User Reviews

A promising movie with a slow start building up the main character's emotional struggles and conflicts.

Interesting plot came in the form of skin crawling scenes of the spiders alonf with lots of screams and deaths. The last 10 mins of ending was rather weak, leaving one with more questions along the line of, 'what? But how? Huh? Can that even work?'. I think it could be better.

There's no glory in death but with so many deaths, only two were interesting enough (one being the most emotionally dramatic).

Camera work and colouring were great so kudos to the team. Worth watching for all the jumpscare.

This is what a horror movie about spiders should be like. For the first hour or so everything works, it feels well put together, and the soundtrack only compliments this.

The spiders are well done, and there is some genuinely frightening jump scares.

It entire production takes place in a apartment block in Paris. It feels isolated, dark, grim, and poverty stricken. At times, it felt like the same isolation one would get watching the the first Alien movie.

However, whilst the movie is well made, the third act is difficult to take seriously. Sometimes less is more in this context. People in an apartment block fighting for their very lives was interesting, until it became silly and cartoonist.

That being said, the first hour is the best bit of horror you're likely to see this year.

The very first Arachnophobia movie scared me as a kid, I haven't seen that in awhile and most bug/shark/gator movies do not scare me much these days. But this movie had managed to capture the truly unique take of trying to capture a giant spider using a glass container, it was truly terrifying cause some of us had to do that in real life. That, and the creepy crawlies zooming up real fast using your broom as a ladder. This is one of those movies that are not reliant on cheap jump scares but our own natural fears.

The only negative thing I could find about this piece is that the spiders grew up too fast, there was no segment for the passing of time. And some of the cast, kind of looks alike that I don't know who's who. Their mannerisms are the same and mostly were introduced once. But it made up for some good acting to push through the drama. That scream near the end was moving and filled the room with terror... then the lights went out.

Overall could've been better but it's pretty solid. It's well written, not using cheap gimmicks as a crutch. Spiders are realistic (except for some of the big ones) and made me somehow feel for some of the characters.

Infested is a brilliant film.

From a first time director it's a fun and tense little horror movie.

Definitely not one for real arachnophobia sufferers. There's a LOT of spiders in this movie.

Some real nasty ones.

The setting of a French housing project gives a grim atmosphere throughout the movie and the spiders thrive in this environment.

There's a bit of personal drama between Kaleb, his sister and his friend Jordy.

And this adds a little bit of heart to the story.

All the characters are one's we care about.

Despite Kaleb's misguided purchase of a very deadly spider that kicks things off.

There's plenty of jumpy moments of fun and spidery chases and tense walk throughs of 8 legged crawlies hanging on walls and ceilings.

Whilst there's nothing really groundbreaking here it's a well done thriller that keeps you hooked.

The ending battle was for me a little weak but overall this is a must see for any horror fans.

It's a good bit of entertainment.

Vermines (aka Infested) is a entertaining creature feature with a really cool vibe. You feel it early with the music and tone. It does a good job creating distinct characters and is generally well-made from a technical perspective.

As for the spider-ing, it's awesome and the best aspect of the film. They find lots of creative ways of showcasing the creatures. This is the kind of fun-horror I wish they made more of, rather than the thousands of boring haunting movies that Hollywood pumps out.

For me, there are a few things that hold this back from being rewatchable. There are several non-spider scenes that go on for far too long. I like that they took their time to develop the characters, but there are numerous parts where cutting something would have made zero difference to the story or movie. It's like the director was afraid to leave a single shot on the cutting room floor.

There are also a couple of questionable parts but nothing too bad. And multiple scenes had several people yelling at the same time, which makes it difficult to watch when you have to read constant double-lines of subtitles.

Even with those flaws, I still enjoyed this as a one-time viewing type of movie. It's levels better than another recent spider flick called Sting. That one has an embarrassing ~35 seconds of spider screentime and is very boring. Vermines is basically the opposite.

(1 viewing, 4/29/2024)

What tangled webs they weave when the survivors cannot leave.

Infested is the latest of European Apartment/Isolation Horror with the likes of 2007's Rec from Spain and 2022's Lockdown Tower with the latter closer to this kind of rundown building and both from France. While I liked the other two more, this still works. At least the first half, anyways.

A neglected apartment tower's resident critter expert brings home a poisonous spider only to lose it almost immediately and just as swiftly, that thing multiplies tenfold+. Soon, all the residents will face off with the new eight-legged occupants and hopefully some will survive.

