Whoo-ee! I love me a scary spider movie. And like an intricate, hypnotically inviting web, no two spider movies are alike. There are funny spider movies. There are campy spider movies. There are metaphorical spider movies about the unraveling mind, and there are even spider movies so filled with little creepy crawlers that you walk around your house with a slipper in your hand for days after watching them. And what luck that we have TWO scary spider movies in such short order, both entirely definitely breeds of hair-raising horror.
Sébastien Vaniček’s Infested, coming hot on the heels of Kiah Roche-Turner’s hilariously Sting, is the exact opposite of a comforting watch. It reminds you that spiders are t e r r i f y i n g, that they thrive (and hide) in every dark corner of this word, and that so many of them (too many of them!) are unapologetically equipped to f*ck our shit up! Thankfully, the spiders in both Sting and Infested are purely fictional….but never forget that somewhere out there (usually Australia tbh), there exists a spider than would hunt you down and hollow you out if it had the chance. Or, as is the case in Infested, if some kid was silly enough to sneak an exotic species into a densely populated apartment building (which most monster spiders refer to as “An all-inclusive, human eating resort”).
“A no-holds barred cage match of insect insanity…”
Contrasting Sting‘s cartoonishly fun brand of mayhem, Infested is a no-holds barred cage match of insect insanity. Up against an invasive species of spider that make zombies look like Mickey Mouse, an entire apartment complex finds itself the main course for a ravenous infestation of eight-legged freaks. Breeding faster than bed bugs and hulking out at a rate that would make extraterrestrial invaders jealous, the spiders of Infested are vicious and unstoppable. They explode out of floor drain and air vents by the dozen, they feast on human corpses, and it’s damn near impossible to kill the little bastards. Leave it up to the French to make a horror that makes your skin crawl, amiright?
Our lead, Kaleb (played by Théo Christine), is at odds with his sister and the other residents of his apartment building. The writing is on the wall, and whether Kaleb wants to admit it or not, it’s time to leave the crumbling complex he has come to call home. Every choice Kaleb has made leading up spider arrival day has been in an effort to keep what he has left of his family. But the spiders care not for trivial things like memories or grief or working lights. They care only about spinning webs, turning heads, and laying hundreds of little baby spider eggs in that cozy spot where your brains used to be.
Maybe not unsurprisingly, the spiders are the main attraction of Infested. They are the star with a name above the title, the water-cooler fan favorite, and the crown jewel of the entire production. Like the exposition extras of a Godzilla movie or a new crop of horny teens camping at Crystal Lake, the humans not what anyone is really coming for in a scary spider movie. And whether that is to Infested‘s detriment is really only depended on how invested you are in Kaleb and his friends. The residents of the building help to flesh out a great community of characters that often shine brighter than our “core four”, but when push comes to shove, the movie puts aside the character development of its angsty twenty-somethings to go 12 rounds against these apocalyptic arachnids.
It’s hard not to compare Infested and Sting given how close they are being released to one another, but where Sting is a chef’s kiss highlight reel for practical effects using a single, nightmarishly oversized spider, Infested is pure spider mania. It’s a rumble royal squeamish scare sequences, featuring an army of unkillable arachnids. You want to see a hundred vicious little creatures overtake and incubate inside of a person? How about those bony little arms of theirs finding their way out of the mouth of someone they’ve turned into a corpse condo? Overrun with horrifying moments of spider madness, you’re sure to find your next nightmare in Sébastien Vaniček’s Infested.
“Infested is pure spider mania.”
Infested was an official selection of the 2024 Panic Film Festival, and will be available to stream on Shudder beginning April 19, 2024. Click HERE to follow our continued converge of Panic Fest 2024 and let us know whether or not you’re scared of spiders in the official Nightmare on Film Street discord!
