326: STING (2024)

SPEAKER_04 0:04

Bet you won't hit him though. Greetings and salutations and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. You got a problem with doors? If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, a total joke, a waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_04 0:30

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast, and this week I'm joined by the paranormal paramour, Binx. Looks like it had sex with a blunder. And also joining us is friend of the show, Mr. Moviegoer, Louis Sweet Lou Cabrera. Cucaracha. And the eight-legged queen serving nothing but leg, Aranya Grande. Lou is the founder of Miami Moviegoers, a social club that advocates for the theater experience and connects movie lovers in Miami. Lou, it's hackerslash tradition for us to learn a little bit more about our new friends so we can get a better understanding of your relationship with horror. So, first question here: what is your connection to the horror genre?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Now, I don't know if this makes me like more of an unusual guest of the show, but I I kind of have like a roundabout uh way of coming to it. I feel like I grew up in not maybe the greatest era for horror, the early 2000s. That's not my particular brand of horror, quite frankly.

SPEAKER_04 1:30

My guy.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

It didn't appeal to me. And then eventually, I want to talk about it more like the theater experience. I do remember a specific theater experience where I went opening weekend to see Get Out. And as everyone remembers, that was quite a phenomenon. Not on par with uh Barbenheimer, but it was its own sort of phenomenon. And the theater experience, it was sold out, and we were just with every twist and turn, the audience was just ebbing and flowing, and I'll never forget that. And I learned at that moment that there's a lot more to horror. There's a lot more that you can do. It's very flexible sort of genre. You can be campy, you can be gory, but you can have the horror sort of like be reflections of social fears. And so, yeah, that's kind of like my roundabout way of coming to horror.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

That's awesome. So now that you've kind of gotten to this place, is there a particular style of horror that you lean towards or you prefer?

SPEAKER_01 2:16

I would say probably something that has a sort of reflection of a fear that as a society sort of has, or it's something that's going on and has us confront that. So, like obviously, it's a lot of subtextually things going on with Get Out, you know, see for example, and I think that creates a lot of interesting talking points.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

Oh, I absolutely love that. The great thing about horror is that there's so much embedded and ingrained in the DNA of it back to the very beginning that is so subtly representative of the societal culture at the time. And there's one of those things where even something as simple as your everyday run-in-the-mill slasher is actually deeply reflective of something that's much, much greater. So I love that you're here for the subtext. That is fantastic. I know that you had a roundabout way and a roundabout journey to getting back to horror. Lou, what is your favorite horror movie of all time?

SPEAKER_01 3:05

You know, if you ever asked me if I want to see the thing, I'm never gonna say no. I'm always down to see the thing. It has to be that. It has to I I I love that movie with all my heart. It's just so much fun. It's so ridiculous. The creature, uh, the the villain is just so unknowable and alien. I think that's what's so cool about it. I adore that movie. And I also adore Kurt Russell's jacket. Great jacket. I'm all for movie jackets, and that's a top-tier movie jacket.

SPEAKER_04 3:29

Absolutely phenomenal. And it warms my heart to hear you go from this journey of like, okay, am I a little out on the early 2000s horror? Do I love Get Out? And then you hit us with an 80s classic. That really cuts deep. That's some good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

By the way, it's a movie in a way about quarantine and all that. I watched it during quarantine. An infestation, like, who's sick? The themes really hit me.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Wow, that's definitely one to watch during that setting. You know, I watched the thing while eating a sandwich for lunch at work. I wouldn't recommend it. It was not the vibe to do that because it's quite gross, but it's very stellar.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

I had a roundabout way of coming to it. I feel like I did all my horror catching up during the quarantine. I really had nothing better to do. And I was just every night just like, you know, putting on a different horror movie. Oh my gosh. What a time. I was obviously dealing with a lot of things at the time.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Yeah, I was just gonna get into that. So obviously, we're talking about quarantine, and I know we've known each other for years. I know that during 2020 that was like an inspiration, right? For you going into Miami Movie Goers. So I also want to give our eight-legged friends some some time. I see her, she's a gorgeous butte. Let's talk about Aranya a little bit. Let's talk about Miami Moviegoers and how you got started with that.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

So Miami Moviegoers came about because of the pandemic. I was pretty lonely after the pandemic. I was also dealing with an injury. Like a lot of my friends were from a very active community in South Florida, and all of a sudden I got hurt and I was unable to really participate in the same activities that I used to be able to. I'm still recovering to this day as a result of those injuries. And so I didn't really feel comfortable going out and hanging out with them and doing the active sorts of things that I used to do, as well as like it just being the pandemic. It was just a really tough time, and I was feeling lonely. And so I really wanted to meet friends that shared my interests. I have a lifelong love of movies, and I looked around and I didn't see that anyone was doing any sort of movie meetups, any sort of movie events. And I did follow this one account on Instagram called the Hyper Real Film Club. And so if you don't know who they are, they're a film club based in Austin and they do social events for movie lovers. And I always thought, like, what if something like that existed in Miami? And so I decided I have nothing better to do. I literally have nothing to lose. That's literally by like half of this. I had nothing to lose. So it's just like, whatever. Like, if it doesn't work out, like I don't, I have nothing. I'm not losing anything. So uh I just started posting online. I had an account that I used to use for like an old film blog. I also have a background a little bit as a writer, but I decided to change that and I started like posting online. And slowly but surely people started coming out, and I started learning that a lot of people felt the exact same way that I did. And I also think post-pandemic, a lot of people were hungry for this specific type of social experience. They were hungry for it. They enjoy going to the movies, but they wanted a little bit more of a social experience to that. So, yeah, that's how that came about. It started slow, but slowly and surely people started coming out. I started working with a lot of really reputable brands around the city, and it's just it is whatever it is today. It's still growing. I've only been doing it a year and a half. I don't know where we're gonna be a year from now, five minutes from now. I don't know. So I'm just I'm riding the ride, and it's been so much fun. Now, as far as the the spider of it all, as we all are here for, we're gonna talk about Sting. I really wanted to work with Binks. Binks is someone that I used to know in college, and she's been posting online about her Hackerslash. I thought that was really cool. I had worked with a lot of other brands, and I was like, man, it would be really cool not just to reconnect with Binks, but also just work with Hacker Slash. I really respect what you guys do. And so I had an event that I was planning with the Miami Film Festival. I'm like, it might be cool to also bring in HackerSlash. And so I brought this up to the team at the Miami Film Festival, they were all about it, and uh now we're here. We went out to the Miami Film Festival, we came, we saw, we conquered, we sure did, and it went great. My whole thing is like I always try to bring something unique and fun. Like we try to have fun with going to the movies. We're not trying to prove a point about it or anything, like it's just a fun experience. So I thought it would be great to have a giant spider just because. And for me, the more cumbersome, the better. I just wanted it to be just a huge thing, and I think I did an okay job.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

I did a great job. Everyone was having a blast with that massive spider, the Arana Grande.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Please don't sell yourself short, honestly. And really want to emphasize here, you know, we have a few listeners in the South Florida area along with us, and our listeners span really all over the world. But if you find yourself in Miami, this is such an incredible group of people to be around. I thought it was a really special experience last night. And Lou, I'm so glad you invited us. And obviously, you're joining us to discuss the film that we all watched at an early screening of with the Miami Film Festival. Really, I think what underscores all of this is how aligned our views are in the sense of looking for people and finding community within each other. You know, this is one of those things where our show was created with the idea that conversations about horror movies can be catalysts for enriching connections between people, and you've built that over the last year and a half with Miami Moviegoers. So thank you so much for that. And I'm so excited to jump into this episode this week. Now, obviously, we talked about the advanced screening we got to go to, folks. The film that we're talking about this week drops us into the heart of the concrete jungle where a young girl is challenged with the very essence of what it means to protect those we love. And the story follows a young girl who has found a pet spider in her apartment building, but what starts as an innocent fascination quickly spirals into a visceral exploration of survival. This week we're talking about Sting. What were you both expecting going into this?