As usual in these When-Animals-Attack films, the characters do some DUMB things. Like over and over.

Wasn't there a first-floor window to crawl out of? Front door to simply open? Egad, every dumb mistake you could make happened here. Granted, I'd probably panic, too or simply have a heart-attack with my arachnophobia in a dark building full of spiders.

My biggest issue was there were no time jumps to make this even remotely realistic. And to me, the more realistic, the more terrifying it is. Here, the one spider lays its egg sack and pretty much, within minutes the whole tower is covered with them. Plus, they grow to almost human size with each new batch.

Now that said, it didn't stop me from jumping so many times out of my seat and audibly swearing, I had to constantly pause the movie to recover. So, yeah, they did their job on my fears. And if you also suffer from the same fright of these abominations, you'll probably get some great scares out of this as well.

You'll just have to get through some tough/long scenes of character set up in the first half-hour. Despite these feeling like real people who really live in the same tight quarters, it was almost brutal to get through so much exposition to get to what we pressed play for: a Spider Invasion.

It's not bad, and for the grand majority of the spider-scenes, they did look like real spiders (well, except for the 3-foot kinds.) Just try not to imagine them on your own skin.

***

Final Thoughts: It pains me to give this a mediocre review. I did the same for 2022's Fall - which explored my greatest fear: Heights. (Spiders are my #2.) That one just suffered through cliches and really bad characters I didn't care about. This film's problem was the speed they multiplied and size they grew. Also, since when are spiders social bloodsuckers?

Looking for a special present, a man decides to help get over his lot in life by caring for an exotic spider to go along with the rest of the animals in his collection, but when it becomes apparent that the spider has escaped and begun reproducing more voracious creatures like it must get away alive.

This was a disappointing and somewhat underwhelming genre effort. The main part that works for this one is the highly intriguing and at times outright terrifying work of the spider being let loose in the community. With a fantastic opening giving the kind of stellar example of the ferocity and deadliness of the species, there's quite a lot to like with the gradual reveal of something loose in the building as their lives are interrupted by the discovery of dead residents, strange animal attacks, or the presence of strange webs found all over the building. The series of scenes here involving the swarm of ravenous creatures appearing out of the cracks of the building and attacking in basements, kitchens, bathrooms, or just about anywhere else throughout here while also given enough storyline context about surviving past the extermination techniques due to their rapidly-procreation style or invulnerability to any tactics employed against them. With the stellar pace present that keeps them far more intent in the second half so these terrifying scenes can come about at a frantic clip, these are what manage to provide its best moments. What holds it back is, unfortunately, everything else that transpires here. Most of that is the extremely sluggish and generally uninteresting first half that spends far too much time on the residents of the apartment and the go-nowhere lives they lead. Featuring a highly original series of urban stereotypes involving drug pushers, counterfeiters, sexual miscreants, or other forms of deviance that takes place in this kind of hoodlum environment, these all create a simple enough setup that provides all the necessary build-up to get to know the group but it's all cliches and uninteresting as a result. Very little of this makes the group stand out from any other community of down-on-their-luck individuals in a low-rent squalor and fearing for their lives due to the company they keep, stuck in a situation that only gets worse with the inclusion of the spiders here. That causes this to be a rather sluggish affair without offering any kind of genre work or interest during this point so it takes far longer than it needs to get to the spider action and thus the running time is inordinately longer than it needs to be, bringing this down overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

Shall I start off with a straightforward and attention-grabbing statement? "Vermines" is, hands down, the best and most terrifying horror movie about spiders ever made! Adequate and reasonably uncanny films like "Kingdom of the Spiders", "Tarantula: The Deadly Cargo", and "Arachnophobia" built up a cult-reputation over the years, but if there's any justice left in this godforsaken world, it will soon be "Vermines" that is on the top-position of every "best spider horror" list. Yes, it truly is that good!

Hard to believe this is only co-writer/director Sébastien Vanicek fist long-feature film. He does everything right! "Vermines" is chock-full of subtle but clever and respectable references to great horror classics ("Braindead", "Alien", "Predator"), and the tenacious scenario masterly illustrates the racial and social tensions that have plagued France - and especially Paris - for several years now. The film is also 200% authentic. I'm not sure if it's in Paris, or if the building really exists, but it does accurately reflect the typically French banlieue with all its ethnic diversity, poor housing conditions, and enmity towards the police. The residents of the tenement are credible, too. I speak fluent French, but without the English subtitles I hadn't been able to follow how these youngsters talk. And although I'm not a big fan of French "gangster-rap", it's the only suitable soundtrack for a setting like this.

