Horror Movie Review: Sting (2024)

Written and directed by Kiah Roache-Turner, and starring Ryan Corr, Alyla Browne, Penelope Mitchell, Robyn Nevin, Noni Hazelhurst, Silvia Colloca, Danny Kim, and Jermaine Fowler. While there may seem to be little to get excited about with Sting, the film rises above its mediocre concept to deliver an entertaining creature feature.

For starters, it’s not taking itself too seriously as the opening of the film reveals the villain of the piece, some sort of spider that emerges from a small meterorite that crashes through the window of an apartment in a rundown building. People live here, even as they struggle with the freezing cold outside (it’s a snap cold spell) and the poor maintenance of the place. One such group is a family made up of 12-year-old Charlotte, her baby brother, her mother Heather, and her step-father, Ethan.

Both adults are overworked, but it’s how Charlotte and Ethan struggle to connect that causes the biggest rifts. She is often left on her own, and because of that, stumbles across the space spider. Rather than be terrified of it, she decides to keep the spider as a pet, naming it Sting and finding that she can communicate with it.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that this is all going to go wrong. You see, Sting is a hungry creature and starts to grow at an alarming rate. Bugs are no longer enough to satisfy its appetite and it has got its beady eight eyes on bigger meals now.

Credit to the film for managing to give the spider a bit of a personality, making it likable (it’s just following its instincts) and making it absolutely terrifying. While the concept of Sting isn’t as skin-crawling as something like Infested, the sight and sound of this individual spider is effective. It is CGI, but it’s good CGI and smartly, it’s kept in the dark for the most part.

Story wise, there is nothing new here and it plays out in familiar fashion, especially with the familial drama. Yet that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. Mainly because it moves at dynamic pace, but also because it keeps the characters simple and relatable. There are a lot of likable people in this film and even when they do infuriating stuff, it’s hard to be too mad at them. Especially as the actors really throw a lot into this and by the end, with such energy, it must have been an exhausting shoot.

What it also must have been is harrowing at times and this is because, in a surprising move, Sting has shocking moments of violent gore. Some characters are killed in horrible fashion, and it serves a strong reminder that Sting isn’t Eight Legged Freaks. It’s a monster and it does monstrous stuff.

Sting won’t live long in the memory, its not got enough fresh ideas to manage that, but when expectations for spider horror film are so low, a well made film like this does stand out. You’ll enjoy this creature feature, and be surprised here and there by the tone it takes, you just won’t necessarily love it.