15/47
You know, spiders don’t have the ability to love
Narrative
After secretly raising an incredibly gifted spider, 12-year-old Charlotte must confront the truth about her pet (and fight for her family’s survival) when the once-charming creature quickly transforms into a giant carnivorous monster. When Ethan asks Frank why he carries a nail gun while he’s an exterminator, Frank replies “for protection.” The nail gun is likely a reference to Arachnophobia (1990), another carnivorous spider movie in which the main character kills one of the creatures with a nail gun. Although supposedly set in New York, the Australian setting is true: in the United States, doorknobs are about 3 feet off the ground, here the doorknobs are halfway up the doors. When shown a street scene, cars are parked on the “wrong side” of the street compared to American Frank: I don’t think spiders make good pets. A spider can only do two things: eat and kill.
Features of Frankenstein (1931)
During the credits, it is revealed that Bonnie the dog survived Sting’s kidnapping. What a Day to Die Written by Patricia H. Ericson Published by Cradle Rocks and Low Tide Music by The Pleasure Seekers Courtesy of d2 Music on behalf of Cradle Rocks Records. Greetings from the Dark Again. The trailer for the film makes it clear that this is a monster movie in the vein of the late-night Friday monster movies I watched as a kid…
when I had no feet on the ground for not watching
television. Australian filmmaker Kiah Roche-Turner sets the film in Brooklyn, and the action takes place almost entirely in an old apartment building (the only exception being the footage of the ice storm outside). Roche-Turner may have delivered the ultimate creature feature film, but this isn’t one that makes you empathize with the creature. Twelve-year-old Charlotte (get it?) is on one of her adventures through the ventilation shafts of an old building when she captures a small black spider. It may be unusual to have a pet spider, but keeping it a secret from your mother, Heather (Penelope Mitchell, HELLBOY, 2009) and stepfather, Ethan (Ryan Corr, THE WATER BOY, 2014) resonates with the actions of a teenager frustrated by the responsibility of caring for her newborn sibling while the exhausted adults make ends meet.
Charlotte’s stepfather is the building’s janitor and an aspiring comic book artist
The film’s opening scene features Charlotte’s sweater-knitting grandmother, Helga (Noni Hazelhurst, JUSTICE, 2015), struggling with dementia and hearing loud noises coming from the wall, calling for an exterminator. The story then flashes back four days to when Charlotte first finds the spider. Frank (Jermaine Fowler, RICKY STANICKY, 2024) is disinfecting the building, but even as a pest control expert, he has no idea what is about to happen. Newcomer Alyla Brown (TRUE SPIRIT, 2023) is excellent as Charlotte, and she is surprised when her pet spider, which she calls Sting, imitates her hissing when she is fed more crunchy bugs, leading to exponential growth. Although not necessary, there are additional story elements that occur around the entire rapidly growing spider.
It’s no surprise that some of these people come to a terrible end, while others are luckier
In an effort to connect with him, Ethan has illustrated the story he made about his biological father, whose irresponsible naturalist mother, Heather, kept him a secret. Her neighbors are lonely widow Maria (Siliva Colloca, VAN HELSING, 2004) and eccentric scientist Erik (Danny Kim, “Born to Spy”), the latter of whom reveals Charlotte’s secret pet spider to her parents. The final character here is the thrifty and grumpy Gunther (Robyn Nevin, RELIC, 2020), who apparently owns the building and lives with his sister Helga. Ms. Nevin has a face made for horror movies (and I mean that as a compliment) and gives herself completely to her big scene with Ethan.