User reviews

"Sting" injects some welcome thrills into the creature feature subgenre, but with a twist: the heart of the film lies not in the monstrous spider itself, but in the strained family dynamic at its core.

We've seen plenty of arachnophobic nightmares come to life on screen before - "Arachnophobia" and "Eight Legged Freaks" come to mind. But "Sting" differentiates itself by focusing on Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old who finds solace in an unusual pet spider.

As the heartwarming bond between Charlotte and "Sting" forms, the creature, much like her anxieties, begins to grow at an alarming rate. The predictable tropes of missing pets and panicked neighbors soon unravel, revealing the true terror: a family on the brink of collapse.

The film's opening scene leaves little doubt about the monstrous path Sting is destined for. This might leave some viewers wanting more mystery, but it allows the focus to remain on the emotional journey of the characters.

Ultimately, "Sting" is a satisfying creature feature with a surprising amount of comedy. While predictable in its plot beats, it delivers effective scares and a touching family drama.

I'll be honest, I was not excited about this at all. Properly meh... n I'll watch if I've nothing else on my radar.

Maybe that helped?

Combined with my huge fear of spiders... and recent releases of similar genre and theme.

I got the chance to watch, and I have to be honest it was a good fun watch. Not what I expected at all.

It had good comedy moments (loved grandma) and the dog scene. Not a spoiler.

There was elements that reminded me of home alone, if you watch you'll know.

I think this film was really well done, like I say someone with a feat but I didn't find it boring at any part and enjoyed the actual story. Definitely say give it a look. Took me by surprise.

Sting is a good, not great kind of movie. It's not bad, it's not spectacular. Sure, it has a lot of cliches and it's fairly predictable, but it makes up for it with some cool aspects. First off, the spider looks and sounds pretty good. As a creature feature, it works fairly well. A lot of it is set in the vents and air ducts of a Brooklyn brownstone, which is interesting but unfortunately underutilized. The claustrophobic setting generally does work pretty well. The kills are brutal, and it very much leans into the body horror subgenre (which is what disturbs me personally, so it was effective in that regard). Think back to middle school science class and imagine what you know spiders do to their prey, and now imagine that happening to people. That's what goes on in it. The effects are quite good. The characters are bland, tropey, and forgettable. But then again, are you seeing this movie for the characters or for the killer spider? There's a great tension-building atmosphere, and there are some pretty cool shots from the spider's perspective. The dialogue isn't the best, and every attempt at humor falls flat. It's a fine movie, nothing too special, but if you're the type of horror fan who's in it for those brutal kills, it has those.

This is a horror movie for sure, if you like horror movies I recommend this one. As the title says, I went into it without knowing very much and that was a good thing. I won't ruin that here. You know it's about a spider and a little girl, that much is from the cover. Is that spider good or bad, is the girl bad, are they friends, these are the things I had no idea about and kept it that way until I had a chance to see it in the theater. I would say this could probably wait for a streaming viewing or DVD/Blu-ray if that's still a thing. The special effects are good, but it's not the type of movie that warrants a larger screen than most people have in their homes these days. If you like horror, give this one a go and try not to read too much on it so you can be surprised as well. If not, it's still good and worth a watch. There is blood, there is some gore and it's a great time.

I saw this movie had a good score, particularly for a horror. I thought the opening scenes were alright. The movie's visual style kinda reminded me of "Willard"

But the movie fails to execute. Instead of a creepy or thrilling horror about monstrous spiders - we go on and on with the family drama. We get scenes with a dementia-striken mother, arguments between a stepfather and stepdaughter, arguments between a husband and wife, and discussions about the family's income (mostly tied to the patriarch's odd line of work as a comic-book illustrator). They should've scrapped these scenes and went more with the spiders.

I watched the new Australian film 🇦🇺 Sting (2024) in theaters last night. The story revolves around an alien comet crashing to Earth and landing in a nondescript house in New York City during a snowstorm, unleashing a spider that threatens the family and everyone around them.

This picture is written and directed by Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood 1 & 2) and stars Alyla Browne (True Spirit), Tony Black, Jermaine Fowler (Sorry to Bother You), Silvia Colloca (Van Helsing) and Ryan Corr (Wolf Creek 2).

The movie exceeded my expectations. The special effects are top-notch, featuring impressive CGI, realistic corpses, and blood splatter. The film delivers plenty of creepy scenes along with a well-balanced infusion of comedy. Helga and Frank stand out as fantastic supporting characters, providing consistent laughs throughout. While some of the kills could have been more creative, once the action ramps up inside the house with the spider, it becomes a thrilling and enjoyable ride.

In conclusion, Sting is a fun addition to the horror genre, reminiscent of films like 8 Legged Freaks. I'd give it a solid 6.5-7/10 and strongly recommend it.

STING is a really good monster movie with impressive -both CGI and practical- special effects. If you are a fan of such films, then this monster will not disappoint. While the story might not be complex, it gets the job done, presenting us with plenty of terror, gory moments, and some humor along the way.

