Vermines

I had a very difficult time getting through this movie. First it was slow and uninteresting, standard french slums with people constantly cursing, smoking weed and quite a nonsensical overacting throughout the entirery of the movie. Somewhere in the middle of the movie, especially when they are going through that corridor, is full of screaming, a good 10 minutes mindless scene. For whatever reason, that screaming with fading to black and still hearing screams left a bitter feeling for the rest of the movie for me, but that's not all, screaming continues and it never ends. I actually fell a sleep at 1 hour of the movie and continued watching it after 3 days.. I would not recommend this movie to a friend but if you really don't have better things to do and you are bored out of your mind, maybe you could watch this movie while doing something else like writing this review or watching something else at the same time on your phone.

The very first Arachnophobia movie scared me as a kid, I haven't seen that in awhile and most bug/shark/gator movies do not scare me much these days. But this movie had managed to capture the truly unique take of trying to capture a giant spider using a glass container, it was truly terrifying cause some of us had to do that in real life. That, and the creepy crawlies zooming up real fast using your broom as a ladder. This is one of those movies that are not reliant on cheap jump scares but our own natural fears.

The only negative thing I could find about this piece is that the spiders grew up too fast, there was no segment for the passing of time. And some of the cast, kind of looks alike that I don't know who's who. Their mannerisms are the same and mostly were introduced once. But it made up for some good acting to push through the drama. That scream near the end was moving and filled the room with terror... then the lights went out.

Overall could've been better but it's pretty solid. It's well written, not using cheap gimmicks as a crutch. Spiders are realistic (except for some of the big ones) and made me somehow feel for some of the characters.

The movie was well shot with good lighting and cinematography. The spider effects were all really well done. The acting was also good. But as far as the story goes... why were the middle eastern people working so hard to catch these things for what I assume is a few bucks? I'm confused as to why the venomous animal specialist tried putting a spider in a shoebox. Im confused as to why after the spider escapes from the shoebox, he puts one of its eggs in the same shoebox. Im confused as to why suddenly half way through the movie the spiders are scared of light. Im confused as to how the spiders webbed a bunch of people to the ceiling... im confused im confused im confused. But who cares about finer plot points, its enjoyable creature flick none the less.

What tangled webs they weave when the survivors cannot leave.

Infested is the latest of European Apartment/Isolation Horror with the likes of 2007's Rec from Spain and 2022's Lockdown Tower with the latter closer to this kind of rundown building and both from France. While I liked the other two more, this still works. At least the first half, anyways.

A neglected apartment tower's resident critter expert brings home a poisonous spider only to lose it almost immediately and just as swiftly, that thing multiplies tenfold+. Soon, all the residents will face off with the new eight-legged occupants and hopefully some will survive.

As usual in these When-Animals-Attack films, the characters do some DUMB things. Like over and over.

Wasn't there a first-floor window to crawl out of? Front door to simply open? Egad, every dumb mistake you could make happened here. Granted, I'd probably panic, too or simply have a heart-attack with my arachnophobia in a dark building full of spiders.

My biggest issue was there were no time jumps to make this even remotely realistic. And to me, the more realistic, the more terrifying it is. Here, the one spider lays its egg sack and pretty much, within minutes the whole tower is covered with them. Plus, they grow to almost human size with each new batch.

Now that said, it didn't stop me from jumping so many times out of my seat and audibly swearing, I had to constantly pause the movie to recover. So, yeah, they did their job on my fears. And if you also suffer from the same fright of these abominations, you'll probably get some great scares out of this as well.

You'll just have to get through some tough/long scenes of character set up in the first half-hour. Despite these feeling like real people who really live in the same tight quarters, it was almost brutal to get through so much exposition to get to what we pressed play for: a Spider Invasion.

It's not bad, and for the grand majority of the spider-scenes, they did look like real spiders (well, except for the 3-foot kinds.) Just try not to imagine them on your own skin.

***

Final Thoughts: It pains me to give this a mediocre review. I did the same for 2022's Fall - which explored my greatest fear: Heights. (Spiders are my #2.) That one just suffered through cliches and really bad characters I didn't care about. This film's problem was the speed they multiplied and size they grew. Also, since when are spiders social bloodsuckers?

Infested is a brilliant film.

From a first time director it's a fun and tense little horror movie.

Definitely not one for real arachnophobia sufferers. There's a LOT of spiders in this movie.

Some real nasty ones.

The setting of a French housing project gives a grim atmosphere throughout the movie and the spiders thrive in this environment.

There's a bit of personal drama between Kaleb, his sister and his friend Jordy.

And this adds a little bit of heart to the story.

All the characters are one's we care about.

Despite Kaleb's misguided purchase of a very deadly spider that kicks things off.

There's plenty of jumpy moments of fun and spidery chases and tense walk throughs of 8 legged crawlies hanging on walls and ceilings.

Whilst there's nothing really groundbreaking here it's a well done thriller that keeps you hooked.

The ending battle was for me a little weak but overall this is a must see for any horror fans.

It's a good bit of entertainment.