Intensity 🩸🩸🩸out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸,
🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷 out of 🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷 if you fear spiders!
Directed by Sébastien Vanicek
Arachnophobes beware! Infested (Vermines, En français) is the pinnacle of spider horror. It is also an expertly done class struggle diatribe, using a scrappy group of young survivors of the French underclass pitted against both an infestation of fast-breeding and fast-growing venomous spiders and the law enforcement that should be protecting them.
I am not normally afraid of spiders. In fact, I have been hoping to create a terrarium for a jumping spider. I find those jumping spiders cute and entertaining. (Hey little buddy!)Ev Infested has shaken my standing on fear of arachnids. This movie gave me the willies, and even the slight brush of something against my pant leg in the theater would set me off. Some of the logistics of the science feel off, but the emotional and narrative structure is on point throughout.
Given how common the fear of spiders is, it is rather remarkable that there aren’t more great arachnophobic movies out there. Notable entries include Tarantula (1955), Kingdom of the Spiders (1977), Arachnophobia (1990), The Two Towers (2002… for Shelob), Eight Legged Freaks (2002), Big Ass Spider! (2013), and Itsy Bitsy (2019). None of those movies can hold a candle to the intensity of Infested. The spider effects are entirely convincing and squirm-inducingly capable. That helps a TON.
However, the social dynamic of the story really elevates this film. It would be fair to describe this as a combination of Attack the Block and [REC]. The residents of a decaying French concrete slum apartment house have many colorful characters struggling to make it from day to day. Many of them are part of the underground community who work in the shadowy underground trades to make do. The residents are the forgotten members of French society, many of them immigrants from Africa and Asia. Though poor, it is a proud community, and they stand together. These people are about to be tested.
The Cast: Infested
- Théo Christine plays Kaleb, a zoology buff who keeps invertebrates in aquariums. He also runs a high-end sneaker racket to support himself.
- Jérôme Niel plays Mathys, a former boxer turned bicycle thief and Kaleb’s current best pal.
- Lisa Nyarko plays Manon, Kaleb’s sister, who has become a residential contractor and does repairs throughout the complex. She is feisty and fierce.
- Finnegan Oldfield plays Jordy, Kaleb’s estranged former best friend who has returned to help Manon with the repairs. He and Kaleb once dreamed of creating a small creature zoo together.
- Sofia Lesaffre plays Lila, a low-level cop who is Jordy’s girlfriend.
- Ike Zacsongo plays Toumani, a sneakerhead and one of Kaleb’s clients.
- Marie-Philomène Nga plays Claudia, one of the older residents of the apartment complex.
- Xing Xing Cheng plays Madame Zhao, the apartment maintenance woman
- Emmanuel Bonami plays Gilles, a volatile enforcer in the complex.
A Short Summary (Some minor spoilers)
The audience joins a desert expedition in media res, where a group of men turn over rocks to find some rare spiders by smoking out nests that they discover. They find the spiders. Lots of them. Deadly spiders overwhelm one of the men. The remaining men leave him behind to die. Roll intro credits!
Cut to Paris, where we are introduced to Kaleb. His life has unraveled. He and his sister Manon are estranged, as the estate of their late mother is in dispute. Additionally, his best friend Jordy has drifted apart as well, leaving Kaleb lonely and distraught. To soothe his loneliness, he purchases an exotic spider. One of THOSE spiders. His ramshackle apartment is filled with aquaria with all sorts of exotic critters. Roaches. Millipedes. Scorpions. And, of course, spiders. He loves these animals, much to the shock of his friends and family. Except for Jordy, who shares Kaleb’s love of exotic animals. The two of them had pledged to create a small zoo together, but the two young men had a falling out.
The tenements have fallen badly into disrepair, and Manon, Jordy, and Lila have arrived to re-finish the apartments and restore some dignity to the place. As it is, the electricity of the building is sub-par, with lights on timers because the landlord is too cheap to let the lights run. You know this will be an issue soon. The building also has lots of nice spots for, say, a spider to hide out. It takes little time for Kaleb’s prize new spider to chew its way out of its shoebox enclosure and into Kaleb’s room where it finds its way into a handy shoe.
The shoe was a fancy black-market Nike model that Kaleb had sold to Toumani. Foot+Shoe+big venomous spider = potentially catastrophic news. When the residents come to find out what happened to Toumani, some residents make unfounded claims that Kaleb was selling drugs to him. The local health department directs all residents to return to their units until further notice.
This gives the spiders time to lay eggs, breed, grow, and repeat. The residents will soon have to contend with a massive swarm of huge venomous spiders. To make matters worse, local law enforcement established a quarantine that won’t let them out. The spiders are rapidly expanding, threatening to overwhelm the whole complex.
Evaluation: Infested (End Spoilers)
The movie feels lived-in. The characters feel authentic. Théo Christine is an instantly sympathetic and flawed protagonist. When the group discovers the first spider, he insists on trapping the spider, not smashing it. H. But when one spider becomes ten, and then ten turns into a hundred spiders growing at an exponential rate, he changes his tune. He’s a bit of a fuck-up, and he knows it. Redemption is the name of the game for Kaleb.
I mentioned the special effects earlier. The spiders move fluidly, with speed and skittery grace, even in the cobwebs. While many arachnophobes will blanche at the really big spiders, what got me were the speedy little ones. When a rush of spiders burst out of a drain pipe, I involuntarily hopped out of my seat at one point. Less of a jump scare than a nervous reaction, but the movie’s execution caught me. The rest of the production design was also hugely evocative. The trick of the lights on timers was both funny at times and hair-raising at others. The sound of the spiders was a wonderful audio cue. As a whole, the production design really created a convincing lived-in environment.
Admittedly, there is a big logical flaw to this movie. These spiders breed and hatch far too quickly to make sense. Narratively, it’s helpful, but to see a population of one spider become a million in the span of one day extends way past the boundary of scientific possibility. But, if you are willing to accept this stretch of science, you will enjoy this movie. Unless, of course, you are an arachnophobe. If you are, inevitably, somebody will need to break out the smelling salts for you. So, arachnophobes, tread carefully! If you decide to face your fears, you have my respect. You may want to bring diapers with you. Just saying!
Conclusion:
Infested surprised many of the attendees at Overlook. One of the things I like to do while waiting in lines at these fests is to find out what movies they thought were the best or the scariest. For many people, Infested scared them the most. Though it is light on gore, investing time and background into these flawed protagonists helps Infested punch above its weight class. The scares come easier when you have a strong rooting interest in the characters.
The movie currently holds a rating of 6.8 on IMdB, and that’s doing pretty well for a horror film! The MPAA has not rated this movie. It is on the cusp of an R-rating due to the language and the intensity of the film. Despite the low level of blood and guts, the ick factor is very high. Strong-willed teens will probably enjoy this movie.
Infested will be released streaming on Shudder on April 26. You won’t have to wait long!
For those of you who like creepy crawly movies, we did a full episode on this topic. You can check out Podcast Episode 127 right here.