SPEAKER_01 8:59

I picked a movie that we were gonna go to and do this uh collaboration with the festival, and my expectations going in. I saw the trailer. I'm actually someone I don't really enjoy watching trailers. I like to go into a movie as blind as possible. I sometimes won't even read a synopsis. Sometimes that works out well, sometimes that doesn't work out so well. Sometimes I'm like, I wish I knew what this was because that ended up being really traumatic, and that might mess up your evening.

SPEAKER_04 9:23

Genuinely, our entire last year, Binks and I cannot win. Yeah. Even with this movie, we cannot win. Truly. We're getting wrecked.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

I did force myself to watch a trailer because I, if I'm gonna pick something, I need to know what I'm getting people into. So I watched a trailer, it's a good trailer. If you want to watch a trailer, check it out. It's on YouTube. It looked fun, and and my expectations were that it'd be a fun, campy movie. I couldn't imagine it not being campy with it being a giant spider killing people. I will say I also did see the Rotten Tomato score the week before, and it wasn't bad. It was kind of like in the middle, so that that then I was also kind of like, okay, I this can go either way. So I also had that kind of coloring my perceptions coming in, my overall expectations.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Yeah, and I know that you and I talked a little bit about it in terms of it being a lighthearted film. And so for me, I watched the trailer also, thought it was pretty good. Context is I I struggle with Campy a little bit. Sometimes, like there's a very fine line for Goofy for me. So I thought this is gonna be real ridiculous. It's a spider, you know? And I know that arachnophobia is super popular. I expected that we were gonna get a giant spider, but how effective would it look on screen? Would it be completely overly CGI'd or just a massive puppet spider trying to climb the walls and stuff? I don't know. The thing about also the year that we've had so far in horror, we've had an imaginary bear, we've had Winnie the Pooh. Like, I don't know what else we're gonna have, you know, clearly a massive spider. So I just kind of expected that I was gonna laugh a bit, but not take this movie very seriously.

SPEAKER_04 10:53

Oh, I'm right there with both of you. Honestly, I expected a campy romp through an apartment building with a goofy looking spider. Even though I shouldn't have expected goofy, because by all accounts, the graphics that are done, like the images for the poster for the film itself, all indicate to me that this is at least gonna be a good looking spider. But let me tell you this in that theater, alongside all of you, I felt so much watching this movie. I felt joy, I felt amusement, I teared up a little bit with a little bit of sadness, there was tenderness, there was a lot of what the fuckness. But the biggest feeling I had was a sensation of satisfaction because it was just one of those movies that delivers on the thing and it doesn't feel like anything is undercooked, and the cinematography felt like it was on point, the performances were super effective in getting me invested in each person, no matter how minor the role seemingly was. So I went in expecting a campy romp and I walked out feeling like, damn, what did I just get hit by?

SPEAKER_01 11:54

It was actually kind of the opposite of Campy in a lot of ways. It was a lot of the emotion and it was very genuine. It was if anything, the opposite, it was pretty restrained. It felt like a family drama at times.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Family drama. That's that's it right there. For me, I was like, man, is this an actual serious film? And maybe, maybe that's not necessarily the right way to put it because I don't want people to think like, oh, it's like very, very serious. There's there's comedy, right? It's just like a complete 180 of my expectations. At one point, I definitely, which you kind of mentioned it, Chris, I was like, yo, I came here for laughs and I'm getting a willow trauma right now. Like we I I felt like I was being sent back to last March in the thick of the the family trauma or drama really that we that we were in in terms of our episodes and the movies we were watching. Literally, yeah, no, literally. I I was not expecting it at all, and I think it was great for that because again, it gets very self-aware in the fact that it knows that this is a film about a massive spider. Okay. How do we really get people to like experience this and have a good time and not just think that we're just gonna have a massive spider like you know roaming around being silly? No, this is like a good creature feature.

SPEAKER_04 13:05

It's just so refreshing in that sense because this is as much about the human experience as it is about a fucking spider. A spider which honestly has some questionable crossover with some other properties that we're gonna discuss here in a little bit. There's so much here that could have just been so weird, and yet we have restraint, like Lou said. It's that's a perfect way to describe it.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

I did build this theater experience around it being campy. So I did have moments while we were there, I'm like, oh my god, I think I might have picked the wrong movie. I was expecting for all of us to be in for a campy spider movie, and it wasn't that. It did take me a while to kind of like come around to the movie that it actually was and accept it for that. Once I did it, I I settled into it a lot more.

SPEAKER_04 13:49

Yeah, that's really fair. I will say, maybe because I'm good with camp either way, I wasn't super disappointed that it wasn't camp, but I still had plenty of like, oh no, moments. I think I feel like this might have been the most audible I've been watching a movie in a theater. Love it.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

I saw you like sit up at one point, like your back was like up. I I don't know if you were trying to catch my attention or you were just shocked or something, but no, there were certainly some moments where I was like, oh, this is this is intense. And I can see what you're saying, Luke, because I think it's one of those constant conversations we have with horror and some of our you know friends on the show that like they come to see horror to have a good time, not to feel things every now and then. I'm of the believer that like horror should make you feel profound things, things that maybe you don't want to feel every now and then. That's just me. But this movie, what surprises me the most is that I I would dare say that it balances it so well because there's one character in particular that just really brings in the funny one-liners. And there's definitely some like good lightheartedness to it. It's the deep for me.

SPEAKER_04 14:56

I was shocked by how much depth there was in a movie about a spider fucking up an apartment building. Are you kidding me? Like this movie had no business doing that. Just like Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey 2 had no business being as good as it was.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

That's what I was also thinking. But here's here's what I'll say. Now that we're talking about, you know, just our good old sting here. All that being said, I don't necessarily know if this movie is like overtly scary, though. I think there's definitely a few jump scares. It really leans more into like the slow tension building, I think. Like obviously, if you're afraid of spiders, that's movies gonna fuck you up. I'm just gonna be real with you. No one is going to enjoy a massive spider if they have arachnophobia, obviously. But I think if it just kind of lightly creeps you out, this is a fun one to watch because they just use different elements to build up this tension and fear of what it starts off as a very small creature, and it's definitely not one to mess around with.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

I had a lot to say about this. So you feel like Sting wasn't particularly scary then. I mean Sting, the the the creature.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

The creature itself, not scary, very intimidating. I think my what I struggled with is, and maybe even a disappointment too, but towards the end, it didn't feel as scary, and maybe it's because it's supposed, you know, it's a massive spider and whatnot, but I think in general, Sting didn't necessarily scare me. I think just waiting for Sting to do things scared me.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Something that I was thinking about coming out of the movie, it's in a way a creature feature, a monster movie, and with the monster being uh the spider. And what I was thinking about was Sting as a as a character. I did want a little more from Sting. It was a bit of a mindless killer. And I was hoping that Sting, there might I was hoping that there was more character development with the spider. Obviously, I'll I that that's what I latched on to the character development for the spider, but I I did feel like there could have been a little bit more going on with with Sting. And maybe that's why you didn't feel as scared. Like it was just a mindless killing machine.

