Movie Review: 'Sting' Starring a Giant Alien Spider

Sting (2024)

Directed by Kiah Roache-Turner

Written by Kiah Roache-Turner

Starring Alyla Brown, Ryan Corr, Jermaine Fowler

Release Date April 12th, 2024

Published April 11th, 2024

Sting promises a big nasty alien spider and it delivers a big, nasty, alien spider. If I could end this review here, I would. Sting is exactly what it promises to be. It's a monster movie in which an alien spider crash lands in a Brooklyn apartment building. It's captured and befriended in its infant form by Charlotte (Alyla Brown), a curious and dark-souled 12 year old aspiring artist. Charlotte goes by the name Fanggirl on social media and enjoys drawing herself as a super-heroine riding a giant spider.

Thus how an alien spider, only we know that it is an alien, comes to be a pet named Sting. All that Charlotte knows that Sting looks cool and, when it is hungry, it whistles. If you don't know, that's not a typical trait of a Spider, especially one you find in an attic in Brooklyn. These unique qualities are intriguing but they grow dangerous as Charlotte starts feeding Sting other bugs and Sting starts to grow and fast.

Eventually, Sting outgrows his glass jar castle and in doing so, he outgrows eating cockroaches and goes on the look out for larger prey. Soon, pets are on the endangered species list but more terrifyingly, so are the pet owners. Sting has a body count but I will leave you to discover that aspect of Sting when you go and see it. Yes, I am recommending the giant killer spider movie. I'm as surprised as you are.

Sting is a solid monster movie. Written and directed by Kiah Roache Turner, the film builds suspense quickly, features some terrific monster movie gore and has a protagonist in Charlotte who is easy to root for. So is the cast surrounding her, specifically Ryan Corr who plays Ethan, Charlotte's stepdad and creative partner. The two work on a comic book together but this doesn't keep them from having a fraught 'not my real dad' dynamic that bubbles under the main big killer spider plot. What? Giant spider movies can't have a heart? Trust me, it's just a small part of Sting.

The biggest part of Sting is a giant spider that eats people. The film trailer promises spider related carnage and the movie delivers. If you get the ick from spiders, this is not the movie for you. If you like monster movies though, Spider has a terrific monster, one with fangs, and spindly, spiky legs, and an ewwy-gooey web that it uses to cocoon its victims. For a low budget monster movie, Sting has a pretty terrific giant, alien, spider. It's creepy, it makes creepy noises and when it strikes, it's very effective.

The deaths in Sting are gorey and elaborate in the best way. Again, working on a budget, writer-director Kiah Roache-Turner gets it right. Turner crafts deft scenes of suspense and horror movie thrills. The Spider isn't iconic but, for this movie, it's a very effective villain, a scary, gross and creepy-crawly horror movie monster. It's a spider that eats people, if that's what you look for in a movie, Sting is the movie for you.

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