Infested

Infested

I crave some variety in my horror so Im gonna give this the highest 10 star rating solely and wholeheartily on the fact that it's finally a creature horror. The soul and imagination of horror cinema and what horror movies could be has been lost in time. Died and bled out in a sea of vapid, shallow james wan mainstream. Lame digital effects overtaken by craftmanship and art direction. Every haunted house, every exorcism, every zombie or arthouse indie horror is the same unscary, boring thing. It's always a human in a mask and kids in lame makeup, everyday instagram goth witches and ghost with long black hair. It's never scary. It's everyday music video fashion. And even if i never get tired of haunted house flicks.. I can only count 10 such movies as real masterpieces out of thousands of crappy ones. Get my point?.. theres literally countless of Trash productions each year that they all start to blend togheter. And those rookie directors who try, have such small budgets and crappy directing that it never really works. Take badabook, eight for silver, sea fever, Legend, monster, barbarian, significant other etc they give an honest try but it's still humanoid villains or bad effects that break the illusion. It never gets freaky. The best and coolest horror movies are the ones with unexplained horrific beasts, monsters and aliens. (Splinter, The Thing, Alien, Jurassic Park, The Blob, Phase IV, The Stuff, Gremlins, Galaxy of Terror, Deadly Eyes, Bug 75,etc. And Vermin fills that Void. I can only salute the team for doing something unique and entertaining i want to watch. Spiders are ancient horrors. The oldest insects on earth. They inhabited this planet millions of years before dinosaurs even existed. That's make them terrifying. Not some sexy ghost lady.

"Vermines" is a more complex film than it seems at first glance, the script touches on topics such as gentrification in a French building inhabited by people of African and Arab descent. This type of racism and discrimination is constantly seen in the film and as social criticism it is added to spiders as an example of the animal kingdom that is affected by urbanization, thus emphasizing gentrification as a central theme. Within the horror and thriller genres, the film achieves interesting and distressing scenes. The main characters are endearing and you care about them. The cinematography achieves a great atmosphere along with the filming locations and the camera movements manage to accentuate the action captured on the screen. The cast is top-notch, each actor imbues their characters with their own style. The director does an elegant job, he knows perfectly well what he wants to tell and how to do it. "Vermines" is a very good film that manages to give a message with social criticism.

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!

Overall, "Vermines" delivers top-notch editing that keeps the viewer engaged from start to finish. The character development is well-crafted, building up to a frenetic pace that holds your attention until the end. For arachnophobes, this film can push the boundaries of their fears, even for those who aren't afraid of spiders, like myself. The characters, coming from a lower class background, are fleshed out throughout the story, making it easy to connect with them. Surprisingly, even for someone who isn't a fan of hip-hop/rap, the predominantly urban music soundtrack adds to the film's vibe. "Vermines" can be likened to "REC", swapping out zombies for spiders in a building. While not groundbreaking, it achieves its goal of entertaining and delivering horror at certain moments. However, it could have pushed for more intense and impactful moments, especially to ramp up the suspense. The third act, while not weak, leaves something to be desired in terms of a more memorable and epic conclusion.

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.

No pun intended - or to make another pun for German speakers: I think I spider! It's a saying that means more or less, that ones mind is blown. And watching this movie, this is quite apt! If you have issues with spiders - maybe you should not watch this movie! And while the movie was shown at the Fantasy Filmfest (as closing film), the movie told us they are still working on the effects. That said, it also played at another Festival before - and it does look quite good already! I assume some smaller changes will be made or some digital work refined or something along those lines. The movie is really well done and the group of people we follow is ... quite sympathetic. Until the end that is - where certain things are being done and said .. that I do not completely agree with. No matter the circumstances ... but it seems a "French" thing and something of a "Revolution". There are nods to many other horror movies (the beginning having quite the "Braindead" vibes - the Peter Jackson one, which also had a different title in the US I believe), then you get Alien, REC and so many more ... I reckon you can do a guessing game! Very well shot and quite a few shocking moments - in a good sense.

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.

I had high expectations for this movie. First part was good and interesting, in terms of rythm, cut and characters. The director has talent and knows how to film, use great camera angles. We could spot his horror inspiration (Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Rec, one scene from the first Conjuring etc ) I am looking forward to seeing his next film. The problem about this movie is the message. **spoilers** I first thought the spiders were an allegory of the drug being brought illegally to France from Northern Africa and bringing only bad things to people living in social estates. But apparently not, the spiders are like the people living in social estates, meaning they do their best to survive in very difficult situations ... even here I am not sure. It is hard to understand what the movie is trying to convey us because it gets lost in its own webs. This movie, willing to be a mix between Arachnophobia and Les misérables (the Ladj Ly one) or La Haine, makes no sense most of the time, blaming the cops for no reasons even tho the main character is fully responsible of what happens. The old Arab neighbor guy was an interesting character, like in his great kindness, ends up dying because he tried to trap all spiders in an empty glass instead of killing them. We lack of empathy towards secondary characters, even the main ones actually. Besides, the language used by the young adults can be annoying for French speaking people .. they just shout most of the time with tasteless slang. I think the message about bringing illegal rare species from tropic countries to western countries , was too subtle and not enough obvious (I think it is one sentence in the whole script). However, please go still see it, to make up your own opinion, as it is interesting to see young French directors trying to renew the horror franchise. In the 2000, France had interesting directors already (martyrs, à l'intérieur, haute tension etc) Now it seems to be the case again (la Nuée , Acide, Vincent doit mourir, l'année du requin and Vermines)