Sting (2024) --My Take on the Movie With Spoilers

Plot: Charlotte finds and takes care of a spider unaware of its murderous tendencies.

Anyone who comes across the names Charlotte and a spider will automatically assume that the story is about friendship and the lengths friends will go to for each other.

Sting is nothing like that, of course.

Sting is about a spider named Sting and a girl called Charlotte who wanted a pet.

But Sting isn't only about the chaotic killing spree. A mutant spider goes on. It is layered with family dynamics, growing up in a dilapidated home with emotionally unavailable parents.

Sting is eventually about how a family gets together to defeat a monstrous threat and succeeds at sending a heartfelt message.

STING Movie Plot

The movie begins with an old woman calling for help. Her name is Helga. The exterminator comes in and isn't too happy that another exterminator was also called. He asks what the problem is, but clearly, Helga suffers from dementia because she tells him there is none.

That is when the exterminator, Frank, hears noises and goes to investigate. He is attacked by something and dragged into the vents. Helga watches him, shrugs, and goes back to her seat in front of the TV.

Four days earlier, a girl called Charlotte is out being mischievous. She gets into the landlady, Gunter's apartment. She wants to destroy one of her dolls and post it on social media as well.

That's when something catches her attention. She finds a spider and decides to take it with her. She empties a matchbox and puts the spider inside.

Once home, she transfers the spider into a jar and decides to call it Sting. She also teaches it a whistling tune, and soon enough, Sting learns to whistle it back.

But unknown to Charlotte, Sting is no ordinary spider. His first victim is a poor parrot who is skinned alive.

Gunter suspects vermin and calls Frank. Ethan, Charlotte's stepdad is also present. Frank, too, believes something is roaming around the vents, considering whatever attacked the parrot made small holes into it.

Meanwhile, we learn more about Charlotte and her family. Her mother, Heather, has remarried and has another child, Liam. Charlotte feels ignored and has immersed herself into the world of comics and keeping spiders as pets.

Once Charlotte hears her upstairs neighbor, Erik, talk about biology and animals and gets intrigued. Sting has been growing larger, and she needs to find him a bigger container to keep in.

In the midst of all this, one of the neighbors, Maria, is killed by Sting, too. But Sting only stings her. The rest is up to Maria to get so spooked that she falls and hits her head, then drags herself into the bathroom to look at herself before fainting and falling on the edge of the tub, breaking her neck. Sting walks away coolly.

Charlotte talks to Ethan about Erik, and he tells her to stay away from him because he is weird. Charlotte goes to meet Erik immediately.

She introduces him to Sting, and he is mystified when he sees how large the arachnid is and its ability to whistle back the feeding call.

Erik promises to find Sting a suitable environment but will need to perform some tests for that. He convinces Charlotte to leave him behind. She does, completely trusting him.

Erik calls on Ethan immediately and shows him what his daughter has been hiding from him for days. He explains that the spider is venomous and needs to be handed over to the Department of Health and Safety.

Ethan relates this news at home, and Charlotte is devastated to learn that her pet is being given away. She starts to argue with Ethan, and he accidentally lets it slip out that her real father has returned but that he doesn't even want to see her despite living twenty-five minutes away.

Charlotte is saddened to learn that her real father doesn't want anything to do with her. She tells Ethan that his comics suck and that he killed off the best character in the comic. She goes off to sulk while Ethan sits and contemplates his comics.

He's under a lot of pressure since Heather has been giving him a hard time. While fixing the TV one day, he grows frustrated and punches the screen.

Heather tells him to work on his anger issues or that he might end up breaking their marriage.

Charlotte is sent inside with Liam, and she busies herself by playing video games and listening to music.

Upstairs, Erik realizes he should have given Sting away rather than hoard him. Sting attacks him and stings him.

Then it escapes through the vents and goes after Gunter and then heads to Charlotte's house.

While Heather and Ethan are arguing, Sting attacks them. Charlotte is unaware of it all and thinks her dog is barking because it wants food.

Immersed in her games, she doesn't notice Ethan being dragged into the vent. When her dog still won't stop barking after being given food, Charlotte grows curious. She finally puts away her headphones and notices that the house is in disarray.

She calls out for her mother and hears a thump in the vent just as Sting drags Ethan down.

She whistles, and when she hears a whistle back, he gets frightened. She understands Sting is hungry and coming after her. She blocks the vents, but it's too late.

Sting has taken Liam with it.

STING Ending Explained with Spoilers

With her family gone, Charlotte tries to find a way to get them back as well as defeat Sting.

She meets with her grandmother upstairs, who suffers from dementia. She tells Charlotte she saw a black pet roaming around, but it was frightened of her.

Charlotte takes one sniff of her grandmother's shawl and understands. It's the mothballs. She finds some mothballs in the kitchen and blends it with some water. She fills up three bottles and intends to use it as a weapon.

She asks her grandmother to call the emergency number, but she doesn't seem to make connective thoughts. Charlotte pretty much gives her a kiss goodbye, as if there is no way she is going to survive now.

She douses herself in mothball juice and heads out.

She goes through the building and sees Erik stuck on the ceiling with slime webs. She doesn't think he can be saved and moves ahead.

Ethan awakens next to Gunter, who is killed by Sting. Charlotte finds him and saves him only to encounter a giant sting. He doesn't care that Charlotte took care of him

He's ready to hurt her, too. Ethan manages to save her. The moth ball juice works to put off Sting.

They then come across Frank, who was dragged into the vents in the first scene. He snatches one of Charlotte's homemade mothball juice and uses it on himself. When he sees Sting, he freaks out and takes out the Equalizer, but all he manages to do is trigger the fire alarms and cause the sprinklers to go off.

The mothball juice washes away from their clothes, and Frank is beheaded by Sting.

Ethan and Charlotte escape and find Heather and Liam. Sting comes after them, and they plan to crush the spider in the trash compactor.

But just as they lure Sting in, the button doesn't work. Ethan finds that the plug is loose and goes to insert it back in. He does manage to put in the plug but gets electrocuted.

Charlotte takes it upon herself to protect her family. She pushes the button, and Sting is crushed.

Before dying, Sting appears to give a look of betrayal. He didn't expect his caretaker to be the reason he died.

Heather drags Ethan outside and performs CPR on him. Charlotte remembers the comic she read about a daughter reviving her father. She uses her superpower of prayer to wish him back.

Ethan gains consciousness at that exact moment.

The family is reunited, and Charlotte even says she loves her father.

It could have been a happy ending, but we later see several giant spider eggs in the basement. One of them hatches.

The movie ends.

STING is a fun horror movie with equal parts of scares and dark comedy, which makes it a complete family entertainer.

Did anyone check on Helga?

Scare Scale: 

Get the movie now