INFESTED (VERMINES) (2023)

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Sébastien Vaniček
Cast: Théo Christine, Finnegan Oldfield, Jérôme Niel, Lisa Nyarko, Sofia Lesaffre, Ike Zacsongo, Marie-Philomène Nga, Xing Xing Cheng
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Rating: NC16 (Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 29 August 2024

Synopsis: Kaleb is about to turn 30 and has never been lonelier. He’s fighting with his sister over a matter of inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a bazaar and brings it back to his flat. It only takes a moment for it to escape and reproduce, turning the whole place into a dreadful web trap. At the same time, the police lock down the building where the residents are ambushed. Only option for Kaleb and his mates - find the way out, to survive.

Movie Review:

When you think of Paris, the Eiffel Tower and luxury shopping comes to mind. Definitely not killer sharks or in this case, deadly spiders.

This French thriller stars Théo Christine as Kaleb, a young man who sells black market Nike shoes and collects bugs and creatures in his spare time. Enlisting the help of her friends including Kaleb’ ex-buddy Jordy (Finnegan Oldfield), Mathys (Jérôme Niel) and Lila (Sofia Lesaffre), his sister Manon (Lisa Nyarko) is busy refurbishing their old apartment to sell after the death of their mother.

Unfortunately, Kaleb’s latest acquisition of a desert spider escaped from its shoe box and their apartment building soon becomes infested with thousands of the eight-legged creatures. Deadly and fast, one by one, the residents fall victim to the spiders. Kaleb and his friends attempt to escape the building only to find out that the authorities has quarantine the place and blocked their only escape route.

Sébastien Vanicek’s directorial debut is an impressive one. First and foremost, it’s a creature flick destined to send chills to those who suffer from arachnophobia. Atmospheric is the most outstanding factor here as ducts, stairways and dark corners are the favourite haunting places for spiders. Vanicek stages some remarkable energetic jump scares in the mostly confined location in the vein of REC (2007) and Attack the Block (2011). The cinematography by Alexandre Jamin is solid especially with the mixture of looming shadows in the vents and holes and sometimes closeups of the creepy crawlies.

One memorable unsettling sequence involves the five main antagonists trying to run across a long hallway filled with the deadly spiders with a timer-based light as the group’s life-saving tool. Did I mentioned the creatures’ only weak spot is light? Vanicek certainly delivers the thrills in the end making perfect use of practical and CGI effects.

Infested also works well with the human characters. At least, the main characters are not some forgettable nameless victims that no one cares. Jordy apparently was once a buddy of Kaleb and their relationship probably strained as a result of the latter’s indifference attitude towards his future. Despite being a municipal cop, Lila is the one most terrified of the spiders. As for Manon, her relationship with her brother is close to estrangement due to some underlying disagreement over their late mom’s property.

According to Vanicek who also co-wrote the script, the spiders serve as sort of an allegory of the people who suffer from discrimination and featuring an unseen side of France- the suburbs. Indeed for the most part, Vanicek succeeds in his execution and social commentary but it also affect the exhausting finale which feature a group of police refusing to let go of the youngsters and some background carnage that goes on and on.

Aside from the somewhat flawed ending, Infested is a well-made “spider” movie. It features well-written characters, more than decent production values and harrowing scenarios that will freak everyone out. For those brave souls out there, skip the line to the Eiffel Tower or Champs-Élysées, perhaps you might uncover some creepy-crawly creatures somewhere.

Movie Rating:

(Undeniably a rather well-made creature thriller from France)

Review by Linus Tee