But most of all, "Vermines" is finally a mature and genuinely horrifying film about the animal, par excellence, that a large part of the population fears! If you're an arachnophobe you should stay miles away from this film, and even if you are not afraid of spiders, you're still guaranteed to cringe in your seat upon witnessing numerous moments throughout this movie.

Kaleb is an outsider, even in his secluded apartment block community. He tries making some money by illegally selling sneakers, but his true passion is taking care of his rare exotic insects and amphibians. He's lucky to add a unique spider to his collection, but during the opening credits we already witnessed how it concerns an ultra-aggressive and poisonous desert species. The spider is also pregnant, and when it escapes it doesn't take long before the apartment block is infested with rapidly procreating and non-stop evolving arachnids.

The intense and petrifying highlights in "Vermines" are too numerous to list. You feel the fear of Kaleb's sister Manon when she's trapped in the bathroom with the spider. You gaze in agony when the group must walk across a hallway blocked with cobwebs. You suffer along with the protagonists when baby spiders crawl out of the mouth of yet another deceased neighbor, etc. The special effects are sublime, so that even the largest spiders come across as realistic and terrifying. In case it wasn't clear just yet: "Vermines" is fantastic horror, and recommended to people with nerves of steel.

Calling all fans of claustrophobic horror and creepy crawlies! "Infested" delivers a potent double shot, merging the frantic energy of "REC" with the sheer terror of "Arachnophobia."

This film throws you headfirst into a decaying apartment building overrun with monstrous spiders. Like "REC," the action unfolds in an apartment building, keeping the tension high. You feel trapped alongside the desperate residents as they navigate the building's labyrinthine corridors, each corner potentially harboring a venomous nightmare.

But unlike "REC," the terror in "Infested" comes with eight hairy legs and a taste for human flesh. The film takes a page from "Arachnophobia," reveling in the sheer ick factor of its spider infestation. The close-ups on these monstrous arachnids are guaranteed to make your skin crawl, and the creative ways they attack add a layer of gruesome fun to the experience.

Where "Infested" truly shines is in its ability to balance scares with surprising character development. We care about the residents trapped in the building, making us genuinely invested in their fight for survival.

"Infested" is the perfect recipe for a frightfully good time. Just make sure you haven't eaten recently, and prepare to swat imaginary spiders out of the air long after the credits roll.

This might seem like an unpopular opinion if you check the review section. But I got to say it. I found "Infested" very uninteresting and terrible in every way.

To start, the story is supposed to be about killer spiders. But it shows 4-5 people running around scared more than any sort of killing. It is supposed to be horror film but sadly there is no horror element in Infested. The spiders seldom kill, and all the kills are off screen. There is no reason or logic provided to explain how they get so big within hours of hatching. You are left to figure out what exactly makes them dangerous, are they poisonous? Even an iota or effort to make the plot interesting seems to be missing.

Now characters are even terrible. Kaleb, the protagonist is an orphan with a sister. They quarrel constantly and hint that their mother died recently. It doesn't add any depth to him or the plot. He deals in smuggled goods but somehow has a heart of gold. He helps the janitor; he must be a saint. To top it all he also collects bugs. His friends and sister are equally unlikeable. It felt that the actors are not even pretending to be scared and clearly know what is going to happen next.

The director also attempts to bring in unnecessary social commentary, if the lack of horror made to zone out this would make you turn off your TV and stop watching. Apparently, no one in the country is worried about the infestation as proven by twitter. The police as usual is dumber than ever. They take guns to kill spiders and quarantine people instead of evacuating them. Their general rule is to beat people to pulp if they want to go out.

Watch it at your own risk. If you are looking for anything remotely scary/disturbing, skip this one.

The best spider horror film in the history of cinema. On the other hand, you can count the number of horror stories about spiders on one hand :-)

Well acted, funny, well shot and keeps you in suspense from start to finish.

It also has an accurate social commentary on groups of people "pushed" to the outskirts of large cities, who, like the spiders in the film, often have to fight for survival.

It's a dream directorial debut that looks like a good million-dollar horror hit. It is worth following the development of this director's career.

I recommend it to everyone who is not afraid of spiders.

Originally released at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, Infested (a.k.a. Vermines) is a low-budget French horror film. After receiving critical acclaim, the film was screened through multiple international festivals before debuting on the horror-exclusive streaming app, Shudder. While he has previously had experience with short films, Infested marks Sébastien Vanicek's feature-length directorial debut.

