Rising filmmaker, Sébastien Vanicek has crafted his fear-inducing debut feature, "Infested". If the image of a spider makes your skin crawl, wait until you see a whole apartment complex teeming with these eight-legged horrors. Most of us dread the sight of these creatures on our windowsills, let alone an infestation of them in our homes.
In the film, Kaleb, played by Théo Christine, is a young man with a fascination for creatures and insects. His seemingly harmless hobby soon spells disaster when one of his captive poisonous spiders escapes and breeds prolifically within the apartment building he shares with his sister, Manon (Lisa Nyarko). Kaleb, Manon, and their friends find themselves in a desperate fight for survival as the apartment complex falls into chaos with the rapidly propagating spider population.
Horror films tapping into our collective spider phobia is not something new, with classics like "Tarantula," "Kingdom of the Spiders," "Arachnophobia," "Eight-Legged Freaks," and "Big Ass Spider!" depicting terrifying spider scenarios. But "Infested" takes it a notch higher. The spiders don't just poison you with their venom, they are continually growing in size and numbers while showcasing fearsome pack behavior. They infest and conquer households, turning them into their lethal domains, causing the entire apartment complex to be placed under police lockdown.
Vanicek and co-writer Florent Bernard create a cinematic scare that's more than just jump scares. The introduction introducing viewers to Kaleb's community and revealing the neighborhood's societal struggles add depth to the narrative, giving it a realistic feel. Once the spiders start wreaking havoc, the scenario becomes eerily reminiscent of the early days of COVID isolation when people were quarantined within their homes.
"Infested" is a triumph of horror cinema, delivering edge-of-the-seat thrills galore. It underlines our collective terror of spiders, their nasty intrusions into our lives, and our reactions to their unwelcome presence. But the relief of surviving this adrenaline-fuelled terror ride is worth the spine-chilling thrills. Vanicek's debut makes a lasting impression with its vibrant depiction of dread, transforming an ordinary apartment complex into a nightmarish warren of spider webs, shifting shadows, and sealed exits. Having survived "Infested," I'm more scared than ever of those eight-legged villains.
