One of my favorite horror films of the year thus far (and one of my most memorable times at this year's Overlook Film Festival, including the opportunity to have tarantulas crawl on my face), Infested pits an eclectic group of apartment tenants against rapidly reproducing spiders. As thought-provoking as it is palpably horrifying, Infested has now skittered onto Shudder, and I had the pleasure of catching up with director/co-writer Sébastien Vaniček in a video interview to discuss his new movie, including the spider-centric research that went into the making of the film's realistic effects, the movie's exploration of socioeconomic divisions, as well as the excellent performances from the cast, and Sébastien also shared his excitement for his upcoming Evil Dead movie!

Synopsis: "Kaleb is about to turn 30 and has never been lonelier. He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive."

Director: Sébastien Vaniček

Screenwriters: Florent Bernard, Sébastien Vaniček

Cast: Théo Christine, Finnegan Oldfield, Jérôme Niel, Sofia Lesaffre and Lisa Nyarko

Producer: Harry Tordjman

Cinematographer: Alexandre Jamin

Editor: Thomas Fernandez, Nassim Gordji Tehrani

Composer: Xavier Caux, Douglas Cavanna

Languages: French

Country of Origin: France, United States

Running Time: 106 minutes

  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.