Vermin. La plaga

The very first Arachnophobia movie scared me as a kid, I haven't seen that in awhile and most bug/shark/gator movies do not scare me much these days. But this movie had managed to capture the truly unique take of trying to capture a giant spider using a glass container, it was truly terrifying cause some of us had to do that in real life. That, and the creepy crawlies zooming up real fast using your broom as a ladder. This is one of those movies that are not reliant on cheap jump scares but our own natural fears.

The only negative thing I could find about this piece is that the spiders grew up too fast, there was no segment for the passing of time. And some of the cast, kind of looks alike that I don't know who's who. Their mannerisms are the same and mostly were introduced once. But it made up for some good acting to push through the drama. That scream near the end was moving and filled the room with terror... then the lights went out.

Overall could've been better but it's pretty solid. It's well written, not using cheap gimmicks as a crutch. Spiders are realistic (except for some of the big ones) and made me somehow feel for some of the characters.

What tangled webs they weave when the survivors cannot leave.

Infested is the latest of European Apartment/Isolation Horror with the likes of 2007's Rec from Spain and 2022's Lockdown Tower with the latter closer to this kind of rundown building and both from France. While I liked the other two more, this still works. At least the first half, anyways.

A neglected apartment tower's resident critter expert brings home a poisonous spider only to lose it almost immediately and just as swiftly, that thing multiplies tenfold+. Soon, all the residents will face off with the new eight-legged occupants and hopefully some will survive.

As usual in these When-Animals-Attack films, the characters do some DUMB things. Like over and over.

Wasn't there a first-floor window to crawl out of? Front door to simply open? Egad, every dumb mistake you could make happened here. Granted, I'd probably panic, too or simply have a heart-attack with my arachnophobia in a dark building full of spiders.

My biggest issue was there were no time jumps to make this even remotely realistic. And to me, the more realistic, the more terrifying it is. Here, the one spider lays its egg sack and pretty much, within minutes the whole tower is covered with them. Plus, they grow to almost human size with each new batch.

Now that said, it didn't stop me from jumping so many times out of my seat and audibly swearing, I had to constantly pause the movie to recover. So, yeah, they did their job on my fears. And if you also suffer from the same fright of these abominations, you'll probably get some great scares out of this as well.

You'll just have to get through some tough/long scenes of character set up in the first half-hour. Despite these feeling like real people who really live in the same tight quarters, it was almost brutal to get through so much exposition to get to what we pressed play for: a Spider Invasion.

It's not bad, and for the grand majority of the spider-scenes, they did look like real spiders (well, except for the 3-foot kinds.) Just try not to imagine them on your own skin.

***

Final Thoughts: It pains me to give this a mediocre review. I did the same for 2022's Fall - which explored my greatest fear: Heights. (Spiders are my #2.) That one just suffered through cliches and really bad characters I didn't care about. This film's problem was the speed they multiplied and size they grew. Also, since when are spiders social bloodsuckers?

Good setup. Made me think of the beginning of "Braindead" (Dead-Alive) from Peter Jackson. It also has some great, odd, close-up camera shots which were great.

What follows in Infested, however, is a avalanche of constant group yelling scenes of a bunch of people who make really bad decisions. Again!

Why do movie writers keep creating stupid characters just to give them a tool to hurdle over major plot holes? Stop doing that! Create characters which the viewer can relate to and create a better story.

I feel though, that this is a promising director, due to the special shots and atmosphere he created. I hope he will do a better job with the next "Evil Dead" movie.

For a creature feature this was fun The script on the other hand, not so much. Kaleb needed an arc , instead he was an annoying , entitled dick from beginning to end. The others were not much better and tighter direction was required with the conversation, to much yelling over one another.

For a first time feature director, good job but as he will be directing the next instalment of the evil dead franchise, I very much hope he is not writing the script and allows single lines of conversations to play out so the dialogue is audible. Is this the the worst movie? Non! It could have been so much better but was still a fun time on the couch.

This is what a horror movie about spiders should be like. For the first hour or so everything works, it feels well put together, and the soundtrack only compliments this.

The spiders are well done, and there is some genuinely frightening jump scares.

It entire production takes place in a apartment block in Paris. It feels isolated, dark, grim, and poverty stricken. At times, it felt like the same isolation one would get watching the the first Alien movie.

However, whilst the movie is well made, the third act is difficult to take seriously. Sometimes less is more in this context. People in an apartment block fighting for their very lives was interesting, until it became silly and cartoonist.

That being said, the first hour is the best bit of horror you're likely to see this year.