Stung

Stung is a simple cheap thrill, presenting over-the-top characters and gory scenes. It looks rather sloppy, but not without some appeal. The corny set-up have intended humorous acts, they are lightly done and in the spirit of irony. The presentation isn't top notch though, this won't rival smooth delivery of big budget movies, it is good for brief amusement nonetheless.

The story follows the crews and attendees of a party, which doesn't take long to completely crumble as monster wasps decide to attack. There's no scientific or dramatic tension like most monster movies, they just appear and wreak havoc. The main characters are the bartender and event planner, they predictably run around trying to fend off these abominations.

It plays with exaggerated violence tone, chopping heads and limbs in pretty sadistic manner. It also tries to extract any kind of humor with the bantering script, although this makes the characters rather unrealistic. For the practical and special effects, they are inconsistent in quality. CGI looks like it belongs to average video game, which doesn't really convey too much realism for a movie.

Few of the scenes look decent, especially with the bloody dismemberment. However, it can look inauthentic at times. Most of the cinematography involves jittery motion in dark tone, which is unfortunate since the brighter sequences fare better and a large portion of the movie happens in nighttime.

Narrative and effect are shoddy at best, but Stung does its job as light popcorn flick. If not anything, at least it provides a couple of giggles.

Creature features are a tough thing to pull off. Stungnado here may not be the best of the bunch (Eight legged Freaks was a lot of fun to name one in recent memories that got it right), but it does have a couple of moments. Seeing the duo of Lance Henriksen and Clifton Collins can always be fun. Even if they are underwritten characters. But everything is underwritten here.

So try to take joy of simple things. Like the fact the actress playing a catering boss is called Cook. If you can laugh at that, you may find some funny moments in this too. Then again there is a lot wrong with it too, so our main hero is a bit bland, the love story doesn't really work. But the effects are decent and if you don't have high expectations it can be a fun ride of sorts

A horror movie doesn't necessarily always have to be good or surprising. Sometimes it's more than sufficient already if it lives up your hopes and/or expectations. In case of "Stung", for example, I had only set my hopes on seeing an unhinged and over-the-top giant creature-feature with plentiful of gore and a straightforward simplistic plot. Guess what! "Stung" delivers just that! And if you aren't too skeptical either, you're guaranteed to have a fun time with this German/American co-production that is (nearly) a genuine throwback to the glorious days of 70s animal-horror. There exist several bee-movies (like "The Swarm", "The Deadly Bees" or "Terror out of the Sky"), but apart from Roger Corman's "Wasp Woman" there aren't too many movies about killer wasps to my knowledge. The recipe for pure entertainment here exists of a totally bonkers plot, good old- fashioned gross-out special effects and bad but likable acting performances. The nervous and uptight Julia has just taken over her father's catering company and constantly worries that things will go wrong, in sheer contrast to her co-worker Paul, who just wants to relax, smoke weed and make out with Julia. They head out to cater the annual garden party of the eccentric Mrs. Perch and her creepy son Sydney at their secluded country estate. Mr. Perch used to make a fortune in the pharmaceutical business, but now his wife and son remember his death through annual garden parties where several prominent community members come to, like Mayor Caruthers for example. The evening quickly turns into a nightmare, as hundreds of mutated wasps intrude the party and viciously attack the guests. Since oddball Sydney experimented with chemical pesticides and fertilizers, the wasps are oversized and extremely aggressive … and they lay their eggs inside their victims' bodies, with horrendous subsequences. After an admittedly rather slow start, "Stung" is a non-stop fun and thrill- ride with too many gory highlights to list. The sight of humongous wasp-monsters bursting out of their human hosts is just terrific, especially because quite often the human leftovers – like entire heads – remain stuck on their insect armor. There's a nicely balanced mixture of traditional special effects and above-average decent computer engineered effects. The sound effects of the films are also imaginatively nasty. Apparently the sound of cracking lobster shells can be used to imitate the sound of giant fake wasps! As said, the acting performances aren't very good, but they are definitely likable. There's a nice and almost natural chemistry between Matt O'Leary and Jessica Cook, while the familiar faces Lance Henriksen and Clifton Collins Jr. are responsible for the more memorable and flamboyant supportive roles.

Oh, and the answer to the riddle in the subject line is: Stinging in the Rain

"Stung" is novel as it combines the classic zombie tale with John Carpenter's "The Thing." Monster wasps are attacking, and if you get bitten (or rather, "Stung") by one, you undergo a gruesome metamorphosis into a giant wasp, replete with lots of goo.

"Stung" is a "horror comedy" with zero laughs, but the wasps are worth looking at and the film gets points for not taking itself seriously. Further points are awarded as it stars horror veteran Lance Henriksen and Clifton Collins Jr (anyone involved in the production of Pacific Rim automatically gets a thumbs up in my book.) Factor in a misty, green-themed colour palette and we're presented with a film that's easy on the eyes.

Where the film falls flat is its lead: a tedious stoner-slacker who inexplicably transforms into a commanding hero the moment the giant wasps begin attacking. Where was all that gusto before, when all he was interested in was getting high? I guess a "hero" like this one is meant to appeal to 30-something men who, deep down, think they're special or have secret potential (or something) but can't ever be bothered to put down their blunt. Personally, I've never found anything appealing about an underachiever, and only in a trite male power fantasy like this one could the guy ever get the girl.

Well, this is horrorcom, naturally one expects some laughs, some insane action, some over-the-top set pieces..well, we got about half of the last ingredient here. The problem is, humor is just not there, neither in situations nor in jokes, the characters kinda drag through better part of the film awkwardly, not quite knowing what to say, or what kind of stunt to pull. Then, we have Mist-esqu insects galore, but that doesn't quite work out either. This flick can't decide what famous horror to pay its homage to, is it already mentioned Mist, Shaun of the Dead (through main guy who looks and acts very similar to Shaun - Simon Pegg) or Alien - during the final part.

Lance Henriksen is there - why, yes he is, and he elegantly works his way through undemanding role of a small town's Mayor, but the charisma is effortlessly present. Same can't be said for our young duo of caterers that just can't catch their lucky career break, and are falling in love while all hell breaks loose. Actually, Matt O'Leery (Paul) does his best and gets there while his partner, Jessica Cook (Julia) just kinda exists...yeah. Sorry guys, the flick, up to this point, is as dead as the party that's just about to get somewhat more interesting...but not overly so.

Effects and cinematography are very decent, but mostly generic story, sans decent laughs, motivation and chemistry between characters waters the whole thing down. This is not a bad watch, and it does picks up in the last..hmm forth of the film, but it's just not enough to make it a memorable, bloody, suspenseful and funny experience. And that's what every good horror comedy's about...or so I've heard. Passable, but nothing to write home about. OK, so it does have some good ol' splatter, nice fx and bloodshed, but...Sorry to report, I've not been stung by it.