Infested

Vermines is a bit like Arachnophobia in the French way. You get rather unconventional and not very likeable characters, a grimy slum setting and a very limited amount of humour, but you also get solid action, very indiscriminate spider terror and a few scenes that will make you uncomfortable in your seat. The film uses real creatures in many scenes, and when it goes into computer-generated effects, it's not noticeable at all, so the realistic visuals do a lot for the viewer's effect. There probably aren't that many good spider horror movies historically, but this one can easily count among them. (13/10/2023)

What an intense ride. I haven't squirmed in my seat like that in a long time. Vermines is an instant classic, right up there with Arachnophobia in the spider horror subgenre. The filmmakers nailed the perfect blend of practical effects, CGI, and live spiders, making it incredibly effective. If you have a severe fear of spiders, this film will leave you physically unsettled. I never expected something like this to come out of France, and even more surprising, it's a debut. I'm looking forward to seeing more from Vaniček in the future. (13/10/2023)

Sébastien Vaniček and his instant ticket to the A-Horror League. I'm gonna go give out prizes, because this is where history is made. So Vaniček made a dream debut (right on the lines of the recent successful debutants like Robert Eggers, Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, Zach Cregger), the best spider horror film of all time (it's quite funny that the previous king is already 30 years, Arachnophobia), kicked off this year's French wave and at the same time made the best horror film of the year – no one could ask for a better way to start. Whether Infested will be dethroned by the new Alien or Nosferatu at the end of the year is another matter, but until then it can enjoy the pedestal merrily. And now for the film. After a long time, I experienced very uncomfortable feelings with horror, and since ghosts and demons don't do anything to me, spiders as a real evil definitely had an effect. The housing estates of the French ghetto evokes an interesting atmosphere in itself, you don’t get to really form much of a relationship with the characters but that didn't bother me. The craftsmanship is excellent and once it gets going, it really is a spider atmospheric hell crammed with jump-scares like Sam Raimi's Drag me to Hell, and I twitched along decently (I also praise the aptly chosen musical score!). Admittedly, it got more intense as the spiders got smaller, but even the big ones had something going for them – that's where the CGI came in handy. It's a bit marred by the ending, I was expecting a bigger carnage, the mass battle spiders vs cops was over too quickly for my taste, and the whole thing ends quite hastily – I could have easily managed 20 minutes more – but these are minor flaws in the beauty of a film that is born once every three decades. Anyone who doesn't appreciate that is an arrogant scumbag and an enemy of the state and me. 9/10. (29/04/2024)

Attack the Block for entomology. The scene of walking through the hallway to the garages, which felt like a challenge from Fort Boyard accompanied by shouts of allez, allez, vas-y, vas-y, served as a turning point where arachnophobia started to be somewhat forcibly replaced by capiophobia (fear of two-legged arthropods with pincers). At the same time, the inverse relationship began to be confirmed: the bigger the spider, the less authentic the sense of dread (the bathroom attack remained unsurpassed). When the problem on the outskirts of society was finally brought down, I remembered Kandisha by the duo of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury and started wondering if there was something deeper to be found behind it... (06/05/2024)

I'm definitely not a fan of spiders, but my curiosity lured me to the cinema to see Infested, as I have a bit of a thing for animal horror movies (about overgrown crocodiles, snakes, boars, sharks, etc.). Sébastien Vaniček's film impresses with a soundtrack I would have expected in a film about drugs or the mafia rather than deadly eight-legged creatures - though drugs are often mentioned. As far as the action-horror level is concerned, it works on the whole; here I would highlight especially the scene with the flashing corridor, which gave me solid goosebumps. But the overall experience is noticeably marred by the characters and their actions, it was really hard to root for them to escape the "web of death". (06/06/2024)