This 'Gross' 96%-Rated Horror Movie Comes as Stephen King's Personal Choice
The worst nightmare of over 2.7B people in the world, coming right up.
Approximately 18% of men and 50% of women in the world are arachnophobic. That’s roughly 2.7B people out of our planet’s 8B population who are genuinely terrified of spiders and can’t do anything about it — so unfortunately, a horror movie about giant spiders is missing out on over one third of its potential audience…
But what it’s definitely not missing on is stellar critic reviews and personal praise from the King of Horror himself. Get ready for one terrifying (and very tacky) ride!
How to Escape from an Infested Building?
What we’re about to describe should probably not be read by arachnophobes, so if you’re one and are somehow still reading, proceed at your discretion.
Imagine that your lonely neighbor fascinated by exotic pets brings home a venomous spider. So far so good — as long as the thing is kept on a metaphorical leash, right? But the spider escapes from captivity and starts reproducing like crazy, birthing all sorts of eight-legged venomous horrors, from tiny and slow to giant and quick.
That’s the plot of 2023’s Infested, a French horror movie that’s dubbed the true enemy of every arachnophobe. Incredibly well-made, it’s making rounds among the international horror connoisseurs, and rightfully so. The terrifying misadventures of people trapped in a building with a horde of spiders amid endless webs and traps are just as captivating as they are repulsive.
Stephen King and Critics Loved Infested
The unlikely French horror has already earned quite some praise from those happy to be afraid of spiders from the safety of their homes. On Rotten Tomatoes, Infested boasts a near-perfect 96% Critic Score and an impressive 77% Audience Score. But apart from numerous fascinated critics, it also drew the attention of Stephen King.
“Infested (Shudder): Spiders, some as big as puppies, overrun a French apartment building. Scary, gross, well made,” the King of Horror wrote on his X (formerly Twitter).
If you’re not mortally terrified of spiders but wish to be, jump right in. Just don’t confuse it with 2002’s 18%-Audience Rated Infested: that one’s about flies.