It’s been quite a while since we last saw a giant spider movie in UK cinemas (ignoring French film Infested’s recent limited run). With so many cut-price DTV efforts slinking onto streaming platforms, it’s great to finally see a giant spider movie with style, clout and a budget make it onto big screens. While Sting doesn’t quite provide the potent freak out that Arachnophobia did in 1991, it’s a dark and zany ghost-train-like ride with jump scares, gore, colourful characters and a punchy plot, which makes it well worth watching.
The story centres on Charlotte (Alyla Browne), a creative pre-teen processing the break-up of her parents and the arrival of mum’s new boyfriend, building supervisor and wannabe comic book artist, Ethan (Ryan Corr). Charlotte and Ethan bond over their mutual love of comics, but conflicts arise after she discovers an alien Redback in her grandmother’s apartment. Charlotte keeps the arachnid (which travelled to Earth on a comet), calls it Sting and feeds the spider until it grows and seeks bigger things to devour.
Writer/director Kiah Roche-Turner (Wyrmwood) delivers a gruesome jaunt that sometimes feels a tad off-kilter and ill-toned when coupled with surprisingly poignant family drama and spiky frights, as though part of its skewed MO was to appeal to audiences the same age as its protagonist. Supporting characters also feel like those you would find in a Saturday morning children’s TV show, yet Sting delivers oodles of fun, guts and feisty action, blending Tim Burton and Sam Raimi style aesthetics/Dutch angles within an urban Gothic setting, weaving eerie sound design into a jovial romp that entertains more than it rivets and astounds.