Set in an apartment building during a heavy snowstorm, the residents begin experiencing a severe bug problem after young Charlotte (Alyla Browne) captures and befriends a tiny spider. Of course, we know from the opening that said arachnid is actually a visitor from outer space. A creature with a voracious appetite, and the ability to grow at an alarming rate.

One thing that helps this film is its having a solid cast of oddball characters, including an elderly woman with dementia; an exterminator with an attitude; a strange, monotone biologist; and the mean, ultra-bitter owner of the building. Charlotte's family provides the pathos and dysfunction to the proceedings.

A fun, scary movie with some nice homages to classic sci-fi features...

Sting really didn't need to be an alien spider, it shouldn't have explained so much and despite the tight run time, it's got some serious pacing issues. It takes way too much time to get to the good stuff and then ends abruptly but a strong cast, some creepy kills and a well intentioned love of Aliens all help to make it an entertaining one-time watch.

Alyla Browne and Ryan Corr are the heart of the film whilst Jermaine Fowler is a sparingly used comic relief. They care for each other affectionately whilst struggling to properly communicate at points. The arc they go on holds few surprises which isn't a problem since it gives the film some stakes by endearing you to them and helps keep you invested in their survival.

Kiah Roache-Turner's direction gives the film a campy tone which helps as often as it hinders. Starting it near the end creates a solid hook and the scares are at their strongest when they're just really gross. Brad Shield's cinematography glides through the impressive sets which gives the film an energy that almost makes up for how slow it is.

Hidden gem I suppose, considering we were the only ones in the theater on opening night.

It's a good watch.

As someone with arachniphobia, I've never been truly terrified watching other spider monster movies.

This movie made me jump, frequently.

The characters are well written, characters you want to root for.

If they happen to write a sequel, yeah I'd buy tickets to watch it and I don't really like theaters.

Give it a try, no good reason we were the only viewers in the theater.

Unsure why this movie wasn't marketed more. Perhaps they want to be considered a hidden gem?

Good job crew. :)

Greetings again from the darkness. The trailer for this one makes it clear that it's a monster movie in the vein of those Friday late night creature-features I stayed up watching as a kid ... whenever I wasn't grounded from watching TV. Australian filmmaker Kiah Roche-Turner has set this one in Brooklyn and it takes place almost entirely inside an old apartment building (the only exceptions are shots of the ice storm occurring outside).

Roche-Turner may have delivered the latest creature-feature, however, it's not one of those that inspires empathy towards the creature. Twelve-year-old Charlotte (get it??) is on one of her adventures through the air vents of the old building when she captures a little black spider. A pet spider may be uncommon, but keeping secrets from your mother, Heather, (Penelope Mitchell, HELLBOY, 2009) and stepdad, Ethan, (Ryan Corr, THE WATER DIVINER, 2014) is right in line with the actions of an adolescent frustrated by the responsibilities of having to watch her newborn brother while the frazzled adults go about earning a living.

The film's opening shows Charlotte's sweater-knitting grandmother, Helga (Noni Hazelhurst, TRUTH, 2015), battling dementia and calling the exterminator after hearing loud noises in the wall. The story then flashes back four days to when Charlotte first finds the spider. Frank (Jermaine Fowler, RICKY STANICKY, 2024) sprays the building, but even as a pest expert, he doesn't suspect what's about to happen. Relative newcomer Alyla Brown (TRUE SPIRIT, 2023) performs superbly as Charlotte, and is stunned when the pet spider she names Sting mimics her whistle when it's due for another meal of crunchy bugs, which leads to exponential growth.

Although it's not necessary, there are additional elements to the story that occur around the whole rapidly-growing spider. Charlotte's stepdad is the building super and an aspiring comic book artist. In an effort to bond with her, Ethan illustrated the story she created about her biological father, whose deadbeat nature mother Heather has withheld from her. Their neighbors consist of lonely widow Maria (Siliva Colloca, VAN HELSING, 2004) and oddball science geek Erik (Danny Kim, "Born to Spy"), the latter of whom exposes Charlotte's clandestine arachnid pet to the parents. The final player here is frugal and grumpy Gunther (Robyn Nevin, RELIC, 2020), who apparently owns the building and lives with her sister Helga. Ms. Nevin has a face made for horror films (and I mean that as a compliment) and gets to go full out in her one big scene with Ethan.

As you'd expect, some of these folks meet a grisly end, while others are more fortunate. There are enough kills for those that lust for such moments, and enough creepiness and chuckles for everyone else. It does take a while for the arachnid rampage to begin, but there's enough suspense to keep us around. Most will appreciate Brad Shield's cinematography as the camera worms it's way through the claustrophobic hallways and air ducts of the building. The origins of the spider might be missed by those who aren't paying close attention, but it's a brilliant touch. And even though it's a bit of campy horror, the dayglo red used in the fake blood is among the worst you'll likely ever see. The film is quite a bit different from the 1990 cult classic ARACHNOPHOBIA, but the lesson in keeping moth balls on hand could someday come in handy. Over the opening credits, "What a Way to Die" by The Pleasure Seekers acts as a foreshadowing of events, and in keeping with the film's title, there are a couple of "stingers" for those who stick around.

