Movie Review: Infested

Given their size and mouths full of sharp teeth, sharks make for obvious movie monsters, seemingly appearing in at least one new creature feature every Summer. But you have to willingly venture into the water to encounter a shark (unless you happen into a Sharknado, which is a mercifully rare occurrence). Spiders on the other hand routinely appear in our homes, lurking in corners or hiding in shoes or towels, ready to strike at any moment. The odds of actually being bitten by either one are incredibly low, but logic dictates that you are far more likely to encounter a spider than a shark. And despite this, far fewer movies make use of these creepy crawly villains (yes, I know, they’re not really villains), and many of those that do are low-effort trash like Ice Spiders. It’s refreshing then to see one like Infested that tries to take the concept at least a little bit seriously.

Kaleb (Théo Christine) is struggling to get by selling sneakers out of the basement storage unit in his French housing project. Since he was a kid he has had a fascination with reptiles and other exotic animals and now he has amassed a small collection in the apartment he shares with his sister Manon (Lisa Nyarko). The two have had a contentious relationship since their mother passed away but have little choice but to continue cohabitating. One evening, Kaleb buys an interesting spider from a shady shopkeeper which he rather irresponsibly places into a tattered Nike box while he prepares it a better home and to no one’s surprise but his, it escapes.

To get help renovating their bathroom, his sister has invited over her boyfriend (and Kaleb’s one-time best friend) Jordy (Finnegan Oldfield), his sister Lila (Sofia Lesaffre), and group friend Mathys (Jérôme Niel). Knowing that the potentially venomous spider is loose in the apartment, Kaleb tries to get everyone to leave without divulging the reason, but against all laws of nature it is too late, as miraculously the spider has already created numerous full-grown offspring and they are rapidly taking over the building. When the group attempt to leave, they discover that the city authorities are somehow already aware of the problem and have quarantined the tower, barricading the occupants inside.

The set-up of this story is ludicrous in its sheer impossibility, but debut feature director Sébastien Vanicek is so good at staging skin-crawling set pieces that it almost doesn’t matter. The realistic human drama among the main characters keeps viewers engaged and concerned for their fates as they face off against some very vicious arachnids. The spider behavior has no basis in reality, but is used to creepy effect and at least consistently adheres to its own unusual logic. There are some incredibly poor character choices, especially in the movie’s back third (does anyone really think guns would be the most effective weapon against spiders?), but they only detract slightly from an overall good time. Playing like a cross of Arachnophobia, [●Rec], and Attack the Block (though not as good as any of them), Infested is a dumb bit of fun that will have arachnophobes squirming in their seats, with a humane story at its core and stylish direction that help elevate it above the average B-movie. Vanicek has been handed the reigns of an Evil Dead spinoff on the strength of this and it’s easy to see why. ★★★