Stung

You have to watch the fist half hour to get into this movie. It's setting things up. I was bored and was going to switch it off after 20 minutes but stayed on. It worth watching...The acting is average and the relationships are pretty poor but maybe that's part of the quirky making of this film - not sure? The most peculiar thing is the the main character continues to run around in this movie as if he is unstable on his feet and always looks like he's going to fall over. It begins at the start falling over chairs? What the hell is this about? It looks extremely deliberate - maybe its part of the stupid comedy aspect? If you like horror with some quirky comedy then get on board. The best line is when the mother mutates and three people say in sequence "holy....mother...fucker!!" that was pretty funny.

Stung is a simple cheap thrill, presenting over-the-top characters and gory scenes. It looks rather sloppy, but not without some appeal. The corny set-up have intended humorous acts, they are lightly done and in the spirit of irony. The presentation isn't top notch though, this won't rival smooth delivery of big budget movies, it is good for brief amusement nonetheless.

The story follows the crews and attendees of a party, which doesn't take long to completely crumble as monster wasps decide to attack. There's no scientific or dramatic tension like most monster movies, they just appear and wreak havoc. The main characters are the bartender and event planner, they predictably run around trying to fend off these abominations.

It plays with exaggerated violence tone, chopping heads and limbs in pretty sadistic manner. It also tries to extract any kind of humor with the bantering script, although this makes the characters rather unrealistic. For the practical and special effects, they are inconsistent in quality. CGI looks like it belongs to average video game, which doesn't really convey too much realism for a movie.

Few of the scenes look decent, especially with the bloody dismemberment. However, it can look inauthentic at times. Most of the cinematography involves jittery motion in dark tone, which is unfortunate since the brighter sequences fare better and a large portion of the movie happens in nighttime.

Narrative and effect are shoddy at best, but Stung does its job as light popcorn flick. If not anything, at least it provides a couple of giggles.

"Stung" is novel as it combines the classic zombie tale with John Carpenter's "The Thing." Monster wasps are attacking, and if you get bitten (or rather, "Stung") by one, you undergo a gruesome metamorphosis into a giant wasp, replete with lots of goo.

"Stung" is a "horror comedy" with zero laughs, but the wasps are worth looking at and the film gets points for not taking itself seriously. Further points are awarded as it stars horror veteran Lance Henriksen and Clifton Collins Jr (anyone involved in the production of Pacific Rim automatically gets a thumbs up in my book.) Factor in a misty, green-themed colour palette and we're presented with a film that's easy on the eyes.

Where the film falls flat is its lead: a tedious stoner-slacker who inexplicably transforms into a commanding hero the moment the giant wasps begin attacking. Where was all that gusto before, when all he was interested in was getting high? I guess a "hero" like this one is meant to appeal to 30-something men who, deep down, think they're special or have secret potential (or something) but can't ever be bothered to put down their blunt. Personally, I've never found anything appealing about an underachiever, and only in a trite male power fantasy like this one could the guy ever get the girl.

Stung offers truck loads of buggy fun. From its opening scenes through to its conclusion this a fun filled, unashamedly camp horror, complete with a cast of colourful, intentionally stereotypical, characters.

Stung taps into the 1950/60's big menacing bug genre. Its all been done before but I have to say, probably not this well, in a long time. In spite of its modest budget, Stung, is a polished affair. The acting is good, the special effects reasonable and whilst the storyline is predictable, its so well presented you hardly notice. There's a few moments of black humour thrown in too, which further enhance what is already a decent film.

If you like your horror a little camp, quirky and generally over the top fun you should give Stung a try. Eight out of ten from me.

Although no masterpiece, STUNG is an unashamedly old-fashioned monster B-movie that actually turns out to be slightly better than expected; it's certainly better than the level of fare regularly turned out by the SyFy Channel over the last decade or so. The main problem this film has is not with the execution or the effects - which are surprisingly cool - but the moribund attempts at humour in the script, which is full of dumb lines and expletives.

Other than that, it's okay for a B-movie. Killer wasps attack a party, but this is only the beginning of the story as most of the running time is about big, gooey monsters and bodily horror. The special effects thankfully avoid cheesy CGI for the most part and revert back to decent, prosthetic work, which you may remember from the good ol' days of 1990s era horror such as SKEETER or TICKS. Lance Henriksen is the only actor of note here, but he has quite a big part and is unsurprisingly the best thing on the screen.