Critic Reviews

It’s pure horror movie fun. Yet the relationships consistently raise the stakes and elevate the film from the “creature feature” label to the kind of thriller that becomes a fan favorite.

Sting is ridiculous. Still, it's a better movie than it needs to be. A dramatic family backstory sets Sting apart from myriad other creature features.

Though its characters and story could've benefited from a deeper, more original development, Roache-Turner ultimately knows what audiences are coming to see and delivers that in droves, offering horrific deaths, a tense atmosphere and stylish direction to entertaining effect.

Sting is a creature feature that tinkers too much with familiar horror/sci-fi concepts but has plenty of heart to make it memorable.

Overthinking Sting is a proper exercise in futility, and shedding such a tendency makes enjoying the adventure easy. It’s a minor little effort, with only a tiny venom, but its bite should do the trick for any genre head with 90 minutes to spare.

“Sting” isn’t great fun or great really in any sense. But it’s not bad for a giant spider killer thriller B-movie set in snowy New York and shot in Australia.

Not at the top of the list, necessarily, but writer and director Kiah Roache-Turner’s film is a solid if unspectacular entry into the eww-gross-spiders category. It’s pretty good on that front. But when it tries to wedge in some version of Meaningful Family Drama, it loses its way a little bit.

Sting is derivative but fitfully gripping. Crucially, it’s also good fun: with a main protagonist named Charlotte (lolz), there’s definitely a knowingness to proceedings.

Though it takes too long to get into the swing of things, Sting delivers faint echoes of the B-movie classic it wants to be, offering a memorable foe in a giant, bloodthirsty spider.

Like E.T. gone wrong, director Kiah Roache-Turner’s underdeveloped but briskly suspenseful, suggestive arachno-shocker sees a kid with family issues find solace in alien company. Only this spidery E.T. will gobble you up before it phones home…