On Blu-ray & DVD July 30 from Well Go USA
12-year-old Charlotte finds and raises a spider that grows at an incredible rate. Soon, people in her building die in mysterious ways, something Charlotte needs to face and deal with before her family becomes the next victims.
Written and directed by Kiah Roache-Turner, who hasn’t had a miss in many years, this film continues his trajectory of making fun horror/horror-centric films with themes that seem sometimes overdone. Here, Roache-Turner takes the nature run amuck/alien species on heart sub-genres and makes a really fun film out of it. Like many before it, the film centers on a kid and their family in one location, making a film one that is fairly contained. Here, the whole story takes place in one building with characters that live there and one unlucky exterminator who has to come and give a helping hand with the titular spider. The writing here is sharp and fun, with direction that pairs perfectly with it. This results in a film that is fun, entertaining, has a few gross out moments, and works throughout without feeling long in any way. The film is entertaining, easy to watch, and filled with spider mayhem.
The cast here is led by Alyla Browne who is fantastic. She plays her character as a proper 12-year-old with issues. She’s moody, she doesn’t want to be responsible for her half-brother or anything really, and she is curious and creative. The part is solid, and the performance Browne gives is as well. This is the kind of film kid that’s memorable for being realistic in an unrealistic setting. She works fantastically well here. The adults around her give great performances too, with Jermaine Fowler bringing in the comic relief and a lot of no-nonsense to the character. He might get less scenes, but he makes the most of it, stealing a few along the way. Noni Hazlehurst is great as Grandma Helga, not fully there, but also not making a joke of the illnesses Helga is affected by. She creates the perfect balance to pull at the heartstrings and really leave an impression. Robyn Nevin on the other hand is great as an evil auntie, the one no one likes and who doesn’t care that no one likes her. She’s brash, she’s mean, and she doesn’t care. The rest of the cast works well as well, both parents are realistic and coming off as expected, a bit out of the loop, but caring still.
The cinematography here is amazing. The work by director of photography Brad Shield (and his team) is on point. The lighting is just right, the framing, the movement of the camera, everything is great. The visuals here are carefully planned and executed, elevating the film above most killer spider movies even more than the writing, directing, and acting do. The film looks great, the lighting is a dream here, those with education in photography and cinematography will love what they see here. The editing by Jeff Cummings, Luke Doolan, and Kiah Roache-Turner works great with these images.
The overall effect of all this great work being put together is a really fun film with some creative kills, some great sequences, and some good suspense here and there. This is not a super scary film, but it’s a fun one, one that could easily be a kid’s entry in the genre, but also one adults can enjoy easily.