Few things scare me as much as spiders do. I know they’re an ecological keystone, a necessary evil in natural pest control, but they’re small, fuzzy, and generally untrustworthy. It doesn’t matter that most species aren’t venomous. I’m liable to keel over in terror before they even get the chance to strike. Naturally, spider horror scares me more than most. I’ve only seen half of Arachnophobia, cried during Eight Legged Freaks, and recoiled when Shelob appears in The Lord of the Rings. One of the scariest, however, was Sébastien Vaniček’s Infested. Released on Shudder earlier this year, critics and audiences agree—it might just be the year’s scariest movie.
Per Shudder: Kaleb is about to turn 30 and has never been lonelier. He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.
Vaniček’s Infested is arguably the strongest and scariest spider horror movie of all time. The subgenre isn’t particularly large, of course, but even among some B-movie gems, few are as “Oh, God, get away” disgusting and frightening as Infested. This year’s Sting, a “killer spider flick that lacks bite,” borrows a similar giant spider in an apartment building conceit. Still, where faux-earnestness bogged that film down, Infested’s emotional core strengthens its many (many) spider-iffic set pieces.
In our four-star review of Infested, we wrote, “Infested is[REC]—not in style but in story—meets Attack The Block covered in just an ungodly amount of spiders. Vanicek strikes a delicate balance between scares and humanity, which results in what will go down as one of the best creature features of the 21st century.” Truly, whatever you’re expecting in terms of spider volume, multiply it by… one thousand. That’s closer to the legions of creepy-crawlies Vaniček unleashes.
For the arachnophobes out there (myself included among them), Infested is likely the scariest movie of 2024. Fans online couldn’t get enough of the terror. Check out some choice social media reactions below:
Now that it’s on Shudder, once again out here to say that Infested is a true eight-legged nightmare. Some of the most skin-crawling spider horror to date, right up there with Arachnophobia. Well worth your time pic.twitter.com/KPcqsHZ57J
— Matt Konopka (@KillerCritics) April 28, 2024
Infested (Shudder) is as skin-crawling as spider horror gets, and one of that particular subgenre’s best movies to date. Spiders overrun an apartment building but they might as well be Facehuggers from the Alien franchise. It all works so well because we care about the humans. pic.twitter.com/rQgtcbiimY
— John Squires ? (@FreddyInSpace) April 28, 2024
INFESTED (2023) is worth checking out if you like creepy crawly creature features. and the director, Sébastien Vaniček, will also be directing one of the upcoming Evil Dead films… so good to know. pic.twitter.com/hh4C4ae9xi
— ? Bri ? (@BriAnimator_) April 30, 2024
Never enjoyed tiny critter horror much unless it’s face-exploding slugs; only thought Arachnophobia was fine. But Sébastien Vaniček nails it with INFESTED/VERMINES: strong ensemble, great atmosphere & sense of place, and escalating spider terror that maximizes the claustrophobia pic.twitter.com/uOpG362Bly
— ChristianV (@GenreFilmAddict) April 27, 2024
Today I did my live show and for those who didn’t watch, I absolutely loved Infested!! HIGHLY Recommend this movie! ?️?️ #movierecommendation #shudder #infested #spiders pic.twitter.com/lYTkuO0ZE7
— nightmarekristy (@nightmarekristy) May 9, 2024
What do you think? Have you had a chance to check out Infested? Is it the scariest movie of the year? Maybe, maybe not, but I probably had a more visceral, physical reaction to it than anything else this year. Either way, let me know what you thought over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
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