"Sting" - Review

Rebellious artistic girl Charlotte (Alyla Brown, on something of a tear this year) lives in a run down, terrible block of flats run by a slumlady. She struggles with new stepfather Ethan (Ryan Corr, looking like Kim Coates), an overworked man trying his best, especially since he and his new wife Heather (Penelope Mitchell) have a new baby. But soon Charlotte makes a friend: Sting! A teensy tiny spider she keeps in a jar, who seems a lot smarter than other spiders!

An old school creature feature, wrapped snugly in the blanket of a rather endearing family drama with characters we actually root for. In maybe the first 30 seconds you know the makers (Australian Kiaho Roache-Turner, because of course they're Australian) are aiming for 50s pulpy tone with its talk of "meteor showers" and the like; and honestly they kind of nail it. I've missed old-school monster movies, and this one plays itself to the hilt in that genre: the characters are fun, Ethan's arc as a frustrated, exhausted and put upon artist is particularly good and makes him especially endearing. You genuinely root for these guys.
Special shoutout to Jermaine Fowler, who is a particular standout as an amusing pest controller and exterminator.
When the chaos and the murder kick off, it's all in good fun. I don't have a fear of spiders, so this will likely affect arachnaphobes more than myself. That being said, it's all effective and, at times, gory and delicious stuff. The movie does not seek to set the world ablaze, because it doesn't have to.