Infested (2024) is directed by Sebastien Vanicek and stars Theo Christine, Sofia Lesaffre, Jerome Niel, Lisa Nyarko, Finnegan Oldfield, Marie-Philomene Nga, Mahamadou Sangare, Addellah Moundy, Ike Zacsongo, Emmanuel Bonami, Xing Xing Cheng, Samir Nait, and Malik Amraoui. The film follows Kaleb (Christine), a lonely underachiever passionate about collecting various insects. After an exotic spider he buys from a local shopkeeper escapes from his room, residents of his Fench apartment complex begin dying under mysterious circumstances. Before anyone can figure out what’s happening, the complex is overrun with thousands of poisonous spiders. When local law enforcement quarantines the building, it’s up to Kaleb to rise to the occasion and save as many people as he can. With the help of his estranged sister, Manon (Nyarko), best friend, Mathys (Niel), ex-best friend, Jordy (Oldfield), and ex-girlfriend, Lila (Lesaffre), Kaleb desperately searches for a way to lead them to safety before it’s too late. 

Although the film is somewhat basic and therefore formulaic in its approach, it is elevated, among other things, by some strong performances from the central cast. The film relies heavily on creating tension/fear, so it’s a relief to see the actors are up to the task.  Although the performances are good, these characters work because their relationships are written to be more complex than most survival horror films. The script saddles these characters with a compelling amount of history and succeeds in establishing who each of them are before shit inevitably hits the fan. Because the characters are fully established in the first half, it allows the second half to be endlessly fast-paced. It’s essentially all payoff and even follows through on the arcs of characters who bite the dust. They’re not characters who’ll blow your mind, but it’s nice that they all feel meaningful.

Although this is more or less a premise that’s been done countless times before, it’s a great example of a film that ends up feeling fresh due to its sharp execution. It’s well-shot, well-paced, and tense as hell. If you have any level of arachnophobia, this may put you into some kind of fear coma. Almost every kind of common spider experience is touched upon but elevated. After watching this, you’ll most likely spend your next few days double-checking your shoes and spraying bug killer in every dark corner. This is amplified by the fact that, unlike other spider movies, the spiders aren’t unrealistically large or intelligent. Yes, they grow eventually, but the majority of the film instead scares us with the sheer number of them. In real life, spiders are commonly feared (among other reasons) because of the idea that they could be hiding anywhere. The filmmakers clearly understand this and in turn, have made what might be the most effective spider film to date. 

There’s also a feeling that the writers took their time to develop sequences that intelligently take advantage of the premise in combination with the setting. For example, there’s one particular sequence that sees the characters forced to pass through a hallway coated in webs/spiders. It puts these characters in an interesting position where they have to decide the best strategy. It’s tense and original, but more importantly feels naturally implemented.

Overall, this kicks the shit out of 2024’s other spider film, Sting (2024), and proves that an unoriginal premise is easy to ignore if the execution is on point. It doesn’t deliver anything you don’t expect but instead serves up the best version of what you do. If you’re not into this kind of thing, it won’t sway you. If you are interested or even neutral, give it a shot. At the very least, it’s sure to make your heart beat out of its chest. B