Skip to content
Sting isn’t a biopic about the lead singer of ’80s band The Police, but the name given by 12-year-old Charlotte (Alyla Browne – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart) to her instagrammable ‘spiderbeast’ pet, after she captures it while out and about in her mum’s apartment building.
But this happened just a few days ago, since the opening ‘present day’ sees another resident, elderly Helga (Noni Hazlehurst – One Night) having something nasty and gunky crawling around inside her walls, leading to some rather gory nonsense, and it’s not clear whether she’s vindictive, or just senile and has no idea what’s going on, like Joe Biden.
But it’s one of those films that then goes back a few days to when the story ‘began’ – with opening credits that the spiders coming to Earth (from Mars?), and crawling around a doll’s house where they look mahoosive! … and will eventually overtake the opening scene.
Of course, the female lead just had to be called Charlotte, given that the film is about spiders and their habitat, hence, Charlotte’s Web.
Right off the bat, I realised Sting is not an ideal film to watch late at night, unless you don’t mind not sleeping, especially when the captured spider can escape out of its jar, and into the air ducts of her apartment (although, but how does it get back in the jar AND close the lid?!), and Charlotte, even teaches the spider how to whistle! Despite the fact that spiders don’t have vocal chords!
Well, don’t go expecting an explanation from her Mum, Heather (Penelope Mitchell), or stepdad and comic book artist Ethan (Ryan Corr – House Of The Dragon), but do expect of lot of gore and some complete crazyness, including just how big spiders can get when they’re in the hands of a girl who’ll feed it whatever it demands.
Also throw in some great SFX regarding the spider’s webs, plus a clear reference to Die Hard, as it’s up to Charlotte to save the day, leading to her having to crawl about in the air ducts like Bruce Willis in his most famous movie ever.
Sting also isn’t too long, at a decent 86 minutes before the credits begin, which makes a change from her rambling Furiosa movie.
There’s also some mid-credits scenes to check out, as you’ll discover in the video below, if you missed it in the cinema.
Sting is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release date TBA.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 92 minutes
Release date: May 31st 2024
Studio: Studiocanal UK
Universal Pictures UK
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Rating: 6/10
Director: Kiah Roache-Turner
Producers: Chris Brown, Jamie Hilton, Michael Pontin
Screenplay: Kiah Roache-Turner
Music: Anna Drubich
Cast:
Charlotte: Alyla Browne
Frank: Jermaine Fowler
Ethan: Ryan Corr
Helga: Noni Hazlehurst
Gunter: Robyn Nevin
Heather: Penelope Mitchell
Erik: Danny Kim
Maria: Silvia Colloca
Officer Miller: Tony J Black
Gorik: Rowland Holmes
Puppeteer: Kailah Cabanas
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.