Sting – Review
If I have said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Australian horror is different than American horror. Sure, all the pieces are the same, but there’s a vibe to it that is just a bit different than what we’re often used to.
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below, then use the links to listen or watch as he and Ryan discuss the film further (along with talk about the indescribable Hundreds of Beavers and the also-indescribable Sasquatch Sunset). Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
91 Minutes, Rated R
Written and Directed by Kiah Roache-Turner
Synopsis:
After raising an unnervingly talented spider in secret, 12-year-old Charlotte must face the facts about her pet—and fight for her family’s survival—when the once-charming creature rapidly transforms into a giant, flesh-eating monster.
Honestly, though, in the case of , I feel like the fact it’s Australian makes no never mind as to how much you can enjoy it.
There’s a few reasons for that:
- A) it’s about a spider, which is enough to give most horror fans (especially the casuals!) the willies,
- B) it’s got a great comedic sense to it, and
- C) it doesn’t shy away from it’s R rating.
The fact that this film also involves a lot of Die Hard-esque ventilation duct cinematography is also a plus.
The easiest way to describe Sting is to acknowledge it’s most direct comparison: the 1990 Frank Marshall classic, Arachnophobia. And that comparison includes the comic relief exterminator (Jermaine Fowler), by the way, in addition to the (very) basic premise of an invasive spider species… like, REALLY invasive.
Comedically, the film put me in mind, tonally at least, of Sam Raimi’s original Evil Dead (Listen to me discuss that with the Cult Film Companion Podcast HERE), which was still well on the horror side of the horror-comedy equation. With bits of embellishment around the outright gruesomeness of some segments, Sting remembers that it’s a HORROR-comedy, not a COMEDY-horror.
Oh, this is an R rating, baby. Make no mistake. Lots of blood, some not even human, and a couple gory deaths, punctuated by a smashing ending, puts this one firmly past the line and into R. Huzzah!
I love a film that decides early on what it wants to be, then does out and does it. I may not like the end result of the original decision (*COUGHCOUGHREBELMOONCOUGHCOUGH*), but i can at least be big enough to respect the decision, especially in smaller films like Sting.
Overall, Sting is a terribly — and sometimes terrifyingly — fun time, one I hope you will make time to seek and enjoy for yourself.
What’s that on your arm?
Sting hits theaters Friday, April 12 and stars Ryan Corr, Alyla Browne, Penelope Mitchell, Robyn Nevin, Noni Hazelhurst, Silvia Colloca, Danny Kim, and Jermaine Fowler.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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