2024's Creepiest Monster Movie Just Dropped in Theaters

Summary

• There's a new monster movie that just came out.
• It's a horror about a girl who raises a giant spider.
• The movie has already gotten solid reviews.

Sometimes you wonder how much collective fears have been influenced not by the objects of those fears themselves, but by pop culture. Take, for example, the fear of spiders, arachnophobia. In some cases, even a slightly larger than normal spider crawling into a house is not as frightening as filmmakers make it out to be.

Whether it's a giant tarantula a hundred times its size in 1955's Tarantula, a cave-dwelling Shelob in The Lord of the Rings and Aragog in Harry Potter, spider-like creatures in The Mist, or a human-headed spider puppet in Possum, movies constantly try to play up the horror lurking in the dark, the realistic movements of hairy legs and claws, and the danger of being caught in a paralyzing web.

We apologize if all this has triggered you in any way, but if you are looking for some thrills, then we suggest you turn to the recently released horror that is already considered one of the best representatives of the monster movie genre. The reason for this is that despite the many body horror elements and close-ups that show the monster in detail, it is at times a poignant family drama.

Sure, occasionally, the movie seems too campy, but that doesn't make it any less chilling. Let's take a look at what the movie is and what critics and audiences are saying about it.

What Is the New Monster Horror Movie About?

We're talking about Sting (no, it's not about the legendary frontman of The Police, although we would love to read a fanfic where the musician becomes a giant spider), which was released in American theaters a few days ago, on April 12. It was directed and written by Kiah Roache-Turner, who previously directed the action-horror films Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead and Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, as well as the comedy horror film Nekrotronic.

Sting is a classic monster movie that follows a teenage girl named Charlotte (Alyla Browne) who feels abandoned by her mother and stepfather as their attention is focused on work and their newborn baby. Under these circumstances, Charlotte finds a mysterious egg from which an equally mysterious spider hatches.

A lonely girl who prefers to read comic books and dream of becoming a superhero instead of hanging out with her peers, Charlotte finds solace in the little creature. But the spider quickly begins to grow in size and weight, devouring first birds and neighborhood pets, then the neighbors themselves. Eventually, the threat hangs over Charlotte's family, and the girl, her parents, and the entire neighborhood must stop the creepy creature that Charlotte has raised herself.

What Are Critics and Audiences Saying about the Film?

In general, although the reviews of Sting are not unambiguously enthusiastic compared to all full-length releases of 2024, the results are quite satisfactory for such a niche horror sub-genre (albeit one that has existed for many decades). On Rotten Tomatoes, for example, the critics' score is 70% and the audience score is 66%.

Most viewers were pleasantly impressed, noting that this is a fun monster/slasher flick. Sting is gory enough thanks to the body horror elements, wild enough thanks to the story itself, and emotional enough thanks to the unfolding drama. On the negative side, the movie loses its identity towards the end because it does not know how to end its 90 minutes: by being a monster horror or a family drama.

Still, it's a great movie, full of suspense and beautiful cinematography, that can confidently join the list of all-time monster movie classics.