Infested (Vermines) | 2024 | Unrated (R equivalent) | starring Theo Christian | directed by Sebastien Vanicek | 1h 46m | In French with Subtitles | 3 out of 5 stars |
Sting | 2024 | rated R | starring Alyla Browne, Kate Walsh | written & directed by Kiah Roache-Turner | 1h 32m | 2 out of 5 stars |
Spiders are back and in the same way all shark movies are compared to Jaws, creepy crawly monster movies try to pull themselves out from under the shadow of Frank Marshall’s superb horror/comedy Arachnophobia. Both the French Infested and the US Sting are nastier than that movie and have their moments of effective spider chaos but don’t quite achieve spider movie hall of fame here.
In Infested a rare spider collector (Theo Christian) accidentally lets lose his latest specimen to breed and terrorize his apartment complex. In Sting, the spider duty is handed over to an alien spider, found and raised by young Charlotte (Alyla Browne, Furiosa) when soon grows far beyond its cage and terrorizes her apartment complex. In Sting it’s the network of vents between apartments that the creature lies. In Infested, the arachnids spark up around every corner. Frankly, once it really got going the movie reminded me of Gremlins with its jumpy use of seemingly practical – and gooey – effects. Of the two, Infested is the better movie, though it has a wind-up to get there. It has a bit of that French New Wave visual style to it, the desperation, pension for the grotesque and, as is customarily French, a satirical look at the police.
Characters are an issue in both movies, and it’s Infested’s biggest drawbacks. The movie feels a lot like a grittier version of the neighborhood vs aliens Brit-comedy Attack the Block but without the charming lead in John Boyega and Jodie Whitaker. Our characters do a lot of hysterical screaming. Similarly, Sting has a group of stock quirky characters including the colorful old lady who can’t remember how often she’s called pest control. Infested is grungy and grimy but has a consistent tone throughout, with two knockout set pieces: a spider discovery in the shower and a hallway escape.
But Sting has an uneven tone. Its violence is decidedly R-rated and even cruel at times, but when your heroine is a pre-teen girl who fills up her Super Soaker to go fight aliens the movie projects a Speilbergian 80s adventure this movie isn’t interested in delivering. There are a few stand-out set pieces here as well, including a horrific scene of a character paralyzed with spider venom as they get dragged across the ground and into the air duct just outside of Charlotte’s view. There is a nasty bite to this movie that fits Infested but doesn’t quite fit this film and its occasional segues into comedy or cutesier bits.
Two short and sweet creature features that know what they are (for the most part) and don’t overstay their welcome from two first time directors cutting their teeth on a low-budget single-location feature. If you’re up for some spider madness, you could do worse. it’s ugly but from a filmmaking standpoint, the winner here is Infested by a mile. I’m curious to see what else Vanicek might have up his sleeve.