58) Stung (2015)

"The ultimate buzzkill."

Director
Benni Diez

Cast
Matt O'Leary - Paul
Jessica Cook - Julia
Clifton Collins, Jr. - Sydney
Lance Henriksen - Caruthers
Eve Slatner- Mrs. Perch

It goes without saying, the news has been anything but good in the last two months. As the entire world is dealing with a pandemic, the U.S. has been hit with news about Asian giant hornets making an appearance in Washington State.
If there's anything I am personally afraid of, it's wasps and hornets. My worst nightmare is being in a situation where I am swarmed by angry wasps stinging, and stinging, and stinging. What's scary abouy such a scenario is that swarms aren't something you can fight off with punches and kicks. You're only option is to run...fast. Swatting just makes things worse. And with running, some species will give chase for up to a mile! I heard in a radio interview on NPR that these giant hornets are like small humming birds. In fact, the Japanese call their giant hornets, "great sparrow birds" because they resemble birds when they fly. No thanks!
So, news of the world's largest hornet somehow making its way to North America was the last thing I wanted to hear.
After two months of listening to nothing but news about the coronavirus, the havoc it has wrought on people, communities, family, employment numbers, and the global economy, now we get news about hornets with the word "murder" in their name (thanks to the press) posing a threat to bee colonies.
Evidently, these bugs can take out an entire bee colony. And the worst case scenario is that a decrease in bee populations can lead to all sorts of agricultural problems. Thankfully, experts to anticipate such a worst case scenario.
When I was working as a news writer, I took a story about a guy in rural Kansas who decided to care for yellow jackets that began making an appearance on his porch. Rather than take a can of wasp killer and take care of them, he decided to put out grape jelly and meat (wasps are attracted to protein and carbohydrates), and hundreds of yellow jackets took him up on his free offer.
And I, terrified of wasps and being swarmed (that happened to me once at a picnic area in my youth), still did the story.
It was not easy to conduct an interview and take pictures as yellow jackets flew around me. I had my voice recorder which I took to every news story, and the sound of buzzing can be heard during the interview.
Anyways, on the general subject of pandemics and murder hornets, I watched the 2015 SciFi horror movie Stung. I've seen it before but needed another viewing.

Matt O'Leary in Stung (2015)

It's an independent movie that plays like a modern Atomic SciFi film.
Party caterers, Paul and Julie head to the Perch Estate out in the country side, in the middle of nowhere, to cater an annual garden dinner party.
Paul (Matt O' Leary) works as the waiter under Julie (Jessica Cook). And the estate belongs to a wealthy New York socialite, the elderly Mrs. Perch (Eve Slatner).
Her somewhat eccentric son, Sydney (Clifton Collins, Jr) lives with her seemingly against his will.
As the caterers prepare the tables, chairs, and bar, Paul starts seeing large, black wasps randomly buzzing around.
Little does he, nor anyone else know, that some kind of chemical fertilizer along with growth hormones have soaked into the ground effecting the underground wasp dwellers.
As the night progresses, and the underground nest is more and more agitated, the wasps begin to swarm and attack party goers.
Paul, Julie, Mrs. Perch, a local mayor named Caruthers (Lance Henrikson), and Sydney make their way into the house thanks to the aid of Flora, the housekeeper.
Inside, they see that those who've been stung suffer giant wasps growing and hatching from inside. Evidently the wasps lay eggs inside their victims, and it takes no time at all for full grown adult wasps to hatch. And Mrs. Perch inside with them has also been stung.
With mammoth angry wasps inside and outside the home, the group becomes trapped in the basement.
Paul takes it upon himself to rescue what few survivors are left.
It finally comes down to a face-off between Paul and the queen.
Stung lays the gore on rather heavily. Buried underneath all that blood and body parts, the characters running, hiding and running some more trying to escape, is a barely breathing story line.
It's as predictable as can be. The movie is all about gross out effects, nasty transformations, and scary man-eating wasps bigger than wildebeests. It's as though the writers (I'm guessing no more than one) figured a storyline would have gotten in the way of these gross special effects.
It all leads to a gag inducing climax.
I feel the fear factor could have been so much more if the wasps were realistic in size and appearance, and in swarms. A huge mega-wasp is easier to tackle than a swarm of royally pissed off ones - even the ones the size of Asian giant hornets.

Matt O'Leary and Jessica Cook.

The look of those hornets, though, are intimidating.
In one particular scene, Paul makes his way out as day breaks, and the audience is treated to a good look at a huge wasp perched on the side of the house. It looks like an executioner wasp, which supposedly has on of the most painful stings out there. It's intimidating for sure.
The rest of them resemble black tarantula wasps in both look and behavior. Tarantula wasps lay one egg inside tarantula spiders per their namesake.
The larvae hatches and eats its living spider host from the inside out.
Otherwise, this movie is just uninspiring. It reminds me of B-movies from the silver age of horror and science fiction.
However, a lot of movies from that era are memorable. And Stung could have been just as memorable had the writers maintained a "less is more" mentality which may have suited this story.
Swarms of wasps, hornets, and killer bees is terrifying enough. The bug's size doesn't matter. In reality, grown men will run away like preschool kids from a hovering yellow jacket.
The movie already has great special effects to pull off something less predictable. But I understand what Stung is trying to do.
Still, fans of gore, man-eating mutated nature, and intense situations may find Stung enjoyable.
I just wish it scared me a little more. After all, the purpose of a horror movie is to help us face our fears. Maybe if a remake takes place 20, 30, or 40 years down the road, someone will get it right.
In the plus column, though, Stung is a fun popcorn movie.

*My yellow jacket article, pictures and all. You gotta read this! - http://www.junctioncityunion.com/news/milford-resident-befriends-local-yellow-jackets/article_f8fbee6e-b757-11e8-8917-87114a2217c3.html