After losing his mother, Kaleb (Théo Christine) and his sister Manon (Lisa Nyarko) live in a low-income Paris apartment complex. Upon acquiring a new venomous spider for his exotic collection, Kaleb brings it back to a homemade habitat in his apartment. Going out partying for the night, he returns home to find the spider missing, having escaped its makeshift enclosure. Quickly realizing his mistake, Kaleb and his friends must escape the apartment complex, as the spider rapidly reproduces and sets its parasitic offspring to massacre the tenants in the building.

Though the story builds slowly in the first act, it allows the audience to deeply connect with Kaleb, a young man lost in the world after the passing of his mother. The emotional resonance heightens each moment of hair-raising suspense, as none of the characters feel truly safe through their harrowing encounters. The heart of the film lies in the familial bond between Kaleb and Manon, as their relationship has become strained by isolating from each other to deal with their grief. Infested hits a mark often missed with horror films and allows its characters to feel genuine.

Although relatively unknown to American audiences, the cast is comprised of promising up and comers in the industry. While the dialogue is entirely French, the expressive performances execute a range of emotions that nearly render subtitles unnecessary. The film is impressively shot and cinematographer Alexandre Jamin leaves your eyes glued to the screen, even at its creepiest moments. The dynamic camera work throughout the film provides plenty of creative and memorable shots, showcasing exceptional camera work for the low-budget.

Crawling out of the nightmares of arachnophobes, Infested delivers goosebumps with its suspenseful journey. Creating characters worthy of emotional investment, the story thrives on it actors alongside its scares. The horror genre has always thrived on low-budget films created by talented new-comers and Infested is an excellent continuation in that tradition.

I'm not one of those crazy people who say that spiders are our friends. I hate them. I say squash them, stomp them, crush the ugly little buggers. If you're also not a fan of the eight-legged beasties, think twice before watching French creature feature Infested, which is guaranteed nightmare fuel for arachnophobes.

The film stars Théo Christine as Kaleb, who collects creepy crawlies; unfortunately, his latest acquisition, a rare African spider, quickly escapes and gives birth to hundreds of more spiders, which then rapidly grow and multiply. Pretty soon, the rundown apartment building where Kaleb lives is over-run by deadly arachnids and placed under quarantine, with Kaleb and his friends trapped inside.

The plot for Infested is fairly routine for the genre, but it does what is required of it, namely set up the film for plenty of edge-of-the-seat moments designed to make the viewer feel as uneasy as possible. Director Sébastien Vanicek delivers maximum terror, combining real spiders and impressive CGI for memorable set-pieces that will have those brave enough to watch squirming in their seats.

Admittedly, Infested does run out of steam a little in the final act when the cops show up and matters get seriously out of hand, and one character's decision to open a door and release the spiders is highly questionable, but given what has gone before I am willing to cut the film a bit of slack: it's not often that a horror film makes me feel so uncomfortable.

Its effective and claustrophobic. I think this guy will make a terrifying Evil Dead. Its always great when a serious creature feature comes out and Infested is overall very well done and intense. Great camera work, the spiders were top notch. But I think some characters were too annoying at some moments (although well acted and likeable overall). At some point a character´s reaction to a death was too much and felt out of place on this movie. It also tries too hard to make you hate the police (and succeeds). The climax was the weakest point and needlessly chaotic. What that bitten guy did didn't make sense... The kills were bland... But anyway, 3,5 stars. Solid movie.

This is a very good horror film. Chills, thrills, suspense and action. The acting was great from all, the leading character Khaleb played by actor Theo Christine made the movie and had me rooting for him. For this to be a direftors first time, kudos to him. This movie will become a cult classic. I love horror films and this is one i enjoyed, waiting from more from this Director and actors. I felt Squeamish as I was watching the film, it gave me the Willies. Yes, if you are afraid of spiders this is not the movie for you. Arachnaphobia is on full display as you're watching. You have been warned.

First I'd like to say that I absolutely loved this movie and went to see it twice in theaters! Such a fun horror-type movie that anybody can enjoy, especially people who aren't super into scary films. I'm terrified of spiders and had no issues watching Vermines, I think you can still love the film even though you're an arachnophobe!

As a French person, I'm not used to seeing French movies with such impeccable dialogue written for young characters. The slang used by these characters is actually a great representation of how a LOT of French people talk, and this film is one of the few that portrays this type of slang perfectly!! It felt so real.

