Giant monster movies may not be what they used to be, but one subspecies of that genre that’s especially in need of revisit is the giant creepy crawly movie.

There’s something uniquely carnal about the terror of watching something we tend to regard with disgust, which subsequently leads us to aloofly murdering it, instead be the ones that are now capable of crushing us underfoot. Combine that with the terrifying surrealness that comes with the idea of humans no longer being the dominant species, and it’s not hard to see why such films have found a soft spot in horror lovers’ hearts especially.

And now, writer-director Kiah Roache-Turner is ready to make another mark of the sort with Sting, the upcoming spider-centric horror movie that’s right on our doorstep.

What is Sting about?

Sting follows the young Charlotte, a 12-year-old girl whose eccentric interests come to include keeping Sting, a disturbingly intelligent spider that she happened upon, in a jar in her room as a pet. But as the auspicious arachnid begins growing to the proportions of a large jungle cat, the rapidly increasing number of bodies he leaves behind begins to put a dent in their friendship, to say the least.

Who stars in Sting?

Alyla Brown, who boasts a relatively impressive résumé for her age thanks to roles in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, stars as Charlotte, while the likes of Tony J. Black, Silvia Colloca, Ryan Corr, Robyn Nevin, Noni Hazlehurst, and Jermaine Fowler, among others, shore up the rest of the cast.

Roache-Turner directs his own script for the 90-minute creature feature.

When does Sting release?

Sting is set to release to theaters in North America on April 12, and with a 72 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, it just might be worth a trip to the theater.

(featured image: StudioCanal)