I had a great time with Kahn’s Detention so was ready to happily slip into his latest effort, Ick. A bit of a combination between Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Blob, Night of the Living Dead and The Faculty, Kahn’s film suggests that there is a lot of fun to be had, but it never lets itself breathe enough to enjoy it.

Hank (Brandon Routh who can be very funny and still heroic) has been stuck in his hometown since fumbling a chance at a full ride on a football scholarship. He gets himself clean, and begins to work on improving himself, eventually getting a job as a science teacher in his old high school, and mooning over his old high school flame, Staci (Mena Suvari).

There’s also something all over the town, apparently all over the globe. It’s always been there, it’s some kind of plant? Bacteria? Everyone calls it the Ick, and Hank is sure it’s up to something.

Here’s where things go off the rails. The ick has been around for as long as anyone knows, but now, for no reason that is given, it begins to behave differently, aggressively attacking people consuming them, transforming those that survive into a zombie-like being.

Things get gory, and goofy pretty quick, but that’s not everything, Staci’s daughter, Grace (Malina Pauli Weissman), may be his daughter as well.

There’s a lot about this film that feels like an updated take on those monster movies of the 50s updated with a Gen Z flavoring and a science teacher trying to totes connect with that generation.

The script has the potential for a lot of laughs, but the film is never allowed to breathe, to take a beat to let a scene, a character, a line to have its moment, and that’s truly unfortunate, as there are glimmers of smart and clever bits here, but none of them are allowed to come into fruition.

This one could have been really enjoyable, instead of just being okay. I wanted this one to engage me as much as Detention did, but it just seems rushed. The film wants to have it’s beats, it wants the audience to engage with it, but its editing and pacing don’t give it the time to do it.

Ick.