SPEAKER_04 16:48

That's really interesting. I do think perhaps it's because your spider standard's super high with that Ana Grande. Because how, with that beauty lurking on your bed and behind you, I mean, how could you expect anything else? That's true. Really high bar there. I think we gotta lower it for the rest of the spiders. It's interesting that y'all thought the spider was a mindless killer because I spent the entire movie thinking, why is this spider on some jigsaw level shit? What this spider was trapping people. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. We're gonna get into it in the spoiler zone, but there's some stuff to work with. I will agree with you though, Binks. While I don't think the spider was completely mindless, I do agree that it wasn't as scary. This is a movie that will get you if you hate spiders, but if that's not an issue for you, I dare say this is still big family movie vibes, despite it being rated R. It's rated R for gore and intensity of that, but not even so bad. There are some Muppet movies, I think, that have more gore in terms of this, in terms of like what kids can watch and not be scarred by. There's tension, there's some slow burning atmosphere, but this is definitely not something that I would be concerned about. And I cannot wait to unpack the spider of it all, because that's gonna be fucking great.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

I'm all about the spider of it all. I'm I'm about the spider of the everything, clearly.

SPEAKER_04 18:07

Yeah, which actually let's discuss the spider a little bit. We have a movie about a spider in a building in New York, and there are other spider horror movies. We have arachnophobia, we have eight-legged freaks, we have itsy bitsy, but I want to draw a different parallel here for you. Last year we did a rewind episode for Brightburn, which presents an answer to the question, what if Superman was evil? Well, imagine the question being, what if Superman was a fucking spider who crashed in New York City instead of a cornfield and then was adopted by a precocious young girl craving a pet instead of a loving married couple craving a child? Folks, this fucking spider is the last son of Krypton. And if that's not completely original, I get it because it's not completely original. However, it's also kind of different for a creature feature while still paying homage to I think what makes great classic sci-fi creature features. Like if you've seen the blob, if you've seen the thing, there's some otherworldly shit out there, and I think this is more of that, but it's done in a slightly different way, and it still feels really good.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

My jaw is dropped by that comparison because I need you to know I am looking at my notes right now, and I wrote something that I can't say out loud right now. I will say it in the spoiler zone, but it alludes to your analogy of Superman, and I am floored because I don't even think as I wrote it, I realized the bigger connection here to Brightburn.

SPEAKER_04 19:35

Wow, I cannot wait to hear what that is. I'm just gonna add a little fried shrimp emoji here so we can circle back to that shit.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

No, but I definitely agree. There's of course, there's so many spider horror films. Some that you may not even realize. Like, I I don't even think it hit me until we were doing this episode of preparing for it right now tonight, and I was like, oh yeah, eight-legged freaks, oh yeah, arachnophobia. I guess we just haven't had one in a while, or maybe not mainstream like this to this effect. And we haven't had like a good creature feature recently, it feels like, or like at least so far this year, like I mentioned, we've got an imaginary bear. Winnie the Pooh, I guess, is a creature feature. I don't know, let's not get into that. It's a slasher, you know. Like we we don't have a good old creature feature to start us off in 2024, and I I feel like this is a good one to do that. And so, really, the whole film was such a delightful surprise. And the ending to me felt like a really fun, really sweet, maybe even a little cliche though, but endearing all the same. Like it was a little bit of all the things, a little bit more on the cliche side, which I'll forgive it because ultimately at the end of the day, it's really what I was expecting to begin with, to be honest. I was expecting the whole 95% of the movie to be a cliche, so I'll take the 12% that's heavily cliche at the end. Like I'll I'll forgive it because it still was real sweet. I think it was a great conclusion to everything. We even have a couple of you know, like post-credit scenes doing the MCU of it all. So I I thought it was fun. I thought it was a good time to wrap it up.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Yeah, you know, I think bringing up the ending is interesting. I I was thinking about the movie structurally as a whole. I do think it follows a lot of this familiar beats of a horror movie. I don't think it really tries to subvert the genre in in any way. It's a movie that's familiar with what a horror movie is, and if and it hits all those familiar beats. I feel like for some people, they might not like that as much. I'm perfectly fine with a movie being tropey, as long as it's having fun with it and if it does it well, there's nothing wrong. Not everything needs to subvert genre. And I don't think this movie really tries to, other than like kind of mixing up the whole spider with the really intense family stuff that's going on. But I do think overall it is something that that that that very much knows what what tropes of are in this genre and very much hits those.

SPEAKER_04 21:51

Yeah, I agreed. And honestly, I don't know that there are many episodes where I think you and I may be more aligned because I was overall pretty sad. Satisfied by the ending of this movie, but a small bit of it was for sure an eye roll. I was like, all right, all right, guys. But even then, I'm like still smiling about it. I'm not mad about it, but like I'm a little disappointed, but I'm not mad. We're good.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Maybe we're a little traumatized by certain tropes because I I will say, Lou is so right. At the end of the day, this film doesn't need to like subvert those tropes. It doesn't have to try to be different and tell a deeper message that's so out of its realm in terms of a creature feature, in terms of, you know, this kind of horror type style. Again, I don't even want to say campy anymore because it really wasn't that. What I would say, it's like the the ending really left me with the feeling of, you know, let's take ourselves back when we were teenagers and probably watching films that we shouldn't have, to be honest. You know what I mean? Like this is the perfect R-rated horror movie that if somehow a 16-year-old, you know, stumbled upon that kind of idea, right? Where it's still the cliche beats are perfect for that family trauma, like that family movie, but it's just a little on the darker side every now and then that you just may not expect. So that's why I'm gonna forgive it the most.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah. I also feel like modern audiences are more educated about them thanks to this thing called the internet. And so now when we watch a movie, maybe back then when you watch a movie with tropey, it wouldn't so much be an issue. But nowadays we all know about it. There's TV tropes and every so many other sites, and so we're much more educated. There's podcasts talking about these things. So our audiences are much more educated. But we have to remember there isn't really any, I feel like there's nothing wrong with a movie that a genre movie.

SPEAKER_04 23:36

For sure. That's exactly why horror still deserves its day at the Academy Awards. But before we actually score it, Binks, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_02 23:46

You know, in lieu of Sean not being here, I have the honor to do the gore score tonight. But as always, I will be channeling his energy. And so here's the thing there's definitely grossness about this film. Great makeup effects, but when it comes down to it, there's decomposition of bodies, there's definitely blood and whatnot. But I really feel like he would say that this is a low to medium gore score because it just doesn't really cross that threshold of, oh, we're really sending it. The the blood isn't that much, you know. The decomposition is a quick shots for some cases. So there's not a lot of dismemberment either. So I feel like if Sean were here, he would give this a low to medium gore score, medium low. Kind of like when it's medium rare, we're gonna give it medium low. And that's really sign seal delivered by the book of Sean. And what about the animal report? Now with the animal report. I gotta tell ya. Yeah, it's fucked. Okay. It's it's not good. It's straight up a crunch wrap, supremely bad time.

