Charlotte (Alyla Brown) is elated to discover a curiously intelligent spider in her grandmother's (Noni Hazelhurst) apartment. On a steady diet of cockroaches, Sting grows and grows. Charlotte even shows her off to the upstairs neighbor, Erik (Danny Kim), some kind of biologist. Unfortunately, his specialty is in the Mad sub-category and he decides to see just how big Sting can get. Antics ensue.
Remember how the last spider movie we watched was secretly about the pandemic? This one is not! It's about teenaged girls' feelings! Big, scary feelings of loss and resentment and helplessness that get under your skin and turn all your organs into liquid-- okay, perhaps the metaphor breaks down there, but still.
This is an Australian film set in Brooklyn, New York, presumably because no one in their right mind in Australia would take an unidentified spider as a pet. It could have been set anywhere, really, there are barely any exterior shots and none that establish place other than Urban Center.
Your enjoyment of this will be based largely on two factors: 1) your tolerance for spiders that mimic noises and 2) how much you loved Little Shop of Horrors. Sadly, not a musical but we can't have everything.
The special effects are by WETA so no complaints there. Performances are good, especially by child actress Brown, who probably has a long career ahead of her. As an American, it was a little weird to see an "American" movie from somewhere else. Everything was just subtly off, rang slightly out of tune, but not in a way I can really point out. It was interesting in a kind of embarrassing this-is-what-it's-like-for-other-countries sort of way. It's currently streaming on Hulu.
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