It’s that time of the year again when critics start to makes their lists of the top films they’ve seen since January. Personally, this year has been a bit lackluster when it comes to “great” films, but there have been a lot of fun films to come out this year. To be even more specific, the horror genre has kind of taken off the year in my opinion. Now, while Sting may not be the best horror film of the year, it is a lot of fun. Every year there’s that fun movie that comes along that flies under the radar, but I feel is great. Cocaine Bear and Violent Night immediately come to mind. Sting, at least in my humble opinion, is what going to the cinema is all about. It’s not high art, but instead it’s pure escapism, and it’s just a fun way to shut your brain off for 90 minutes while a giant alien spider wreaks havoc on a New York apartment. Is it the most original concept? No, but it has just enough scares and blood to make arachnophobes squirm in their seats.
Sting is a film that I feel could have been made in the heyday of Amblin films, when Spielberg was behind films like Poltergeist and Gremlins, and I’d almost put it on that level if the plot wasn’t so familiar. The film takes place within an apartment complex in Brooklyn after an alien spider egg crashes through a window and Charlotte (Alyla Browne), a young girl with a rebellious streak as well as a talent for comic book art, finds the baby spider and calls it Sting. The film spends a good portion with her family: Ethan (Ryan Corr), her stepdad who happens to be a comic book artist while also working as a part-time super in the complex; then there is her mom, Heather (Penelope Mitchell) and her newborn brother. A good portion of the film revolves around Ethan struggling to juggle his work life as well as adjust to becoming a family man, and we see the stress that he is going through. As for Charlotte, she finds sanctuary in her room and enjoys spending time with her new pet and slowly starts to realize that Sting is no typical spider.
Sure, it may take a while for the horror to kick in, but there is plenty of humor in this film as well. The tone of this definitely gave me Eight Legged Freak vibes, but it definitely attempts to keep things more serious. There’s even an exterminator who is a bit of comedic relief that had me thinking about John Goodman in Arachnophobia. I mean, the film is filled with fun references from movies of the past, and while some may find it dull or even pandering to those who have been bitten by the 80’s nostalgia bug like we’ve seen in a lot of film and television lately, for me I don’t mind it at all, because the execution works for me.
WETA does a good job with bringing the spider to life, though one of my gripes with the film is that it just looks like your typical black spider rather than a menacing alien creature. When you consider this is the company behind several big-budget special FX driven films, you’d think they’d deliver something a little bit more. The script is another slight issue. It isn’t bad; I just wanted more out of the story. Perhaps scenes were cut in the editing process or simply were not filmed for budget reasons, but I just wanted more with the side characters who also lived in the apartment and just more with the action and gore sequences. Kiah Roache-Turner does a good job with the direction of the film and makes this film work. This isn’t a big studio film, but this gives a glimpse into what he could be capable of with a larger budget.
At the end of the day this is a fun B-movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is a lot of fun. As a side note, I feel this film would pair nicely with the film Infested, which premiered earlier this year on Shudder … It has a similar premise, but instead of an alien spider, it is about an apartment building infested with thousands of venomous spiders and the tenants trying to escape. I enjoyed the heck out of both these films and feel they would make a fun late-night double feature when you are looking to just have a good time in front of the TV.
