Kiah Roache-Turner’s Sting

Maybe the original name of this lethal space-spider was Gordon Sumner, before the little girl who adopts it dubs the creature “Sting.” Why would you pick up a spider of this size, like stray dog? Needless to say, young Charlotte is feeling a little alienated and she will soon be feeling pretty guilty, because it really is sort of all her fault when the spider starts biting in director-screenwriter Kiah Roache-Turner’s Sting, which opens this Friday in theaters.

The spider landed with such velocity, it only bored a small hole through Charlotte’s window pane, but it somehow landed softly enough. It is big and ugly, even by tarantula standards, but she decides to keep it anyway. (The name “Sting” is actually a Hobbit reference.) Charlotte has been sulky since her infant brother was born, because it seems like her mother Heather and stepfather Ethan no longer have time for her. Indeed, neither has much time for anything. He works days as their building super and nights struggling to complete a high-profile freelance comic book commission, while she has restarted her architectural career.

Charlotte’s relationship with Ethan is especially complicated because she assumes her deadbeat birth-father is still abroad, rather than avoiding her. Having more extended family nearby is not helping much. Charlotte still adores her dementia-stricken grandmother, Helga, but Gunter, the mean old aunt who owns the building, is a real pill. The other neighbors are a mixed bag, but she assumes Erik, the self-styled science geek, might be able to help, when Sting starts to be a bit of a handful.

There is considerably more character development in Sting than you get from typical creepy-crawly flicks. There is also some tension-breaking comedic relief provided by Jermaine Fowler as Frank, the exterminator, whose uniform probably intentionally somewhat vaguely resembles that of a Ghostbuster.

However, Charlotte’s 12-year-old angst is maybe too realistic. Honestly, which would you rather deal with, a large alien spider or a moody preteen girl? If you said the arachnid, you’re probably not alone. Still, the attempt to balance credible characters, mostly (but not entirely) practical gross-out effects, and jaded New Yorker humor is appreciated. This is definitely an improvement over Roache-Turner’s disappointing sequel Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, but not as entertaining as the original Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead. The mix needed more tweaking, but Roache-Turner is going in the right direction with his first feature not co-written with his brother, Tristan.

Inspector Sun, Spider Detective

In the early 1930s, Shanghai was a swinging city, but it was also wild and woolly, often to a dangerous extent. Apparently, the same was true for the bug world. Inspector Sun was supposed to battle the crime and corruption, but he is a bit of an idiot—maybe more than a bit. However, he is lucky, which often compensated for his lack of intelligence. His luck might hold when he stumbles across a case that could restore his career while vacationing in Julio Soto Gurpide’s animated feature Inspector Sun (a.k.a. Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow), which opens tomorrow in theaters.

Sun is a “nepo baby,” but even his police chief uncle has had enough of the chaos he stirs up. At least he still collars his nemesis, the Red Locust (even though it would have been easier if he had just left it to his more professional colleagues). Sent packing, Sun leaves on vacation, but he misses his flight thanks to Janey, a hero-worshipping jumping spider, who wants to be Sun’s protégé. Instead, his old friend Scarab, a rhinoceros beetle working as the director of security on a flight to San Francisco, ushers him aboard his luxurious flying boat.

That night, in the tradition of Agatha Christie, Dr. Bugsy Spindlethorp is murdered. Suspicion immediately falls on his new wife, the black widow Arabella Killtop, who also happens to be a real black widow. However, Sun is too attracted to her to believe she could be the murderer. Naturally, he tries to solve the case and clear her name, reluctantly accepting Janey’s help, since she stowed-away, risking mid-air ejection.

Obviously, Inspector Sun (a product of Spain) was not produced in China, because this 1930s tale features no exploitative capitalists, crooked government officials protecting them, or Communist revolutionaries fighting to bring them their just deserts. There are no politics and no woke ideology in Inspector Sun. It is just an appealingly old-fashioned murder mystery with bugs that gets slightly too fantastical in the third act.

What works best in Inspector Sun is the attention to vintage 1930s details, evoking the glamor of the mid-Chinese Republican era. The music definitely emulates the style of big band jazz, especially the swinging closing credits. The clothes, the Art Deco décor, and even the flying boat itself summon all kinds of elegant nostalgia.

Itsy Bitsy: Actually, These Spiders are Pretty Big

There is a long but inconsistent tradition of killer spider movies. The diverse ranks of mutant arachnid fighters include William Shatner in Kingdom of Spiders, Barbara “Perry Mason” Hale and Alan “Skipper” Hale Jr. in The Giant Spider Invasion, Scarlett Johansson in Eight Legged Freaks, and Godzilla in Son of Godzilla. This is the latest one. There is also a bit of antiquity plundering and some House M.D.-style Vicodin-popping in Micah Gallo’s Itsy Bitsy, which is now playing in Los Angeles.

Ever since the death of her middle child, Kara Spencer has been on a downward spiral. She self-medicates and has trouble holding nursing gigs. She has just uprooted her surviving children, 13-year-old Jesse and 8-year-old Cambria, so she can serve as the live-in caregiver for Walter Clark, a wealthy collector of dubiously acquired antiquities.

Frankly, Clark did not even ask for the latest addition to his holdings. That big black egg was given to him by Ahkeeba, his former expedition leader, who insists Clark offer it a “sacrifice.” Clark does not believe in mumbo jumbo, so Ahkeeba tries to steal it back, but he breaks the relic in the process, releasing a strain of highly potent mutant spider larvae. Soon, the eight-legged monsters are crawling all over the place.

There are some amusingly goey spider effects, which makes sense, considering Gallo cut his teeth doing post work on films like the Hatchet franchise. However, it feels like there is considerably more family melodrama that most genre fans could really do without. Frankly, the spiders could do their worst to virtually all the human characters and we wouldn’t care.

Still, it is worth watching Oscar-nominated (for Longtime Companion) Bruce Davison bring another intriguing screen persona to life as crusty old Clark. He has his moments, but he is not the focus of the film (and it is debatable whether the spiders are either). Denise Crosby adds further genre interest playing Sheriff Jane Dunne, but she is stuck with some strangely corny dialogue.

Believe it not, the best killer spider movie of the decade might just be Jaime Dezcallar’s Spanish short film, The Bird Spider. Arguably, Itsy Bitsy is only a bit of an improvement over low budget knock-offs like the pedestrianly named Spiders. Not recommended, Itsy Bitsy is now screening in Greater LA County at the Laemmle Glendale.