SPEAKER_04 24:47

It's giving animal and animal crime, not the self-loathing. You hate to see it. Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings. Then sting from 2024, now showing in theaters as this episode releases. Was it a hack? A total joke, a waste of time, or slash, totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

So I I have this thing where sometimes I did leave the movie a little bit frustrated. I wanted to bring this up earlier. I have this this whole thing where if if a movie is maybe like there's 15% that's missing for it to be a really great movie, sometimes that that really nags at me more than if like 50% or whatever. Like sometimes it's like that. I feel like you're so close. And I do think there was there's certain things that nagged at me about this movie that maybe it shouldn't have. However, and I really did quite enjoy it, and I would say it's a slash.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

Okay, so I had a personal goal to warm up to campy and gory kind of films, you know. And and I feel some way, somehow, I have now entered that era. Maybe it's too soon to tell. But this film was so shockingly fun that I left the theater feeling like I had a full 180 perspective on the creature feature genre in in general. It's not my usual to you know, go-to, to be honest, but this was delightfully fun without it being a complete joke or a waste of time or trying too hard. There was an actual plot, characters felt pretty solid, some that I laughed at, and some that pulled the heck out of my heartstrings, but overall, a great time without like it being a masterpiece of a film either. It was just really fun. It gives you the creeps, and if you want to just put a good scary flick on, like it'll do the job. Spiders, already not a good time, generally, except for Arania Grande, obviously. And and yes, look, does it have its cliche flaws? Certainly. In this case, the positives are just as large as Sting is. So I'm gonna give this one a slash.

SPEAKER_04 26:36

Binx, you said it. It's like you reached into my soul, grabbed the feelings I have about this movie, and just laid it all on the table. This movie is just fun. And even if it was just a spider fucking things up in an apartment building, I would have been happy. I would have been satisfied. I didn't need anything more than that, but it dared to do more. It dared to serve one of my favorite quotes: oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. And it also dared to drive home that sometimes what really stings is your feelings. This is a great time in the theater. It's so much fun. I had so much fun with all of you. We're just cutting up talking shit the whole movie. It's the kind of movie that cultivates that experience versus just wanting to talk shit at the movie or at the movie's expense. Honestly, this is such a solid entry in the horror genre for theater goers. And I'm so stoked, Lou, Lou, that you're here for with us for this episode and that you invited us because this is absolutely a slash. And with that, Sting from 2024 has earned a universal slash. Now, you can find this in theaters right now if you're listening to this episode as the film comes out on April 12th, or you can check the link in our show notes to see where you can find it post its theatrical run. But either way, check it out, and then join us in the second half so we can dive into these spoilers together. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

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SPEAKER_04 29:15

Now we have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, let's go through those kills.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

We have some deaths here. We've got five, technically six, if we want to count a resuscitation factor there. And then we've got three major non-human kills. And quite frankly, really it should be a fuck ton more with how many animals were killed. And don't even get me started with the roaches. So many roaches were killed. Which by the way, I probably should have prefaced. If you're afraid of roaches, it's gonna be fast, but they're there.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

But if you hate roaches, you're gonna love this movie because so many of them die.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

Yes, very important. Now, if you hate roaches, definitely some satisfaction there. Absolutely agree. Now, in terms of kills, though, so like ranging in terms of types of kills, we've got bursting faces, kind of, we've got rotten corpses and just like real disgusting acid being thrown around, and it it was a lot. A body being ripped kind of in half or eaten in half, it was a lot. But let's get into it. What were your favorite kills?

SPEAKER_01 30:15

For me personally, I love a bit of body horror. So the whole death of Maria, the Hispanic neighbor, who you could tell she's Hispanic because the first scene she's in, she just goes, Cucaracha, you know, which for all you Spanish-speaking folks means cockroach in Spanish. But yeah, this movie doesn't like a single woman over a certain age, because this woman was clearly a single woman, a little bit more advanced in age, and they were quite cruel with her death. But I enjoyed it. The basics of it, of the spider basically eating her from the inside out, for me was so dope. I love that. It goes back to a bit of like that Cronenberg sort of body hard that really appeals to me, as I said before, with the thing. So that was really cool. For me, that was that was the best death. I was expecting it too. I had expectations. Like I said before, I normally go in as blind as possible for this one through seeing the trailer and researching images from all my social media posts. There was one with this Hispanic woman with the spider in her and entering the mouth. Yeah, I that's online. I saw that, so I was really looking forward to that one. And for me, it lived up to the height.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

Ooh, nice. Man, I'm kind of glad that I didn't look it up because that really shocked me. And quite frankly, that kill right there made me think about how, yeah, people being afraid of spiders, I get it. Because if a spider climbed into my mouth and was like eating me from the inside, I'd be freaking the fuck out, obviously. And I feel like the buildup of that kill was great because at that point Sting was relatively small, so it went from like killing a parrot to killing a whole ass person. The zero to five thousand factor. She was not messing around. But here's what I love about it though.

SPEAKER_04 31:53

Sting followed the serial killer pipeline where you start out killing animals and then you escalate to humans. Whoa. This bitch is a professional. Truly a pro. Truly. It's honestly really, really impressive. I would say that Maria was also my favorite because that was the kill that made me feel like she was on some jigsaw shit. Literally creating a situation in which this woman falls against a bathtub and then paralyzes herself. We know that she would have been paralyzed no matter what, with like the bite or the venom from the spider. But that was super thorough. And it was almost like, wow, look what you made me do to you, or look what you did to yourself laying here on the floor. Let me just finish the job, right? But what really did it for me in that scene was the tension of what's gonna happen to Bonnie? I was so relieved that Bonnie got put out of the door. What a good dog she was. But the tension there just really, really messed me up. I will say, as a backup, Gunter, good riddance, you're done.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

That's it. You're done. That was fantastic. But to your point earlier, Lou, clearly this film does not like single women of a certain age because she was another one that just got kicked to the can. She was a goner. And can I admit right now, I thought she died a little earlier than she actually died. So I chose the most horrific time to run to the bathroom because when she got pulled into that vent, I was like, okay, major killed, now's the perfect time to run. Clearly, it wasn't because I missed a whole shit show right after that. So a little bit unfortunate. But I did come back in time to see the real kill, her like falling to her death, aside from obviously being webbed and poisoned like hell.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Going back to the Maria death, what I was also really cool about it that Chris said that I totally forgot was there was a bit of a fake out because there was a section there where you thought it was going to be the dog. And so it did add that tension to that whole sequence. And of course, like you know, if it's a manipulative tactic on moviegoers to just threaten the dog. And so obviously, everyone's afraid for the well-being of the dog. But no, it ended up being Maria. So that was a really great fake out. And I don't know if we're still coming with the kill list and everything, but the dog did survive, just for the record.

