Film Festival and has finally found its way to a wider audience.
The story follows Cecelia (Aisha Dee), an influencer with around 200,000 loyal followers who tune in to her live feeds about feeling seen and loved. She’s built a brand on vulnerability and connection, but beneath that polished exterior, something is deeply fractured. When she randomly runs into her old friend Emma at a bar, she’s invited to Emma’s hen’s party with a warmth that feels almost too good to be true. That’s because it isn’t.
The Practical Gore Works. The Premise Works. The Casting Works
What makes Sissy stand out isn’t just its willingness to go dark, it’s how it refuses to let you settle into comfortable assumptions about who the villain is. Aisha Dee’s performance walks a razor’s edge between sympathetic and unsettling. You’re never quite sure if Cecelia is a broken soul seeking redemption or something far more dangerous. That ambiguity is the film’s greatest strength.
The practical effects are genuinely impressive for the budget. When bodies start to drop, the violence feels earned rather than gratuitous. Hanna Barlow’s direction leans into slow-burn tension in the first half, letting dread accumulate through flashbacks and simmering resentment rather than jump scares. The sound design compensates for kills that happen off-camera, and when the gore arrives, it’s not for the squeamish.
But here’s what really sets Sissy apart from typical revenge-slasher fare: the cast. Barlow and Senes embrace disabled, LGBTQ+, and multicultural characters without turning them into tokenism. These aren’t stereotypes checking boxes, they’re fully realized people with their own arcs. Emily De Margheriti as Alex, the childhood nemesis, is particularly sharp. Hannah Barlow (the co-director) as Emma brings real vulnerability to a role that could’ve been one-dimensional. Rawya El Chab’s presence grounds the chaos whenever she’s on screen.
Where It Stumbles (And Why It Doesn’t Matter as Much as You’d Think)
The third act trades the slow-burn tension of the first half for something messier. Pacing stumbles. Some threads are introduced and quietly abandoned. If you need clear rules for how the revenge unfolds or why certain choices are made, Sissy won’t hand them to you on a platter. It trusts viewers to piece together the psychology of trauma and obsession rather than spelling it out.
The film also doesn’t pause to underline its own thesis, and that’s both a strength and a weakness. Viewers looking for tidy narrative closure will feel unsatisfied. Those willing to sit with ambiguity and read between the lines will find something richer.
The Dark Comedy
Most of the humor comes from Cecelia’s delusional need to control the narrative around her. There’s a moment where she asks Emma if she can “workshop her personality” after a screaming match. Another where she gawkishly checks on a couple arguing next door. These aren’t big set-piece gags, they’re deadpan character moments that reveal how detached Cecelia is from reality.
In a moment when revenge-horror films often default to predictable power dynamics, Sissy subverts those expectations. It asks uncomfortable questions about obsession, trauma bonding, and the stories we tell ourselves to justify our behavior. The film doesn’t let any character off the hook, not the bully, not the victim, not the well-meaning friend caught in the middle.
Is Sissy worth your time on Netflix? Yes. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s a confident one. It knows what it’s trying to say, even if it doesn’t always say it clearly. For Australian horror fans, for viewers tired of predictable slashers, for anyone who appreciates practical gore and complex character work, Sissy delivers.
Filmmaker Stamp
Hanna Barlow and Kane Senes make their feature directorial debut with Sissy, and the confidence on display is striking. Both co-wrote and directed, which means the film’s thematic coherence, its obsession with trauma, narrative control, and the stories we tell ourselves, runs through every frame. Barlow also appears as Emma, which adds an extra layer of intimacy to the production. For a debut feature, Sissy shows restraint where lesser filmmakers would’ve indulged in spectacle. The practical effects work speaks to their understanding of horror craft, and the casting choices suggest filmmakers who care about representation beyond tokenism.
The Sissy movie is rated
3.5 squashed heads out of 5
The Sissy movie was picked up by the horror streaming platform Shudder. Shudder will release the film on Thursday, 29th September 2022. For more options, see out widget below.
Practical Gore Meets Trauma & Obsession
Sissy flips the revenge-slasher script with complex characters, practical gore, and a cast that refuses stereotypes. It’s confident, dark, and streaming on Netflix with something genuinely unsettling to say.
Sissy Streaming Options
Sissy cast:
- Yerin Ha
- Aisha Dee
- Lucy Barrett
- Daniel Monks
- Hannah Barlow
- Emily De Margheriti
- Watch Influencer or its sequel, Influencers
Sissy
Director: Hannah Barlow, Kane Senes
Date Created: 2022-03-20 20:01
3.5
