By Geno McGahee
To avoid any confusion, this is not an article about “THE KILLER BEES”, B. Brian Blair and “Jumpin” Jim Brunzell, the popular tag team from the WWF/WWE that would pretend that they were bumble bees and wear speedos with bumble bee patterns. For all of you that were hoping to hear about these guys, I apologize.
Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell & B. Brian Blair, The Killer Bees (Note: Mullets were in style)
STUNG, written by Adam Aresty and directed by Benni Diez, is a fun monster movie that has a cheese factor, but not as much as you may think. We begin with a catering company on the road to a big house for a fancy party. Julia (Jessica Cook), the owner of the company is dealing with her employee, Paul (Matt O’Leary), who begins to grow affection for her. Changing her shirt in the van doesn’t help the situation.
They get to the party location and begin setting up. Paul is approached by the son of the wealthy family that owns the mansion, Sydney (Clifton Collins JR), and he is not right. He has been sheltered and is very eccentric and sets the tone for the film. That character actually is a good representation of the film as a whole. It is strange and funny.
The party begins and large wasps begin to disrupt things. They are swarming the guests and they are not normal wasps. They begin stinging the guests and the results are deadly, but there’s more to it. after the guest dies, the wasp uses their body to become large. The larger the person, the larger the wasp and now a group of survivors are camping out in the house and trying to avoid the huge killer wasps outside.
Julia, Paul, Sydney and Caruthers (Lance Henriksen) hold up in the basement and begin to formulate a plan to escape. Syndey is comedic gold throughout this situation. He continues to make comments and prove to be the oddball in the group. Henriksen always shines and unlike many other actors associated with primarily horror, he never takes a role to go through the motions. He is a pro and it comes through here.
The escape plan gets pushed when one of the survivors proves to be infected. It is a battle for survival and the mix of practical effects and CGI prove to be the winning combination. Even though this film is silly, there was a focus on quality. The wasps looked good and the reactions from the actors were believable. You see this when practical effects are mixed with CGI as they were with JURASSIC PARK and REAL STEEL. The actors have something to work off of rather than “pretend there is a monster right here.” It makes a big difference.
STUNG is a fun movie with a great cast and pace. There is a lot of heart in this film and it shows throughout. I have to give a special mention to Clifton Collins JR. He was very amusing in this film and was able to be over the top without being unbelievable. STUNG is worth a watch and will be much better than you think it is. I guarantee it.
Rating: 6/10
