Now, Kaleb makes up for the death of his dream by filling up the walls of his room with vivariums containing all sorts of creepy creatures. He is quite excited about his latest find, an exotic spider that was on sale in the back office of his local smuggler’s shop. Unaware of the highly venomous and aggressive behavior of the spider, Kaleb brings it home and names it Rihanna.
“Infested” creates a lived-in world within the film’s one location, an apartment complex in the French suburb (the apartment building itself also just looks extremely cool), with a sense of community and colorful characters. Even briefly, we get to know the neighbors and their dynamics — the annoying narc, the kind older woman, the younger kids with little hope for the future, and Kaleb’s older sister with whom he cannot communicate about their dead mom.
As for the building itself, this is where the “Attack the Block” comparisons start as we get a sense of its abandonment by authorities and institutions. The power is often out, the elevator barely works and the lights never get fixed. Oh, and there’s some ominous ooze-like substance on the stairs that no one seems particularly concerned about. In other words, the kind of place no one gets that surprised about seeing descend into chaos.
Unfortunately, that is exactly what happens when Kaleb gives his new spider a home inside a shoebox with a little hole in it. As you might expect, Rihanna gets out and she lays eggs, too many of them. In just a few hours, one killer spider turns into a house of unspeakable horrors … and lots of spiders. So many spiders…