SPEAKER_02 34:03

Yes. Thank no, we needed to make that very important amendment to the animal report. This is our public service statement. The the dog does live. And this is actually a shout out to my mother because when we left the theater, my mom was like, who by the way went to this event, was awesome, but she was like, Oh man, Bianca, I'm so sad that the dog died. And I was like, Mom, the dog lived. She's like, No, Bianca, the dog died. I was like, No, mom, the dog lived. It's literally barking in the web. And that was because my mother clearly apparently does not believe in post-credit scenes. So the moments that that movie ended, and quotations, she dipped right out, and I was like, Well, you missed several really fun and credit scenes.

SPEAKER_04 34:48

Not your mom pulling Orion. Orion, she pulled Orion, I know. 100% the dog needed to live. If that dog died, hack. Hack the movie, throw the whole thing away. Don't care how great it was, fuck it if that dog dies. And the parrot. Can we give some justice to the parrot? That parrot got filled like a blender. Dude, absolutely. And I think I I mentioned this last night after the movie, but it reminded me of mid-sumar when you see these like people strung up and just kind of dissected. That's what the fucking Muppet cat looked like.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

It was gnarly. It was really gnarly. That particular death with the parrot. I will say, talking to audience members afterwards, that I didn't realize so many people had such strong feelings about cats because so many people were indifferent or they were like, yeah, whatever, the cat died. For me, I thought that was that was traumatic. I I liked I like the cat. I like cats. I like dogs too. I'm not, I don't think it is an either-or situation for certain people. To me, they're all animals and they're they're beautiful animals and they're they're different in special ways. So yeah, I was I was pretty bummed out about that. But but you know, it's a good thing the dog survived because uh now I guess to be the the Nick Fury of this uh cinematic universe, you know, just appearing in in post-credit scenes there to you know to recruit this team of creatures for the eventual you know team up movie of all the giant animals. Oh, cocaine bear. I want cocaine bear in the cinematic universe.

SPEAKER_02 36:07

That would be incredible. That Nick Fury comparison is elite because you're so right, especially in an in-credit scene. It was barking up a store. I'm like, let's do this. Avengers assemble. Love it. I'm here for it.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

Oh, Bambi can be in it too.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

Exactly. Oh god.

SPEAKER_04 36:23

Here's what I'm saying, though. It's Pune verse monsters assemble. So I feel like we just really have an easy window here to make this happen.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

We can really assemble it hardcore. I'm here for it. But you know who won't make the cut? I feel like, and it's unfortunate because I kind of really liked his character was Frank, the exterminator. He was hilarious, dude. Yeah, he was too funny because I get it. Although I was a little annoyed with him at the end when he threw the mothball stuff like on him instead of like, I get it, protect yourself.

SPEAKER_04 36:54

But sir, I had full faith in Frank, and I am so upset that he survived the opening just to die. And there are two things, maybe actually three small things that I'm not crazy about in this movie, but they're very, very minor. But he is not a minor one. I was really upset that he died. I really wanted him to persevere. And when he grabbed the mothball water, I had really hoped that he was immediately going to just like put it in some kind of contraption that exterminators use to like maybe fog the area, like to basically make more out of the little bit of water that they had. So I thought it was gonna be something innovative, and when it wasn't the case, I was like, wow, y'all really just ruined this whole character.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

So I I I think I have a bit of a difference of opinion when it comes to the Frank character. I think I said before that I have certain nits to pick, and it's not so much the character. Uh, I think the performer that the name is is blanking on me, but I've seen them in other things and they're they're very funny. But it's more so that I I felt like that character was kind of like in his own movie. I think we're talking before about this movie being not so camp. I think he might have thought he was in a horror comedy. And I think his performance for me, there was a bit of dissonance with the way the rest of the actors were performing. They were more naturalistic in their performance, and I think he was kind of like doing his own thing. Some of his lines felt maybe improv to me. There was nothing wrong with all that. It was great. It just there was a little bit of dissonance with me, and that didn't quite make sense for this particular movie.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

Yeah, I can see that because again, when you're expecting camp and like cliche horror, like that kind of level of humor, and you start off with him in the film, I'm like, okay, yeah, this is what I signed up for. And then you get the seriousness of these characters, the depth that's behind them. You know, we see that this, you know, woman suffers from Alzheimer's and and whatnot. Like, it's like, oh wow, what is this shift? You know what I mean? Like it's so different than what I'm expecting when we started off with this kind of funny jokester, and then he comes back around again. So I liked that he definitely brings a bit of this lightheartedness to it. But to see him die in the way that he did, I I feel like it matched his energy in particular because he was just a goofy guy from the start and he got a goofy ending to him, right?

SPEAKER_04 39:08

I mean, he had an explosive personality, so the explosion of his blood, I guess I can see the symmetry there, but it still feels like the disrespect in this household. That man was just trying to be good at his job, carrying on his father's business, and he deserved better. But let me tell you this. I'm gonna shift away here a little bit from the kills. I need to talk about how gorgeous Sting was. From the scale of a small little spider to this gigantic creature that we end up getting, even the close-ups that we get on it, they really had an opportunity to fuck this whole thing up, and they didn't. I absolutely loved the creature design of Sting. It was simple, it was elegant, it was black, it was red, easy win for me.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

Yeah, I feel like overall this film visually is pretty stellar. I and that's another part that I didn't expect. I actually read a review of this guy that I follow, he got an early screening also, and he had read a review or he wrote a review that said that it was like, you know, turning on the lights, like he had a hard time seeing everything. And I truly disagree. I thought the the film was great in terms of lighting. And although, yes, there's a lot of dark spaces, and a lot of the times it's in dark rooms, that needs to happen to build up this tension of sting, right? Like you need to feel intimidated of what's happening in the dark. The I guess how big is Sting, right? Can only be conveyed when you see its shadow and in these dark spaces.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

I'm so glad that you brought that up because I love the production design, I love the lighting. It all very much gave it a sort of gothic feel. That's the word I was thinking of coming out of it. It was gloomy where the light was coming from was really fascinating at times. Like there was that one scene where it was like coming from the container, the cage, and that's all the light was coming from, and where the light kind of passed. I mean, I'm a little bit concerned about this family living in this place. This place seems horrifying before the spider shows up. So, like, and this is the thing sometimes with these movies. Like, uh, we think we're talking before about evil dead rise, and there are some similarities between this movie and that. But like the fact that a family chooses to live in this sort of environment is concerning. They should consider another place to live, perhaps, because yeah, it's this sort of gothic, frightening. Like I said, even before the spider shows up, it's of concern.

SPEAKER_04 41:26

Sometimes people can't choose that though, you know? Sometimes it'd just be real difficult.

SPEAKER_02 41:31

It'd be real tough. And just in general, like if you just I guess can afford a spot and it just happens to have vents the size of human body generic width, I guess, that's fine. I've never seen a vent that I can comfortably chill in, but I suppose that's normal, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 41:48

We can make one. No, I'm good. Thank you though. You talk about the vents and we talk about how gloomy everything looks, and I actually am reminded of what was my favorite scene in the whole movie. It was really, really tough between the opening scene and this one, but when we get everything popping off in this apartment, it feels claustrophobic. We have Ethan trying to fix the TV, he gets shocked somehow by an HDMI cable. That's a little specific and weird, but it's cool. He has this violent outburst, and then all of a sudden it's Ethan and Heather hashing this out about their relationship, and she is having this like re-triggering experience of probably her past relationship. And then all of a sudden, this spider arrives and fucks him up. It got Ethan, it got her, and little Charlotte is in the room with Bonnie, with Liam, completely oblivious. I absolutely loved seeing how easily she's able to shift between both spaces, but it's just completely unaware while this whole spider is dragging this whole man out of that room.

SPEAKER_02 42:54

I have never been more upset with myself going to the bathroom than this entire moment right now. It's fine. I'm gonna watch this movie again, I'm sure. Like my favorite scene is actually with Ethan and Charlotte, because even in her room, I feel like it just speaks so much to her as a character. And so in that scene, we're seeing this relationship right between the two of them, having an endearing conversation. This particular character should look like, you know, that it should have eyes so that it seems a little bit more, you know, human and how it relates to her real father. So it's established that Ethan, of course, is her stepdad. He gave stepdad energy a bit. And then again, in this cozy room that's like clearly her safe space, he goes in there to tuck her in goodnight. And I have never seen a 12 year old lay an adult flat on their ass with a clap back of a lifetime to basically say, if you don't like my ideas, just tell me, instead of pretending to use them. Like that kind of that something along those lines. It was so mature for her age that. That's a little girl who's already known disappointment in her life. Who's known disappointment? Who's like had to really grow up for her age. And for me, what it really said was don't treat her like an adult when it's convenient to you. Because it's established prior to that, like that she's inspired this story. Clearly is what's giving him the books. But then when it comes down to it, you don't want to take her advice on other things. Okay, sir. I liked you until I didn't.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

Talking about favorite scenes, I definitely agree that the big confrontation scene was definitely spoke to me a lot. I also enjoyed the Maria kill, but I already spoke enough about that. I thought that was a really fascinating sequence. But as far as the human drama side of it, there was this one particular scene that the the one we're talking about right now, where everything that hasn't been said gets said. And these two and all their issues, and it finally what was subtextual becomes textual. And they very much tell each other how they feel, and everything gets put on the table. When I rewatch this movie, I want to see where the scene kind of like falls. I'm really fascinated. Like what was it's it felt somewhere in the middle, and it there was a definitely like a shift in the movie once this movie, once that that scene happened, because it definitely changed the trajectory of the care of the characters in so many different ways. I definitely that scene spoke to me. I also want to say, talking about the theater experience, that scene, it had the best moment of the entire theater. When they said the insult, I think I don't remember how exactly how it was, but I think I think Binks just just said it. Um the entire theater went, ooh. It was like it was like burn.

SPEAKER_04 45:29

Burn. I was like, oh shit. In my head, I was like, Bet you won't hit him though.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

Oh god. No, but it's true. I was like, oh shit, she went for it. But you know what? Talking again about like the the these characters and how that like really pivots. Another big scene that I think is important that just really speaks to like the quality of the characters overall is the big show down at the end when this grown-ass man decides to be a 12-year-old child himself and basically projects his own frustrations onto Charlotte by calling out the fact that her dad lives down the street, like, yeah, buddy, but she's 12 years old. Don't be an asshole, right?

SPEAKER_04 46:08

Yeah, what business is it of yours? The entire time I'm just thinking, oh my god, what audacity you have. And it's so interesting to look at his character because he's someone that you root for. He's not difficult to love by any means. He seems to be very cognizant of what she thinks of him. It sounds like he's really shown up for her. He wants to be her dad, even if he can't be her biological father. And there's a deep level of care there. And you can see a little bit of like the insecurity there, maybe with Heather. Heather, who's already been left by someone, Heather who's already had to, you know, build her life with Charlotte before Ethan came into the picture. So in her mind, she's allowing him and holding space in her heart for him to stay and to be the man that she's fallen in love with. But in the back of her mind, she also knows he could just fucking do this, and I'm not gonna tolerate it, I'm not gonna put myself through that again. So I love that. But when you have this moment where she says, if it was Liam's teeth, they'd already be fixed. And then you see how this hits him and how it hurts him, and maybe it's a little bit of projection, maybe it's not them being completely aligned. But this is a movie in which there aren't really any bad people except for Gunther. Like Gunther just fucking sucks. But she's also probably just been through some shit, and she's probably really fucking jaded, and she's really, you know, built herself up to be the villain. It's it's tough.

SPEAKER_02 47:36

I want to advocate for Gunther, just a smidge, okay? Just a smidge. Because here's the thing we always have to have at least one character that we're just like can't wait till they get it. And Gunther's obviously that person. However, what I find fascinating about her is that she's written in a way where, like, if you really take a moment, she's completely jaded because look at her sister. This is someone who has a routine, a life built around their sister, who is obviously going through dementia, potentially Alzheimer's. It's not extremely stated, but we can assume, and obviously loves her sister. They spend time together. Yeah, she makes jokes here and there. She's just very like jaded and hurt, I'm sure, and like the walls are up and can be an asshole and a bitch about a lot of things. I can see the softness in her, I can see the heart there. And I think it's just that like bitterness that that portrays itself as someone who's just gonna be a bitch all the time. But even in that moment when she's calling out Ethan and being like, You're probably just gonna leave, like the rest of it. Essentially, she's just saying the things that Heather's probably internalizing. That's all that is.

SPEAKER_04 48:47

And look at the fact that there are no men or partners or spouses in this dynamic with them. He is the only one. He's the one who stayed, he's the one who's here. So that could be maybe Helga and Gunther had relationships and those gentlemen passed away. Maybe they left. You do you don't fucking know. There is no context there. But the other thing about this, and looking at her as a character is really interesting because at the end of the day, you still have some level of choice whether or not you're gonna be a complete asshole. You know, if it was just the jadedness of how she is with Ethan, that's one thing, especially because it sounds like she's coming from a place of like a fucked up level of care, which like, let me just expedite this, you can keep it pushing. But she's also not really chill with Frank. It's just one of those situations where I'm like, dude, you kind of suck. And I get it, like you've been through some things that have shaped you into who you are, but you're still in this predicament and it's not great, and I'm glad you went. But looking at the characters overall, I think it's one of those really interesting things because you have Ethan, you have Heather, you have their dynamic together, and I think it's really fascinating that we finally don't have a shitty dad.

SPEAKER_02 50:01

When it could have so easily been written that way.

SPEAKER_04 50:04

We have the horror movie Shitty Dads all over the place, and he is the dad who stepped up.

SPEAKER_01 50:10

I particularly liked them showing them spending time together. I'm not sure that's the thing you see a lot in movies of the parents spending time with their kids and specifically sharing in their interest. And I thought that was so cool how they had something, and oh, there was that really sweet line about how all the things that she's interested in or whatever are because of or because of him. She's kind of mimicking him and taking on those same interests, and I thought that was really sweet and cool. I wanted to add something real quick. So, another reason why I picked this movie, I am a massive House of the Dragon fan in general of the Game of Thrones universe, and there was a character in the first season named Harwin Breakbones. Harwin Strong, but it's a name's Harwin Breakbones. And I remember when the show came out that people went crazy because they were incredibly attracted to this man. And I saw him in this trailer. It's Ryan Korr who plays Ethan, and I was like, wow, he wasn't in the season that much, and I just remember wanting more of him, and I think a lot of fans felt that way too. I was really excited to see more of him. I thought he had a really great presence. I love this character. I hope to see him in more, quite frankly. I want to see him in bigger and better roles.

