Sting - Blu-ray Review

Movie
Creature features are a core staple of the horror genre, but it’s not THAT often that we get ones about spiders. Usually it’s a werewolf, an alien being, or some mutated bit of freakazoid lab experiment gone wrong, but flesh eating spiders is not THAT common. I mean sure, we had some comedic takes with Eight Legged Freaks or Big *** Spider, and Archnophobia is a stone cold classic, but most of the time that spiders have come into the genre it’s usually some C or D rated indie flick that is more camp than anything.

I originally wasn’t that interested from the initial press release, but the trailer for Sting actually intrigued me, and I figured I might as well give it a chance, and I’m kind of glad that I did. An Australian based film masquerading as being in New York City (I’m always amazed how well Aussies are at covering their very unique accent for films), Sting actually works as a low budget creature feature that pits man against an alien spider who just magically crash lands in a young girl’s apartment. Popcorn, lots of gore, and some clever camera angles to mask the dirt cheap budget, and we have a rather fun little scare fest.

Taking after Night of the Comet, an opening vignette introduces us to some sort of monster living in the halls of a New York apartment building, before jetting us back 4 days in time to when some sort of mini asteroid deposits an alien “egg” in said apartment. Turns out the egg is home to a tiny black and red spider who finds his way down into a young girl’s room named Charlotte (Alyla Brown) where she decides to put him in a jar and keep our little alien visitor as a pet. Naming him “Sting” (from “The Hobbit” in fact) she starts to feed the little beast cockroaches and other little bits of food around the house as she watches him grow.

Simultaneously we’re introduced to her step father Ethan (Ryan Corr) who is struggling to connect with Charlotte in the wake over father’s departure and his introduction into their life. To make matters worse, his job life is falling around him, as his main writing projects are drying up, and even his job as the apartment’s super is being taken from him by the miserly landowner (Robyn Nevin). However, all of this takes a side junket when Sting begins to grow a bit TOO big, and soon is out of control as it eats everything and everyone in the apartment complex one by one.

Sting is actually a rather clever little flick. Being that the Aussie film was not exactly endowed with a Marvel Studios budget, it makes do by showing us a ton of bloody gory corpses, but keeps the main spider monster out of sight a lot of the time to cut back on CGI costs. And while that usually is an eye roll moment for the viewer, they sort of lean into the nature of the beast and wink n’ nod at the camera when we notice that the monster is not shown on screen most of the time. It’s high on gore, plenty of very VERY creepy ambiance, and just enough camp to make things work. My only real complaint is that the final act gets a bit too cliched, and the final fight plays a bit too hard into the macho man camp element instead of the gory and creepy tone that came before it. Not a deal breaker, but you can tell that the final 20 minutes starts to slip as little bit as writer/director Kiah Roache-Turner struggles to wrap up EVERYTHING as neatly as she probably wanted to.
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Rating:

Rated R for violent content, bloody images and language.




Video:

Shocker of all shocker, I couldn’t find any information on the cameras used for the shoot, nor the resolution of the master. Judging by the low budget for the film and visual look of it, I’m leaning towards your typical 2K Digital Intermediate for the master. Of course, if any of you have any definitive information that I don’t, I’ll gladly updated it. That being said, this is a still a sharp and clean looking image for the most part. It’s got a teal and gray look to the image, with lots of time spent in dimly lit hallways, apartment rooms, and the grungy basement for the final confrontation with our arachnid/alien friend. There’s a lot of darkness going on, and the black levels actually look rather good for the most part. There some standard banding (although not too horrible, which surprised me) and some milky dark shots, but overall it’s a solid enough looking disc.









Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is a bit more impressive, with a really strong sense of immersion and claustrophobia due to the cramped nature of being stuck entirely in an apartment building the entire shoot. The rattle and clatter of Sting’s little mandibles and “feet” skitter nicely along the surround channels as he runs through grates, and the jump scares implement a good amount of bass to kick start your butt leaping out of the chair. Dialog is strong and clean, and I actually never had an issue understanding anyone. Which surprised me as I was really expecting stronger Australian accents when I saw where this sucker was produced. All in all, a very effective powerful horror mix.












Extras: :

• Behind the Scenes Featurettes
-- Creating the Monster
-- The Director
-- The Cast
• Theatrical Trailer
• Well Go USA Previews













Sting is pretty fun for an indie monster movie. It’s not going to be an instant classic, but it creeped me out for a good hour straight, which is rare for a horror movie to do this days. Well formulated and decently executed, the Aussie horror flick works as a good popcorn munching time for those of us who like “check your brain at the door” monster movies. The Well Go USA presentation is very solid, with good video, great audio, and the typical anemic extras that are the norm for these releases. Solid enough, fun watch for the horror fans.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Ryan Corr, Alyla Browne, Penelope Mitchell, Jermaine Fowler
Directed by: Kiah Roache-Turner
Written by: Kiah Roache-Turner
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: Korean: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: R
Runtime: 92 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: July 30th, 2024

Sonnie said:

So I might see one black widow spider around our property every few years... not very often at all. In the last few weeks, I have killed 5 (yes FIVE) black widow spiders.

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it's because you haven't seen this film!!!! if you see it it will lift the curse!!!

(supposedly)