Horror comedies work best when they take their concepts to extremes, never allowing the expected tropes to become a handicap. And it doesn’t take much beyond a giant mutated wasp attack to apply for the “high concept” title. XYZ Films and Rat Pack Filmproduction are working together to bring the genre-mashing Stung to audiences, and ScreenDaily announced the producers attracted the likes of Peter Stormare (Fargo), Matt O’Leary (Pawn Shop Chronicles), Lance Henriksen (Aliens) and Jessica Cook, in her film debut. Sure, this is about the cast you might expect for a movie about big killer insects, but don’t go setting it up against the kind of crap you might see on Syfy. At least not yet.
The film will be the first film directed by Benni Diez, whose only other work in the industry besides a few short films has been as a visual effects supervisor on Lars von Trier’s 2011 sci-fi drama Melancholia. The screenplay was written by Adam Aresty, who won the Rat Pack’s 2012 horror writing contest. Neither of these facts make this project sound exceptional, but the concept trailer that Diez put together last year is of damned fine quality. I have to fight the need to add “for a movie about giant wasps” to the end of every sentence. Before you watch that trailer below, you might want to grab your biggest fly swatter and a can of bug spray.
So not only are these insects huge and dangerous, but they also have the ability to understand building structures, and the concept of doors not traveling up through the ceiling. That’s pretty creepy shit.
Stung will take place at a garden party that finds itself the host of a small mutant wasp invasion. Two of the catering staff, O’Leary and Cook assumedly, are the ones responsible for saving everyone, falling for each other in the process.
“Stung, to me, is bringing the creature feature cult film feeling from the ‘80s into the present and a modern-day fun horror movie," said Diez. I hope it’s at least as good as James Gunn’s Slither, though it has its work cut out for it.
Stormare was last seen in Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain and Jacob Vaughn’s horror comedy Bad Milo, and will next be seen in the nightmarish horror Clown. O’Leary will next be seen in the comedy Two-Bit Waltz, the directorial debut of Clara Mamet, daughter of plot master David. Henriksen was recently in the submarine thriller Phantom and the horror comedy Gingerclown, and you can soon find him in a slew of B-movies, including Bring Me the Head of Lance Henriksen. Meanwhile, Cook’s only roles have been appearances in the TV series Mistresses and Perception.
Now that more of the pre-production kinks are getting worked out, Stung can move forward to its planned production start in late October.
Itching for some creature features now? Or is that itch just an allergic reaction to the bug spray? In any case, you can watch DIez’s impressive 2007 short Kingz below.