SPEAKER_04 51:10

I loved him in this movie. He was fantastic. I can say though, I do wish he would have died. And I also know that I am also happy that he lived. So this is a very conflicting message that I feel in my heart. But when he didn't die, it completely removed the bite from this movie. I'm like, this is why this movie is called Sting. It just temporarily, it's a fleeting sting, and then everything's actually okay. It's fine. Gutner's the only one who actually suffers fucking consequence in here, and Frank and the other fucking bug guy and Maria, and that's it. That baby got snatched and not killed. I'm like, all right, I guess we're really not in the year of fuck them kids. For the baby to then be relocated next to Heather very conveniently, Ethan is separated. It just felt like somebody in that family had to die for the stakes to feel like they were real, and that didn't happen. Good for them. Like they've been through some shit, but I don't know, man. It's I'm a little conflicted about it.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

I was thinking about as well. There was another very similar horror movie that I was drawing a lot of comparisons to, and what that movie did instead was just kind of kill characters, just like ran it felt random. And as deaf often is, it's random. And so there was that I did feel at a certain point in this movie like the family is safe. I felt very confident that they were all gonna make it through. And I did wish that there was something to kind of throw us off. I thought maybe the Heather might die, and then like I thought that would make sense, and then he would step up as a step as a stepfather full time. I did feel at a certain point like the movie was gonna play it safe and the family was all gonna make it through to the end. And I kind of wish it was just a little bit more punk about it.

SPEAKER_02 52:43

Man, that's so interesting. I don't know if I feel the same though. I feel like what it comes down to is I'm such a champion of for Charlotte. I think she's just a what a little badass she is, you know. Her family making it out is such a win for her because she's just the true hero of it all, much like her character in the comics, right? In this story that that she helped create, it's really her, and we can see that from the beginning. Even from the split second where she's reading the comic and it talks about the dad reviving. I'm like, oh, that's coming back. How? I'm not sure, but that's coming back.

SPEAKER_04 53:17

But here's the thing. I feel like maybe if I felt like I don't want to say more earned, I'd feel differently. But it's the fact that he fully died and came back to life. It was the spider in an apartment building version of when Leia dies in Star Wars, floats out in space, and uses the force to come back and isn't just in a coma and everything's fine. That's what it was. It's cool. Glad we're having a good time. I'm not that mad about it. It's not shaping my feelings about it. But I'm like, maybe just don't die. Maybe just get really injured and cling to life. I don't know. Okay, that's fair. Yeah, it's just it was a bit much. But Binks, earlier when I was talking about the fact that our central character, Sting, is the last son of Krypton, you mentioned you had some notes. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

Yes. Okay, let me quickly sift through. I'm gonna show the camera real quick. Don't mind all the other crazy notes, but I have here Mothballs Kryptonite, because that's really what it came down to. Mothballs being the kryptonite, in which my mother was like, you know, Role. This is my stepdad, who also was at the event. It was such a I loved having both of them there. My stepdad is like a massive MacGyver person. That's my mom's nickname for him, because he knows all these weird things. And she was like, Rolly would have known to use mothballs. And I was like, there we go, mom. Roley's the champion of this movie. He should have should have been casted. He would have been able to know that that was the kryptonite from the moment that it started.

SPEAKER_01 54:47

I'm the total opposite. I'm like, I'm a big picture thinker. I'll get big ideas, but when it comes to little details, I need people to help me out. I'm just useless. It's like I do crazy things in my day-to-day life, but I can barely tie my shoes. I can't barely put one foot in front of the other. That's me. Thanks. I need to ask you about the Lord of the Rings of it all.

SPEAKER_02 55:05

Oh my god. Okay. Because when she's looking at the books, and then all of a sudden I see the Hobbit, I was like, holy shit. No way. This is it. This is why it's called Sting. How did this not even occur to me? And of course, she got the inspiration from Sting, and I literally wrote, let me see, another note here. I said, naming it Sting from the Hobbit is so my shit. Because it is that alone should have already given the movie a slash on my part.

SPEAKER_01 55:35

But should the spider have been She Lob? I was a little bit kind of like she she's like, all right, I'm gonna come up with a name of the spider, looks at the Lord of the Rings books, and like her first thought it's Sting. Like, I I don't really understand how she arrived there, other than obviously spiders Sting, but I would if I were to see a Lord of the Rings book, I'd be like, okay, you're She Lob.

SPEAKER_02 55:50

Okay, and I agree, but then could you imagine if she was like going at the vent just screaming, Sheila, Sheila? I just I think I would have lost it laughing. Although way more intimidating and way more like that's fact. That's literal fact.

SPEAKER_04 56:07

Absolutely hilarious. For as inspired a choice as Sting was to you know source that from some good literature on the shelf. Can we just also acknowledge that clearly this must be a result of Charlotte's great bloodline? Because Helga is a fucking queen, even with dementia, she's absolutely hilarious. The sweet little baby angel.

SPEAKER_02 56:29

I need you to know that the moment that I saw the papers saying my name is Helga, I was like, oh no, no, he didn't. He didn't do this. No way. And then I was like, Oh, this is right in the jugular. Damn it. I was here for a good time. Don't do this to me. So yeah, it was very emotional, very cute. Cute in the sense of like, she's got a little bit of a comedy in her. You know, she's like she's a little jokes to herself, she's got personality, which she just turns around and she's like, Shh, you know, like, shut your ass up, sting, or whatever the hell is making that noise. I loved it.

SPEAKER_04 57:05

Yeah, no, it's so good. And there's the moment where Heather is brushing her hair and they're having this really sweet moment, and then at the end of it, she's like, You should meet my daughter. Tell me how I was actually crying in the theater. And Allie was right next to me, and I was like, I gotta play it so cool right now. She wouldn't have given a shit if I was crying, but I was still like, I gotta keep it together. This is a public place. Why am I crying?

SPEAKER_02 57:29

Yeah, no, my mom is in the theater, not sitting next to me, but I'm like, oh, my mom visited my grandma earlier that day, and I was like, hmm, well, hope she's okay. Like, yikes. But I but I like it though. I like that this is where it intros into damn, this is like a serious film. Like, there's depth to not only her, but to Heather as well, as a caretaker. We've got a mom that's like, you know, had to raise a 12-year-old and was abandoned by shitty ex-husband and then taking care of her mom. Her aunt's a little bit of a bitch, you know, like Heather really is just juggling it all. And I and I have such mad respect for her that I'm glad that even though we don't see too much of her in general in the film, she still has her moments to shine and have depth. So, shout out to that kind of screenwriting and character development because it just goes to show you that you don't need a lot of dialogue to really like build up a character and make you care for them.

SPEAKER_01 58:28

Let me tell you, I've had I had a whole emotional reaction at the end of well, um still the the weekend for us, but at the end of this two-day screening. So the night before this was the opening night of the My Film Festival when I got invited to go to the opening night film, and it was this upcoming movie called Thelma, and it's about June Squibb, who's like 90 plus years old, and it's basically like if if you like old people and you like Mission Impossible, that you'll enjoy this movie. You may think those two things don't go together, but they do in this movie. It was that movie that I experienced, and I I left that movie really wanting to like hug my grandmother. Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away recently, and so she's been really like going through it. And then I saw this movie again, and then there was Helga, and I was just like, oh my god. Like, I I I I'm gonna give my my grandma the biggest hug in the world when I see her, and she deserves it.

