‘INFESTED’: Spiders And Survival In The Parisian Banlieue
The new French thriller ‘Infested’ featured at Venice in the Critics’ Week sidebar, marks Sébastien Vaniček's directorial debut, showcasing his evident skill in crafting and editing suspense and terror. It’s a film that crawls under your skin and refuses to leave.
It centers on Kaleb (Théo Christine), a young man leaving in the Parisian banlieue who, after smuggling a mysterious spider purchased illicitly into his apartment, unwittingly unleashes a horde of deadly arachnids that quickly multiply and take over his home.
Théo Christine in 'Infested'
But Kaleb isn’t some careless, uninformed buyer. He has been secretly transforming his apartment into a reptilarium, meticulously choosing the bestioles he surrounds himself with. He treats his creatures with care, often talking to them, as he’s always dreamed of having his own mini zoo filled with frogs, iguanas, snakes, and other slithering critters.
However, the joy of having found a new spider companion, which he affectionately names ‘Rihanna,’ is quickly shattered when he realises she has escaped from her box. What begins as a seemingly innocuous event (although a spider escaping from a box is terrifying enough for many) spirals into a horrifying ordeal as the spiders spread beyond his apartment, trapping the residents of the building in a deadly web of fear.
To make it worse, the spiders in ‘Infested’ are not just physical threats; they symbolise the inescapable nature of fear. Vaniček masterfully plays on the audience's arachnophobia, using the creatures' rapid movements, shadowy appearances, and eerie silence to create a pervasive sense of dread. The film wisely avoids overexposing the spiders, allowing the fear of the unknown to drive much of the horror. When the creatures do appear in full, their grotesque detail and sheer numbers are enough to send shivers down the spine.
The confined setting of the apartment complex becomes a character in itself, its narrow hallways and cramped rooms heightening the sense of entrapment. The dark, oppressive lighting and tight camera angles, emphasises the characters' growing helplessness as they realise the full extent of the infestation.
The cast, led by Théo Christine as Kaleb, delivers performances that anchor the film in a stark realism. The supporting cast, including Finnegan Oldfield and Jérôme Niel, adds depth to the story, portraying the varying responses of the building's residents as they face an increasingly hopeless situation.
But what distinguishes the film and adds depth to its narrative is its charged setting. It is set in the impoverished suburbs of Paris, the banlieues, where the deteriorating conditions of the buildings mirror the struggles of their inhabitants. Kaleb’s building, where nothing works and nothing ever gets fixed, adds a layer of social commentary to the horror, highlighting the residents' daily battles with unemployment and neglect. Vaniček uses the crumbling, claustrophobic environment to underscore the characters' sense of entrapment, both by the deadly spiders and by their socio-economic circumstances, making the terror feel all the more grounded and real.
To add to that, as the police get involved, a deep sense of hopelessness sets in. Their initial neglect turns to aggression, revealing severe problems and failures in the system. We even begin to wonder if dealing with the spiders might have been better for the characters than facing the authorities’ lack of care. In fact, Vaniček himself has described the spiders as a metaphor for the residents of Kaleb’s building—unwanted, misunderstood, and feared.
Be warned: with its claustrophobic setting, escalating tension, and a cast of increasingly desperate characters, Vaniček crafts a nightmarish experience that taps into primal fears. Be prepared to check every corner of your home for unwanted “guests” after watching it.