Sting. Araña asesina

I saw this movie had a good score, particularly for a horror. I thought the opening scenes were alright. The movie's visual style kinda reminded me of "Willard"

But the movie fails to execute. Instead of a creepy or thrilling horror about monstrous spiders - we go on and on with the family drama. We get scenes with a dementia-striken mother, arguments between a stepfather and stepdaughter, arguments between a husband and wife, and discussions about the family's income (mostly tied to the patriarch's odd line of work as a comic-book illustrator). They should've scrapped these scenes and went more with the spiders.

"Sting" injects some welcome thrills into the creature feature subgenre, but with a twist: the heart of the film lies not in the monstrous spider itself, but in the strained family dynamic at its core.

We've seen plenty of arachnophobic nightmares come to life on screen before - "Arachnophobia" and "Eight Legged Freaks" come to mind. But "Sting" differentiates itself by focusing on Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old who finds solace in an unusual pet spider.

As the heartwarming bond between Charlotte and "Sting" forms, the creature, much like her anxieties, begins to grow at an alarming rate. The predictable tropes of missing pets and panicked neighbors soon unravel, revealing the true terror: a family on the brink of collapse.

The film's opening scene leaves little doubt about the monstrous path Sting is destined for. This might leave some viewers wanting more mystery, but it allows the focus to remain on the emotional journey of the characters.

Ultimately, "Sting" is a satisfying creature feature with a surprising amount of comedy. While predictable in its plot beats, it delivers effective scares and a touching family drama.

Sting is a good, not great kind of movie. It's not bad, it's not spectacular. Sure, it has a lot of cliches and it's fairly predictable, but it makes up for it with some cool aspects. First off, the spider looks and sounds pretty good. As a creature feature, it works fairly well. A lot of it is set in the vents and air ducts of a Brooklyn brownstone, which is interesting but unfortunately underutilized. The claustrophobic setting generally does work pretty well. The kills are brutal, and it very much leans into the body horror subgenre (which is what disturbs me personally, so it was effective in that regard). Think back to middle school science class and imagine what you know spiders do to their prey, and now imagine that happening to people. That's what goes on in it. The effects are quite good. The characters are bland, tropey, and forgettable. But then again, are you seeing this movie for the characters or for the killer spider? There's a great tension-building atmosphere, and there are some pretty cool shots from the spider's perspective. The dialogue isn't the best, and every attempt at humor falls flat. It's a fine movie, nothing too special, but if you're the type of horror fan who's in it for those brutal kills, it has those.

Greetings again from the darkness. The trailer for this one makes it clear that it's a monster movie in the vein of those Friday late night creature-features I stayed up watching as a kid ... whenever I wasn't grounded from watching TV. Australian filmmaker Kiah Roche-Turner has set this one in Brooklyn and it takes place almost entirely inside an old apartment building (the only exceptions are shots of the ice storm occurring outside).

Roche-Turner may have delivered the latest creature-feature, however, it's not one of those that inspires empathy towards the creature. Twelve-year-old Charlotte (get it??) is on one of her adventures through the air vents of the old building when she captures a little black spider. A pet spider may be uncommon, but keeping secrets from your mother, Heather, (Penelope Mitchell, HELLBOY, 2009) and stepdad, Ethan, (Ryan Corr, THE WATER DIVINER, 2014) is right in line with the actions of an adolescent frustrated by the responsibilities of having to watch her newborn brother while the frazzled adults go about earning a living.

The film's opening shows Charlotte's sweater-knitting grandmother, Helga (Noni Hazelhurst, TRUTH, 2015), battling dementia and calling the exterminator after hearing loud noises in the wall. The story then flashes back four days to when Charlotte first finds the spider. Frank (Jermaine Fowler, RICKY STANICKY, 2024) sprays the building, but even as a pest expert, he doesn't suspect what's about to happen. Relative newcomer Alyla Brown (TRUE SPIRIT, 2023) performs superbly as Charlotte, and is stunned when the pet spider she names Sting mimics her whistle when it's due for another meal of crunchy bugs, which leads to exponential growth.

Although it's not necessary, there are additional elements to the story that occur around the whole rapidly-growing spider. Charlotte's stepdad is the building super and an aspiring comic book artist. In an effort to bond with her, Ethan illustrated the story she created about her biological father, whose deadbeat nature mother Heather has withheld from her. Their neighbors consist of lonely widow Maria (Siliva Colloca, VAN HELSING, 2004) and oddball science geek Erik (Danny Kim, "Born to Spy"), the latter of whom exposes Charlotte's clandestine arachnid pet to the parents. The final player here is frugal and grumpy Gunther (Robyn Nevin, RELIC, 2020), who apparently owns the building and lives with her sister Helga. Ms. Nevin has a face made for horror films (and I mean that as a compliment) and gets to go full out in her one big scene with Ethan.

As you'd expect, some of these folks meet a grisly end, while others are more fortunate. There are enough kills for those that lust for such moments, and enough creepiness and chuckles for everyone else. It does take a while for the arachnid rampage to begin, but there's enough suspense to keep us around. Most will appreciate Brad Shield's cinematography as the camera worms it's way through the claustrophobic hallways and air ducts of the building. The origins of the spider might be missed by those who aren't paying close attention, but it's a brilliant touch. And even though it's a bit of campy horror, the dayglo red used in the fake blood is among the worst you'll likely ever see. The film is quite a bit different from the 1990 cult classic ARACHNOPHOBIA, but the lesson in keeping moth balls on hand could someday come in handy. Over the opening credits, "What a Way to Die" by The Pleasure Seekers acts as a foreshadowing of events, and in keeping with the film's title, there are a couple of "stingers" for those who stick around.

Opening in theaters on April 12, 2024.

This is a horror movie for sure, if you like horror movies I recommend this one. As the title says, I went into it without knowing very much and that was a good thing. I won't ruin that here. You know it's about a spider and a little girl, that much is from the cover. Is that spider good or bad, is the girl bad, are they friends, these are the things I had no idea about and kept it that way until I had a chance to see it in the theater. I would say this could probably wait for a streaming viewing or DVD/Blu-ray if that's still a thing. The special effects are good, but it's not the type of movie that warrants a larger screen than most people have in their homes these days. If you like horror, give this one a go and try not to read too much on it so you can be surprised as well. If not, it's still good and worth a watch. There is blood, there is some gore and it's a great time.