Opening in theaters on April 12, 2024.

The fourth long movie from the director of the zombie apocalypse: "Wyrmwood"!

"Sting" is a decent little horror flick about a spider from outer space who is "in the care" of a little 12 years old girl named: Charlotte!

She named the spider: Sting (obviously) and soon she realized the little thing starts to grow in size and to do bad things.

The acting is decent, some cool special effects with some good camera work.

Pretty gross scenes and some blood and gore.

The ones who are afraid of spiders will enjoy this bcz yeah: thats the point of this movie with a spider: to be scary and gross for the ones who hate these arachnoids. Go and see the movie, go and defeat your fear of spiders and enjoy this little horror! It's pretty decent!

It's like someone made Little Shop of Horrors meets Aliens or rather that's what it reminds me of. I was expecting a very low grade horror movies and in a lot of ways that's exactly what it is, but the filmmakers did such a good job of putting it together that it just made for one of the best I've seen this year.

The monster itself was excellent. Just scary as hell and monstrous to boot. I feel like it was all about what needed to be show and what particular time and what did not and they did it with perfection.

Not much to say but to say it's definitely worth your time to see sting. Was not expecting much but got so much.

I like spiders. They freak me out and scare me, and we have some particularly fast obnoxious ones where I live, which will crawl over you at night, but I somehow still like them. They're interesting to watch. And they make great horror film monsters.

Along comes Sting, an underwhelming spider horror film. An alien spider is taken in by the daughter and quickly grows and develops an apetite for other animals and eventually humans.

The film starts like a horror comedy with overacting and wild POV camera angles, only to then get serious again with family drama and then after about 45 minutes go back into horror comedy. While tonal inconsitencies can work if they represent the state of a character's mind (i.e. Clockwork Orange), they don't work in a silly horror film with a paper thin plot. The movie never knows what kind of film it wants to be, and thus undermines both the scares and the jokes. The creature and gore effects are fine. Nothing you haven't seen before. The color grading is decent, while the camera work obnoxiously draws attention to itself.

Sting lacks bite.

I went in expecting a syfy type movie, but I grew up on creature feature movies, so I gave it a try. I was pleasantly surprised. It's got quite a few plot lines that come across as fresh. Even the ones used in previous movies were changed enough to feel "New" to me.

With all the crappy movies we've been fed for the last decade, I'm surprised to see a lot of ratings under 5. I would say, if you are into creatures etc, you will enjoy the movie. You aren't going to put it at the top of your favorite movies, but you should get enough enjoyment out of it to be glad you watched it.

I have a niece who used to watch the Chucky movies with me when she was little. She loved any kind of horror. This would have been a perfect movie for us.

6.5 tars rounded up to 7.

What is set up to be a creature feature turns into a family drama for most of the film. There is a great possibility with the introduction of our main "Creature" but the film veers off course and we lose sight, literally of the creature. I don't think the film could decide what it wanted to be until the very end. Because of this I couldn't really get a sense of the story as it was being told. The pacing again was really slow or maybe it was a wait until they got into some of the more elaborate set pieces. The effects were well done, all things surrounding the creature worked. The rest of it didn't really work.

Really enjoyed this movie but would of been so much better with a more intelligent lead character and not some absolute preschool educated girl. But the effects of the spiders webs along with its growth rate is very intriguing and fun to watch. The kill in the mice are also very good mostly been on screen kills with the exception on a few side characters but coming back to it again with this movie would be 10x better if the main 12 year old girl wasn't mentally challenged and frankly to over exaggerated to better the rebel brat. I can not express how hard it is to not cringe when the main character speaks to any other character in the movie. Anyway solid animal horror movie if your star is the killer.

I had a few issues with 'Sting', but one of the biggest ones was that it never settled on a tone. After the first scene I thought to myself, okay they're going full blown horror/comedy - I don't love that but if it commits to it it could work. But then the film started taking itself very seriously for a while. Then it would jump back into light-hearted funny mode again. And this continued throughout the runtime of the film. I never felt like I knew what it was going for and I don't think the film itself did either.

My other main gripe comes in the form of a spoiler, so I can't go into it in too much detail. All I can say is I didn't particularly like how the ending of the film was handled. Had it gone a different, more daring route I feel like a lot of the past indiscretions could have been more easily forgiven.

The film has its good points too. There was a child actor who got a lot of screen time and I didn't find overly annoying. The CGI also looks really good for the most part. It's almost impossible to make an over-sized spider look in any way realistic, but it certainly looked a lot better than they did back in the 'Eight Legged Freaks' days. It is quite a dark film too which probably helps to cover any imperfections up a little.

This film is harmless fun for the most part. But it's less daring than I would've liked it to be and it would've done well to settle on a particular genre blend and commit to that. 5/10.