After raising an unnervingly talented spider in secret, 12-year-old Charlotte must face the truth about her pet and fight for her family's survival.
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Reviews
CinemaSerf
6
By CinemaSerf
Nope, it's not very original - but it does have "Granny Helga" (Noni Hazlehurst)! It's the worst snow storm in ages and she summons poor old bug-hunter "Frank" (Jermaine Fowler) to investigate some noises coming from within her apartment walls. He turns up, despite the sub-zero temperatures, and pretty soon appears to be part of the problem! What's going on? Well we skip back a few days and discover that a meteor storm has deposited a small spider into the care of "Charlotte" (Alyla Browne). She shoves it in a jar and rather ruthlessly feeds it live insects - that's her first mistake. It gets a taste for things, it's also quite adept at unscrewing the jar lid from the inside, too. The more it eats, the more it grows, the more it grows, the bigger the snack it needs! Nobody is safe as her family - mum (Penelope Mitchell), new husband "Ethan" (Ryan Corr) and baby "Liam" might soon be on the lunch menu too! Meantime, the entertainingly amnesiac grandparent sails through the whole thing completely oblivious. Or is she, really? Nothing about the acting nor the writing stand out here and the usual dysfunctional familial dynamic does nothing for the story either. As to the visual effects, the budget - or the imagination - clearly wasn't there to make much of these and our critter barely features as we develop and pad out the thinnest of stories. It's perfectly watchable but it will be fine to wait to watch on television.
r96sk
7
By r96sk
Good viewing.
'Sting' gave me what I desired, albeit without properly enthralling me at any point. It's a well done horror flick, I do prefer these sorta ones where it is more the characters getting unsettled rather than the audience with cheap jump scares etc. The run time of around 90 minutes is astutely chosen, also.
The cast are positives. Alyla Browne produces a sturdy showing, while Ryan Corr is good too. The likes of Penelope Mitchell and Jermaine Fowler support nicely. Robyn Nevin's Gunter character was the only I didn't really rate. Away from them, the effects for the spider are effective, I like how it changes throughout.
There perhaps could've been some more fun had with the kills, though what is there sufficed for me to be honest.
