Sting Stars Alyla Browne and Ryan Corr and is Directed by Kiah Roache-Turner
Review: Sting has its moments, but the genre has offered much better this year, and a premise like “growing killer spider gets loose” doesn’t do enough to tie the movie together and keep you engaged. It is worth the price of admission once, but it’s not much to write home about after the fact.
Sting Review
Sting may have a creature feature premise that’s been tried over and over again, but the lack of recognition for spiders among many of the world’s most frightening organisms in the film industry made the Australian horror movie worth seeking out. And while it doesn’t shed the subgenre tropes that it tries to break free from, hardcore fans of the genre may find Sting to be an occasionally fun, occasionally crafty thrill ride with a few campy elements.
And that may be giving Sting too much credit because Kiah Roache-Turner‘s most popular movie doesn’t do all too much to break convention. It’s not streaming on Shudder (at least not yet), but it has the stench of classic Shudder streaming fodder. It’s an independent feature with a lot of heart and good intentions. The premise – where an angsty teen aptly named Charlotte (played by Alyla Browne) unknowingly raising a terrifying spider and inevitably reconciles with her mother Heather (Penelope Mitchell) and step-father Ethan (Ryan Corr) – is a feel good family drama wrapped inside a spooky spiderweb.
But the other pieces of Sting resemble many of the worst impulses a Shudder movie would indulge in. The comedy is often bad and mostly off-putting. One character, an exterminator named Frank (and played by Jermaine Fowler with extreme enthusiasm) is coming from a completely different movie, where the campiness is dialed up to eleven. He feels out of place nearly every time he’s on screen because his dialogue undercuts many of the tensest moments he’s in, including a climax that doesn’t really work because of all of the ridiculous elements surrounding it.
It’s not striving to break the common horror form, but Sting does its best despite the restraints working against it. The special effects are usually quite good with solid spider models and a hefty amount of blood and gore. If you’re looking for a movie with striking kills and a few moments of riveting atmospheric horror, it at least has that.
But I do have a higher bar when it comes to quality in the horror genre. Sting has its moments, but the genre has offered much better this year, and a premise like “growing killer spider gets loose” doesn’t do enough to tie the movie together and keep you engaged. Sting is worth the price of admission once, but it’s not much to write home about.
Score: 4/10
Genre: Horror
Watch Sting (2024) on VOD
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Sting Film Cast and Credits
Sting Cast
Alyla Browne as Charlotte
Ryan Corr as Ethan
Penelope Mitchell as Heather
Robyn Nevin as Gunter
Jermaine Fowler as Frank
Sting Credits
Director: Kiah Roache-Turner
Writer: Kiah Roache-Turner
Cinematography: Brad Shield
Editor: Kiah Roache-Turner, Luke Doolan
Composer: Anna Drubich
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Sting movie on Wikipedia
Sting film on IMDb
