With “Sting”, writer-director Kiah Roache-Turner uses one of the most common fears shared by people of all shapes, sizes, ages and colors. For many it’s a petrifying fear that trumps all others. I’m talking about the fear of spiders. My own family isn’t immune from it (neither my wife or daughter would stay in the room after hearing what “Sting” was about). So right off the bat, Roache-Turner has the kind of material that will automatically get reactions.

But “Sting” isn’t some lazy attempt at cheap scares. It’s a self-aware creature feature that knows its audience and caters to their appetites with plenty of skin-crawling frights and nearly as many laughs. It’s a movie that wears its inspirations on its sleeve and tips its hat to several easy to spot properties (fans of James Cameron’s phenomenal 1986 classic “Aliens” will see its influence all throughout “Sting”).

Roache-Turner wastes no time kicking things off. As a meteor passes dangerously close to New York City, a tiny fragment crashes into a rundown brownstone apartment building. The small egg-like fragment hatchets a tiny spider which is discovered by an unruly 12-year-old named Charlotte (Alyla Browne). She puts the spider in a Mason jar and names it Sting. From there she slips her new pet into her bedroom, hiding it from her loving mother Heather (Penelope Mitchell) and her hardworking step-father Ethan (Ryan Corr).

Over the next few minutes we’re introduced to several other tenants who will soon find themselves in a B-movie nightmare. Among them is Helga (Noni Hazlehurst), Charlotte’s elderly grandmother who is struggling with dementia; Heather’s battle-axe great aunt, Gunter (Robyn Nevin); a grieving young window, Maria (Silvia Colloca); and a nerdy biology student, Erik (Danny Kim). Throw in a local exterminator named Frank (Jermaine Fowler) who adds some well-tuned comic relief.

As Charlotte feeds Sting a heavy diet of cockroaches, the spider begins growing at an alarming rate. Before long it has busted out of its jar and made its way into the building’s vents. And as its appetite grows, the massive space arachnid goes from munching on roaches to feasting on people. Its insatiable craving for flesh and blood leads to some squirm-inducing scenes that are sure to have people with spider phobias covering their eyes.

The movie does struggle to maintain a consistent tone. In between the gory creature kills and comic self-awareness is a family drama that has its poignant moments but never quite has the impact it clearly wants to have. It leads to some tender interactions and it manages to add some emotional weight to the film’s big finish. But sometimes it feels at odds with what the rest of the film is going for.

Still, Roache-Turner deserves a lot of credit for both recapturing and poking fun at the throwback creature features of old. He’s able to have us laughing one minute while making our skin crawl the next. And the wizards at Wētā Workshop do a superb job with the creature effects, making something that is effortlessly terrifying whether spiders scare you or not. “Sting” in available on VOD and home video.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS