Talk about being terrified straight out of the gate – one new horror movie trailer is proving so frightening fans are walking out when it comes on before their main showing.
It’s a 2024 release that’s set to play on one of the most common phobias in the world – arachnophobia. Fear of spiders is reportedly the third most common fear in the world, only rating after fear of heights and fear of flying. It’s followed by claustrophobia – the fear of small spaces – and thanatophobia, fear of death.
That’s right, more people are frightened of eight-legged creatures than they are of literally dying. Probably because around 30 species of spider can actually kill you.
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That’s certainly true for horror film Sting, which follows a series of increasingly large spiders on the warpath. The gruesome trailer sees one arachnid slip into one poor victim’s mouth, before becoming stuck in her throat as she chokes for breath.
Even the movie poster is pretty horrific, showing a blurred but gigantic spider lurking on a ceiling as a completely oblivious girl watches something on her phone – totally unaware of its presence. The official synopsis for the movie reads: “After raising an unnervingly talented spider in secret, 12-year-old Charlotte must face the facts about her pet, and fight for her family’s survival, when the once charming creature rapidly transforms into a giant, flesh-eating monster.”
Frightened fans have turned to social media to share their thoughts, with one X user writing: “This is going to be terrifying for me… I’m an arachnophobe and I’ve also been bitten/placed in a hospital for a bite!”
Someone else wrote: “Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope I hate spiders so much, God’s worst creation.” As a third fan echoed: “I hate spiders and this trailer gave me literal chills. Can’t wait.”
It seemed others couldn’t even make it through the whole thing, with one echoing: “Watched – or tried to – the trailer for that new spider horror the other day and had to literally leave the cinema screen until it went off. Cannot cope. Worst thing I've ever seen. All those legs!”
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The spiders in the film were created by CGI masters Wētā Workshop, with Oscar-winner Richard Taylor telling Variety: “I have raging arachnophobia because I’m an Australian, and everything in Australia is trying to kill you. We’ve got giant crocs, great white sharks, some of the most poisonous snakes in the world, and spiders the size of dinner plates. Some of those spiders can kill you — if they bite you and you don’t get to a hospital in three hours, you’re dead.
“My job as a horror filmmaker is to take my greatest fear and throw it at you guys and hope it sells tickets, and there’s nothing scarier in my head than a spider the size of a bulldog that can drag you into an air conditioning duct and eat you.”
