Knowing only full well that, along with snakes, most people have an inbuilt fear of spiders there’s been more than a few scary films involving the creepy crawly insects over the years.
Now to add to the list of films such as Arachnophobia (1990) Eight Legged Freaks (2002) and The Giant Spider Invasion (1975) comes Sting.
During a stormy night in New York City a strange object falls to earth and smashes through a window of a dilapidated apartment block.
Turns out that the strange object is in fact an egg and from it hatches a spider. Discovered by Charlotte (Alyla Browne), a 12 year old girl who feels alone as her mum and stepfather are constantly distracted by their new baby, she takes it as a pet and calls it Sting.
Somewhat like a Gremlin in that it’s not a good idea to feed it after midnight, the spider once fed keeps getting bigger and bigger eventually turning into a ravenous supersized arachnid whose food of choice is the unsuspecting residents in the apartment block. It also doesn’t help that the apartment blocks power is less than reliable, better to have spiders coming at you in the dark for the full scare effect.
Mostly played for laughs, director Kiah Roache-Turner keeps his tongue firmly in his cheek as the flesh eating spider hunts down the apartment’s residents. Cute animals and old ladies aren’t even safe from the arachnid. The cast are all terrific however Jermaine Fowler as a pest exterminator with a liking for nail guns just about steals the show.
Sting, whilst no more than what could be described as a good old fashioned B movie, is a huge amount of fun. Even if you have to watch it through your fingers or from behind your cinema seat, it comes highly recommended.