INFESTED (2023)
Nature run amok flick opens with a group of men in the Dubai desert capturing some poisonous spiders with deadly results. One of those captured spiders makes its way to France to the possession of a shop owner who sells exotic and endangered animals. A young neighborhood man named Kaleb (Théo Christine) buys it to add to his collection. The spider almost immediately escapes captivity and begins to multiply quickly. Worse still, when one of their first victims is discovered, the authorities quarantine the building sealing Kaleb, his friends and the other occupants inside with the rabidly increasing arachnid population.
Poisonous spiders invade a French tenement in Infested!
French horror is skillfully directed by Sébastien Vanicek from his script with Florent Bernard and is a spine-tingling creature on the loose flick for sure. The flick is very good at creating suspense by establishing the lethality of this breed of spider quite early, and gruesomely, and it creates a sense of foreboding as we know what’s coming. Vanicek builds tension very well and provides us with some real intensity and solid scares as the multiplying horde begin to infest the sealed apartment building and snack on the tenants. First, they thrive and spread through the air ducts and then out into the apartments and hallways. They claim victim after victim as Kaleb and his friends try to find a way through the spider infested building. If it evokes Aliens with its lurking arachnids, dark hallways and flickering lights, that’s a good thing and if Vanicek is paying homage he does so very well. The cast are very good and giving us likable characters to fear for only turns the screws even more. The gore and spider FX are top notch and the little critters do have personality and lethality as they spread and grow. If the film has any flaw it seems to be about ten minutes too long. Aside from maybe benefitting from being a bit tighter, it is a goosebump inducing and fun horror that will be 106 minutes of rough road for anyone who doesn’t like spiders. Now streaming on Shudder.
-MonsterZero NJ
Photo: Shudder
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