STING Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Kiah Roache-Turner
Stars: Ayla Browne, Ryan Corr, Penelope Mitchell, Noni Hazlehurst, Robyn Nevin, Jermaine Fowler, Danny Kim, Sylvia Colloca, Lee Perry.
Anyone afraid of snakes and creepy crawlies should probably look away now. In the vein of Arachnophobia and Eight Legged Freaks and their ilk comes yet another horror film featuring a nasty, lethal and alien spider that fell to earth. Sting is the work of Australian writer/director Kiah Roache-Turner, who specialises in low budget horror films like 2014’s apocalyptic zombie flick Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead, etc.
The film is set largely inside a decrepit apartment block in Brooklyn during four days in the middle of a snowstorm. Charlotte (played by Ayla Browne, who we recently saw as the younger Furiosa in George Miller’s action film Furiosa) is a curious and bright 12-year-old with a healthy imagination, which she pours into the creation of her graphic comic books. She lives in an apartment with her mother Heather (Penelope Mitchell, from Hellboy, etc) and her stepfather Ethan (Ryan Corr, from Holding The Man, etc) and new baby brother. Ethan is also the handyman for the apartment block. Although Charlotte has a troubled relationship with him Ethan encourages Charlotte with her comic drawings. In an upstairs apartment lives Charlotte’s great aunt Helga (Noni Hazlehurst) who suffers from dementia, and her sister Gunter (Robyn Nevin).
When the film opens Helga is concerned about the noises she hears from within the walls of the building and calls an exterminator. When Frank (Jermaine Fowler, from Ricky Stanicky, etc) arrives he discovers something bizarre and nasty lurking in the walls.
The film then jumps back to four days earlier to reveal the arrival of a strange glowing egg that seems to have come from outer space. It crashes through a window into a spare room in Helga’s apartment, which is full of brick-a-brack and memorabilia. A small spider emerges from the egg and takes refuge inside a doll’s house. Charlotte, who loves to crawl through the air conditioning ducts of the building an pop into other apartments, discovers the cute little spider and puts in a jar. She names it Sting – not after the rock star but instead after Bilbo Baggins’s sword. She feeds it cockroaches and other insects. But the more the spider eats the bigger it grows.
Ethan becomes concerned with the sinister looking, strange spider and takes it upstairs to Erik (Danny Kim), a shy biology student who lives alone. Erik is intrigued by the spider, puts it in a tank and studies it. Soon though Sting escapes from the tank and begins attacking the residents. Pets go missing. The spider attacks the residents and wraps them in a web, storing them for food. And when both Ethan and Heather fall victims to Sting It is up to Charlotte to find a way to destroy the spider.
Despite being set in Brooklyn, the film was actually shot on a sound stage at the ABC studios in Sydney. There are some great special effects courtesy of Weta workshops and Richard Taylor that bring the spider to life using puppetry rather than CGI. Sting is a low budget film, but it delivers with the effects and impressive production design from Fiona Donovan (tv series A Place To Call Home, etc). The film takes place within a single setting which gives it a claustrophobic feel, and the grim moody lighting contributes to the uneasy atmosphere. Brad Shield’s camera is constantly roving and prowling around the corridors and apartments in the building, and even through the air conditioning ducts through which Charlotte and the spider crawl with ease.
Roache-Turner’s script also contains some emotional moments as the film explores the family dynamic at play here capturing the tensions that arise. The film follows a familiar formula for these creature features, but nonetheless Roache-Turner delivers a couple of effective jump scares. Ultimately, the film is more unnerving than overly gory but his direction is energetic.
The residents of the apartment block are a little eccentric, and the small but effective cast brings them to life. Browne brings a feisty quality to her performance as the precocious Charlotte. Fowler brings some welcome touches of humour to the material with his role as the hapless exterminator. Neither Hazelhurst nor Nevin are given much to do here but they create an odd couple dynamic.
In recent years Australia has produced a number of stand out horror films, and they have a great track record in the genre. However, while Sting delivers enough to satisfy horror fans, it is not in the same league as films like The Babadook and Talk To Me.
★★★