The message of Vermines is also pretty straightforward: it's a social commentary. The story is set in a "cité" on the outskirts of Paris, where police brutality is rampant, so of course the "vermins" of the movie actually turn out to be the people living in these poor neighborhoods. They are completely dehumanized and brutalized by police.

The characters are also so loveable, and the dynamics between each of them are very well constructed.

I really enjoyed the comedy in this film, it always felt right and was never overdone.

I highly recommend watching Vermines, whether you like scary movies or not!

Tons of goofs and plot holes. My arms were up in the air, not for the phobias but for how unrealistic the film is. The film gets weirder and weirder with each minute. Don't even try to make me start with the spiders. I thought I signed up for a horror, not a scifi-wannabe?

I know the police was useless, but how does it justifies the fact that Mathyr dude was so suicidal that he just had to try to kill everyone and still wanted to be called dope? And then the rest of the team silently watching him set the spiders free was infuriating.

The cinematic effect was good, but it won't save the plot.

Infested is a decent enough infestation movie. The usual routine of someone buying something they shouldn't, it getting loose, somehow multiplying endlessly, and every generation growing to ridiculous size for... reasons.

Not exactly anything new or groundbreaking. But overall still an enjoyable watch.

The characters are believable. They feel real, like people, with their own pasts and problems, dealing with an impossible situation. They have their ups and downs, and overall act mostly as you'd expect someone in a blind panic to act. Not always making the best choices, but also not constantly doing the stupidest things possible. Sure, there's a number of "let's do X because the plot needs to advance" that we see in most monster movies. But overall it's nowhere as obnoxious as we usually see.

The main characters draw you in, while all the extras an side characters play their roles, as minor as they are.

The CGI is quite good. The spiders are believable (ignoring the fact that an inch long spider somehow ends up spawning offspring the size of a stove, lol). But overall, the special effects work wonderfully, and the lighting and camera work help make the movie properly creepy when needed and give the action sequences the right amount of kick. And best of all, despite the movie being in a badly lit building, they do a great job of still having enough light so that everything is clearly visible. You're not left looking at black on black on dark on shadow like so many of these movies end up doing.

Then there's the cops, who are quite believable if you've ever lived in such a community. They don't care. They will happily accuse people without cause and beat innocent civilians because they can. Like typical cops in a low income area tend to do. And it does a great job of giving you the message of who's the real monsters.

Overall, this is a great way to spend a dark evening.

Good setup. Made me think of the beginning of "Braindead" (Dead-Alive) from Peter Jackson. It also has some great, odd, close-up camera shots which were great.

What follows in Infested, however, is a avalanche of constant group yelling scenes of a bunch of people who make really bad decisions. Again!

Why do movie writers keep creating stupid characters just to give them a tool to hurdle over major plot holes? Stop doing that! Create characters which the viewer can relate to and create a better story.

I feel though, that this is a promising director, due to the special shots and atmosphere he created. I hope he will do a better job with the next "Evil Dead" movie.

In 2023's "Infested" we are introduced to some residents of a rundown French apartment building in a fight for survival against rapidly reproducing massive spiders. When I first heard about this movie I was really intrigued because spiders are scary and disgusting to lots of people and therefore automatically have a huge potential for a horror movie. And over the years there have been quite a few horror movies with spiders that made audiences cringe. But "Vermines", which is the original French title, does a better job than all of it's predecessors in terms of sheer horror. It's a stupid fun idea but played out really serious and tension filled. The whole time I had an uncomfortable feeling and felt like something was crawling on me with all these critters running across the screen. The effects for the spiders were decent and convincing, even though sometimes they were so quick, you barely got to see how they look. But as soon as the movie really gets going, you get to see enough of them, probably even more than you would like. There's a decent character introduction that drags a little but overall tells us a lot about the characters that are being trapped in the apartment building. The characters and relationships between them are complex and not one dimensional, making the audience care for them and their survival. The acting was also pretty good and convincing and the set design was phenomenal and realistic. Of course the movie also had some minor flaws because we are dealing with massive man eating spiders that are somehow afraid of light and also seem to only attack when the plot needed them to. Also some characters have bigger plot armor than others which made the threat a little less unnerving at times. But overall I think it's an amazing horror movie and Arachnophobes should stay away from this movie for their own best. If you can devote yourself to this rather unrealistic scenario and over the top creepy-crawly action, you will have a bloody good time with "Infested". [7,2/10]