Stephen King Offers Praise For Skin-Crawling Horror Movie With 96% RT Score

Stephen King offers praise for Infested, a new skin-crawling horror movie with a near-perfect 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics. Directed by Sébastien Vaniček in his feature debut, with a script he co-wrote with Florent Bernard, the French-language horror film (originally titled Vermines) follows the residents of an apartment building as they battle against an army of deadly, rapidly reproducing spiders. The cast includes Théo Christine (Suprêmes), Finnegan Oldfield (Final Cut), Jérôme Niel (Smoking Causes Coughing), Sofia Lesaffre (Les Misérables), and Lisa Nyarko.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, King shared a glowing review for Infested, calling it “scary, gross” and “well made.” Read his full post below:

King’s full post reads, “INFESTED (Shudder): Spiders, some as big as puppies, overrun a French apartment building. Scary, gross, well made. (French, with English subtitles).”

Why Infested Reviews Are So Positive

It’s An Effective Creature Feature With Well-Developed Characters

King isn’t the only one praising the new spider-centric horror film, as Infested‘s reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Critics are calling it a compelling creature feature that not only delivers skin-crawling thrills, but also captivates audiences with its sleek presentation and thought-provoking elements, inviting them into its intricately woven web full of suspense and intrigue. A few of the reviews also praise how well the human characters are developed, which makes for a compelling human narrative at its core.

Due to the overwhelmingly positive reception from critics, Infested has a near-perfect 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes with 47 reviews tallied. On the review-aggregation site, the film’s Critics Consensus calls it “a chillingly effective creature feature with more on its mind than simple creepy-crawlies” that “draws viewers into its web with stylish efficiency.” The site’s users also consider it to be an effective creature feature, with an 89% audience score, albeit on fewer than 50 ratings.

For those looking for similar creature features, Infested comes at a time when the spider-centric horror film is seeing a bit of a resurgence with Sting and other titles. Released in theaters on April 12, Sting follows a 12-year-old girl whose pet spider rapidly transforms into a giant flesh-eating monster. Sting‘s reviews have been similarly positive, praising it as an effective creature feature, though it may not linger in the memory for as long as Infested. Nevertheless, the spider-centric horror film is alive and well, and King and critics are loving it.

What Else Has Stephen King Recently Recommended?

Baby Reindeer, Civil War & More

On Twitter/X, King frequently recommends and reviews films and TV shows, many of which are horror, though some also fall outside his preferred genre. Around the same time he offered praise for Infested, King wrote a lengthy review of Baby Reindeer, calling it “one of the best things [he’s] ever seen.” Though Netflix’s latest hit series may not be categorized as horror, it certainly contains elements of a psychological thriller.

Another one of King’s recent recommendations is Alex Garland’s Civil War, which is also not technically horror, though it certainly depicts a horrifying vision of what a modern civil war would look like in the United States. Shortly before its release in theaters, King shared a glowing Civil War review, calling it a “fantastic movie” with “terrific pacing” and “all muscle and no fat.” Considering Civil War was designed to be divisive and unsettling, it has received slightly mixed, but still strong reviews, achieving an 81% score on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics.

On X, King has shared positive reviews for a few recent TV shows – Netflix’s The Tourist and Apple TV’s Constellation. In his review of The Tourist, King called the first episode “flat-out terrific, exciting, suspenseful” and “mysterious.” In his Constellation review, King called the first two episodes “just about perfect–nail-biting and believable,” though he questioned “whether or not it can stick the landing.”

For those interested in his recent horror recommendations, King “loved” Night Swim, even though the film was eviscerated by critics, resulting in an abysmal 22% score on Rotten Tomatoes. For a Blumhouse horror movie, its box office was also deemed a disappointment. In his Night Swim review, King said it was “like a lost, low-budget Steven Spielberg film from Spielberg’s early period, after DUEL but before JAWS.”

In September 2023, King sang the praises of the sci-fi horror film No One Will Save You, calling it “brilliant, daring, involving, scary” and “truly unique.“ In his No One Will Save You review, King said one would “have to go back over 60 years, to a TWILIGHT ZONE episode called ‘The Invaders,’ to find anything remotely like it.” No One Will Save You was sent straight to streaming on Hulu, though it did receive positive reviews from critics. King frequently recommends movies and TV shows on X, many of which have often been overlooked, so there’s no telling what he might watch and review next after Infested.

Source: Stephen King/X/Twitter

Infested (2024)

Director Sébastien Vanicek makes his feature film debut with a story that follows Kaleb, who is about to turn 30 and has never been lonelier. He’s fighting with his sister over a matter of inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a bazaar and brings it back to his flat. It only takes a moment for it to escape and reproduce, turning the whole place into a dreadful web trap. Starring Théo Christine (Suprêmes), Finnegan Oldfield (Final Cut), Jérôme Niel (Smoking Causes Coughing), Sofia Lesaffre (Les Misérables) and Lisa Nyarko.

Director

Sébastien Vanicek

Release Date

April 26, 2024

Studio(s)

My Box Films

Distributor(s)

Shudder

Writers

Sébastien Vanicek , Florent Bernard

Cast

Théo Christine , Sofia Lesaffre , Jérôme Niel , Lisa Nyarko , Finnegan Oldfield , Marie-Philomene , Nga

Runtime

106 Minutes