I love a good B-movie monster flick and Sting has all the right vibes. It's premise is simple yet deceiving interesting. It's monster is a clear and creepy threat, and the characters are given just enough backstory to make you care for them as they attempt to survive. It's decently gruesome and keeps the monster off screen and in the shadows so your imagination runs wild instead of ruining the creepy crawlies by showing us a half-assed looking creature.
Yes Sting is mostly big creepy spider mayhem and that's some fun stuff, but it is also a lovely little story about a step-father showing what being a dad really means. Corr and Browne's connection is really touching and their comic book obsession makes this play right into the hands of a nerdy audience like me. The character work here, while straightforward, was honest enough that I was invested in their survival which in horror doesn't always happen.
Sting plays into its B-movie bone fides and doesn't take itself too seriously allowing for some humour (especially in Fowler's awesome performance) to lighten the mood without diluting the heebie-jeebies. This does feel like it knows that it is following a certain playbook but it does so with such reverence for the genre and with enough fun and spooks that it is a fun watch. At only 90 minutes it doesn't overstay it's welcome and will make your skin crawl when you next see a spider.
Sting
Starring: Alyla Browne, Ryan Corr, Penelope Mitchell, Jermaine Fowler
Writer/Director: Kiah Roache-Turner
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