Infested
Why did it have to be spiders? Any of us who are scared of them can tell you that spiders with their many legs are terrifying. Most of us do not like finding them on our windowsills, crawling across our walls or making homes for themselves out of cobwebs in forgotten nooks and crannies. They’re as much our enemies as any other unwelcome bugs even if they do help keep other creepy crawlies at bay. In “Infested,” Sébastien Vanicek’s nightmarish first full length feature, there is an uncountable number of spiders, giant ones too, which wrap around each other and create what can only be described as a brilliantly scary monster movie guaranteed to make most people jump, squirm and possibly scream.
In the movie of Vanicek, a youth called Kaleb gathers a small menagerie of creatures and bugs in his room, which drives his sister Manon mad. She is renovating their old flat to sell after their mother’s death while Kaleb’s future remains uncertain; everybody around him may think bad about a young man in hoodie selling expensive Nike shoes on the side ” but he still tries to do right by his neighbors. A poisonous spider escapes from his bedside where he houses rare species and starts laying its eggs all over the building throwing chaos into the apartment complex leaving Kaleb, Manon and their friends Mathys (Jérôme Niel), Jordy (Finnegan Oldfield) and Lila (Sofia Lesaffre) fighting for their lives.
Our common fear of spiders has become a horror subgenre of its own: there’s the 1955 giant bug classic “Tarantula,” smalltown thriller infestations like “Kingdom of the Spiders” or “Arachnophobia,” Blockbuster favorite from the early aughts “Eight Legged Freaks” and kaiju sized monster followed by”Big Ass Spider! Also Known As Monsters are just too big to contain”. “Infestation,” like its predecessors, taps into our fear (rational or not) about poisonous bites, fast moving colonies that make webs over our houses; spiders getting too big or dangerous to be handled; and unpredictability as any kid whohas killedaspiderever can tell you.
But “Infested” feels even more intense because it is not only poisonous spiders nor spiders of extraordinary size“ they grow exponentially almost every time they appear on screen attacking packs with a pretty lethal bite that also takes up residence in victims bodies before crawling out through hosts skin. They trap others either in theirs or others homes.No place is safe once infected police lock down building setting traps all over which leads to realization that everything gets trapped inside when infestation takes place in the apartment complex where Kaleb resides. Vanicek also channels “Attack the Block,” another invasion thriller where friends fight off aliens from their confined apartment terror of David Cronenberg’s “Shivers,” with arachnid horror movies past and parasite unleashing violent sexual chaos in a posh complex.
Vanicek, who co wrote screenplay alongside Florent Bernard adds some modern-day nuance to what could have been just one note jump scare; before eight legged melee kicks off, however, we get to know Kalebs community better different neighbors ranging from friendly long timers who fondly remember his mom to paranoid grouch accusing him of selling drugs plus strained relationships he has with those closest to him. Later on it is revealed that the neighbourhood has mostly been abandoned by cops and local government due them being low income areas so there is bit social commentary thrown into mix And once spider dam breaks like early days COVID everybody quarantined respective apartments person for themselves situation arises here but this phase does not last long because spiders start multiplying growing mutant speed danger increases each new propulsive track Vanicek lays down for us.
Spiders had to be mentioned at some point, right?
The small beings are everywhere and nowhere we want them. They indicate how speedily we can plunge into terror, what our reaction to their invasion is (violence, tears, etc.), and how we care for others who are also scared by their presence. For all its skin crawling, “ew!” inducing moments, “Infested” provides the roller-coaster thrills of a good horror movie. Perhaps you dare yourself to watch this movie about your phobia, prepare for the twist of venomous spiders that get bigger and feel relieved surviving that adrenaline rush. A great debut from Vanicek driven by an energetic scare, turning a rundown apartment complex into a catacomb of spider webs, moving shadows and blocked escapes. As great as it was to leave “Infested,” it’s not helped my fear of its eight legged villains.
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