‘The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick’ Review: A DIY Wellness Satire Steeped in Thuddingly Obvious Metaphors

variety.com:

Siddhant Adlakha Wellness culture takes sinister form in “The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick,” a horror-adjacent domestic drama that can’t quite sustain its tongue-in-cheek delights.

Directed by Pete Ohs (“Jethica”), and co-written by Ohs and his four lead actors, the ultra-indie SXSW discovery’s wry tone is accompanied by strange characters and even stranger sound design, and yields a wildly enjoyable initial half.

However, like its grieving lead character lost in her millennial malaise, it loses itself down a rabbit hole of metaphors. After Yvonne (Zoë Chao) experiences a personal tragedy — the surprising details of which are hinted at over a phone call, before gradually coming to light — she drives to the isolated, woodland home of her old college friend Camille (Callie Hernandez), only to discover a pair of surprise guests when she expected time alone.

Camille’s real estate agent Isaac (Jeremy O. Harris) and his partner A.J. (James Cusati-Moyer) are, for reasons inexplicable to Yvonne, staying with Camille for an extended period too, leading to a number of well-meaning intrusions and architectural curiosities, like holes in the floor that allow characters to peer in on each other’s conversations.