Crawlers

We have been here before, many times, with the likes of Arachnophobia (1990), Eight Legged Freaks (2002) and more recently Vermines (2023) from France. There are many others.

There’re a few creepy crawly facts about spiders in the rolling script at the start of the film before we get to a man getting home. He has a large bubo on his shoulder and when he starts to vomit and it begins to weep, the path of the film is set.

The film is centred around Serena (Matilda Lutz) a composer who is the apartment block’s janitor. Within the apartments are the usual collection of weirdos and students that end up having to work together once the infestation is established.

They then have to contend with being locked in the apartments once the body is discovered and they are quarantined.
With a lot of this being fairly familiar director Angel Gomez Hernandez and writer Jayson Rothwell chose to slow release the spider take over. During this time the residents are established with a few quirks that endear them thus ensuring their fates resonate just a bit more than the usual placed shreddies.

And there is a fair amount of tension. One scene where a spider on its thread swinging to get into its victim’s mouth, along with claustrophobia of people trapped in a shower and lift. All heightened with the creative use of sound and light.

Eventually the decision is made to fumigate with a countdown to the release of the substance. Serena is now up against the clock though there’s still time for a surprise or two in a thoroughly entertaining movie.

Crawlers was presented at Tubi Halloween FrightFest 2026. It will be available on Digital Platforms from November 9 and DVD December 7. Distributed by Signature Entertainment