SPEAKER_03 59:14

Oof, that'll do it. So I thought it was so delicate, so and so like a delicate way to approach that kind of topic in such subtle ways, too.

SPEAKER_02 59:23

And and I mean, in this podcast, we have special hearts for our grandparents, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 59:28

So it was especially our grandmothers. So I I feel you on that one.

SPEAKER_04 59:31

Absolutely. And you know what? I think victimizing me in such a personal way could have easily been the worst part of this movie, but it just did it so damn well that I was like, nah, respect. We're good. Let me tell you what the worst part of the movie is for me, though. I know it talks about like being upset that Frank dies, I know it talks about the eye roll moment. Neither of those things are that bad in comparison. But for me, it's a small little nitpick. And again, this I think speaks to how good the film actually is. Why the fuck is that baby so conveniently bundled up with his mom? So she gets snatched, Ethan gets snatched, they're put on separate locations, but this baby's just in the trash with his mom? Like, what the fuck? These people are all scattered to the high winds. Why is Sting suddenly giving a fuck about where this baby goes?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:16

Because maybe Sting Oh, wait, I was gonna make a joke, but now I actually have an actual thought. It's established that Sting has its own babies. She's got laying her eggs at the end. So maybe it's that that motherly instinct that's like the baby should probably stick around with its mom. I've got my own babies.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:35

No, I'm gonna fuck you up, but I'm not gonna separate you. Exactly. Yeah, what a kind of benevolent god. It's she's a girl's girl.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:42

Oh, she's a girl's girl. She's a great segue to my worst part though, because in terms of the puppeteering at the end of this movie, that that's that's the small nitpick, but it's a little bit of a of a nitpick that I think is warranted. Because here's the thing again, I I love how Sting is really effective throughout the film. Never thought that the CGI or or any of that was like really cheap at all personally. I I was like lightly intimidated by Sting. I wasn't entirely scared of Sting, but I thought it was done really effectively. But it was the very end when of course Sting is massive. So I'm curious as to how that's gonna be portrayed. And Sting is in the vent, and it's so clear that it's a puppet, and it's doing the same mannerisms when it's supposed to be crawling through the vent. Oh, it was just so awkward, and it really took me out of it. It really did. It's unfortunate.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:36

So we're talking about worst parts of the movie. I said I have some nitpicks, I didn't mention this before, but there were a couple for me like moments of clunky dialogue that sort of made me roll my eyes. It was this one particular scene. People don't do this. When you want to establish that a couple loves each other, they don't you don't have to have them just be like, say, I love you so much, you know that. It was a bit on the nose. I think there's other ways that you can demonstrate that a character loves each other, including, you know, by by their actions, you can do that as well. So there were a couple moments of clunky dialogue that sort of for me I was kind of tuned into, and I wish I wasn't. It's just, you know, I'm a crazy person, that's the way my brain works. But for me, it was just a couple moments of of awkward dialogue that took me out out of the moment. That's completely fair.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:20

And I think I remember the moment that you're referring to when it's talking about like the love, and it's like an early conversation between Ethan and Heather, where I was like, all right. But I'll tell you what, as clunky as it was, it's not stopping me from rewatching it. I'm so glad I got to go to the earliest reading of it. I can't wait to actually go see it again in theaters if possible. And then again, when it hit streaming, I am actually really looking forward to this, and it's one of the few creature pie it's one of the few creature features that I can see myself repeating several times.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:50

I can see myself re-watching it too. I don't think it's like the typical rewatchable movie as far as like if I watch it again, I'm gonna find new things. I don't think there's new things to really find uh here, but I definitely think that it's it's enjoyable enough that like if I'm bored one night and I and I it happened to be in the mood for a giant killer spider movie, like I'll put it in and I'll re and I'll relive the experience of watching this movie for sure. I actually also, for me, we obviously experienced it at a theater. I'm actually really curious how it is, let's say to like watch it at home. I feel like it might be a little bit of a different movie. Maybe I'll tune into different things if I were to watch it within that environment. So I'm definitely looking forward to re-watching it as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:26

Here's how I definitely plan to re-watch this film because, like I mentioned earlier, chose the wrong time to go to the bathroom, and I'm so pissed about it. But I'm going to be re-watching Charlotte's Webb before I see this. It's necessary. We've got our main character named Charlotte. It's got to be done. Somehow, I don't know why this thought also came to me. I also want to re-watch Babe because why not? I want to re-watch Babe. I want to rewatch Charlotte's Webb, and then I want to watch Sting. It's gonna be like a whole animal vibe, whole spider, you know, character vibe going on. Here for it.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:58

My biggest disappointment tonight is that we got this far into the episode before talking about Charlotte's Webb.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:03

Okay, so obviously it's on the nose. The character is named Charlotte, right? Um, I I it they said in the trailer, so I I knew that going in, and it didn't bother me, but like, did no one in the movie ever stop and be like, hey, you're a girl named Charlotte who has a spider. Have you ever heard of Charlotte's Webb? Not a single character. So then that begs the question. Does Charlotte Charlotte's Webb exist in the univer in the sting cinematic universe?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:27

You know what it could have done? They could have made her have an internet blog called Charlotte's Web.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:32

Oh, that would have if the comic was named Charlotte's Web, I think I would have really exploded.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:38

Mm-hmm. Galaxy Brain. I don't know if it exists within it. I'm gonna say no. I'm gonna say no. How unfortunate. Well, maybe if she had actually read Charlotte's Web and it did exist, maybe she could have saved herself the trouble.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:53

Or she still probably would have been about it, truthfully. She was like finding the most insane things about Sting so cool. And I was like, girl, live your best quirky life, I guess. But if that if that first of all, if my pet spider was killing these roaches at such a velocity, I'd be like, no, fuck this spider, it's gotta go. Something something ain't right.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:13

Okay, if we ever get to interview the director for any reason, this is the question we're asking.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:18

I just want to say that perhaps the most horrifying thing about this movie is that it exists within an alternate universe without Charlotte's Webb. That is perhaps the main takeaway.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:28

How are we supposed to live now? I don't know. I feel a little different, and hopefully you do too. But for now, there you have it, folks. Sting has earned a universal slash. Now we want to know what you think. Would you foster a spider? Do you think Charlotte's Webb exists in the Sting cinematic universe? Let us know. You can join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free over in our Discord. You can click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:53

And if you've enjoyed listening to this episode, get stung and consider becoming one of our patrons. Visit patreon.com slash. Hacker slash to enjoy more of the show with early access, extended episodes, bonus content, and live shows.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:05

And hey, if you liked me, if I did it totally ruin your experience of listening to this podcast, come check us out as well. We're on Instagram at Miami Moviegoers. We're on meetup for the locals if you want to look us up there. By the time this episode comes out, I'm gonna try to have us up on Letterboxd as well. It's gonna be at Miami Moviegoers there too. I'm also working on a website. We're very early on in our in our in our timeline, so I'm still building things up. Yeah, check us out at Miami MovieGoers.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:31

Oh, thank you so much for being here, Lou. We just absolutely loved having you. Well, we'll see you next time, folks. And remember, you don't know how lucky you are. Go on, eat it.