Vague Visages’ Crawlers review contains minor spoilers. Ángel Gómez Hernández’s movie 2026 movie features Matilda Lutz, Gary Anthony Stennette and Elena Sanz. Check out the VV home page for more film criticism, movie reviews and film essays.

The final frontier of horror isn’t aliens or sharks — it’s spiders. They’re small enough to hide in plain sight, can’t be avoided pretty much anywhere and they’re deadly. Before releasing the serviceably nasty Evil Dead Burn (2026), French filmmaker Sébastien Vanicek inflicted Infested (2023) upon the world (it’s available to watch on Shudder, if you fancy ruining your day). Crawlers is something of a companion piece given that it’s also set in an apartment building overrun by arachnids of varying sizes. In this case, though, the odds seem even less in the tenants’ favor, which is really saying something when considering that Infested is a French production, as that European region is notorious for extreme horror.

Revenge (2017) breakout star Matilda Lutz makes her long-awaited return to horror, and leading lady roles, as Serena, a put-upon handywoman who gets to live in Paradiso Palms, the dilapidated Los Angeles low-rise in question, because she handles all the maintenance work. This basically means taking a lot of shit from the other tenants, most of whom treat Serena like she works for them and is therefore unworthy of basic respect. Although the rest of the residents are lightly sketched, with two female characters being borderline indistinguishable from one another, the fact they’re all terrible people makes the ensuing spider-based carnage so much sweeter. Crawlers is a mean, nasty little film, and it’s all the better for it.

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Spanish director Ángel Gómez Hernández, working from a script credited to Jayson Rothwell, shoots the critters as though they’re constantly lurking in the shadows and waiting to strike. Following a stomach-churning opening sequence, scored by disconcertingly jaunty music, spiders are glimpsed in the air vent just above an oblivious Serena’s head as she sits on her bed strumming a guitar. It’s Lutz’s protagonist who discovers the decomposing body of UCLA professor, and avid traveler, George (Chris Rogers) after a massive, oozing wound on his back bursts open to release dozens of tiny spiders. The building is put on lockdown, but once it becomes clear that this is an infestation rather than a quarantine, the powers that be are significantly less inclined to free everybody who’s stuck inside.

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Crawlers then becomes a race against time as Serena desperately attempts to get as many tenants to safety as she can, including, in one especially horrifying sequence, a baby. Hernández uses the relatively confined space to his advantage, hiding spiders in every nook and cranny. He also places spindly arachnids in more unexpected spots — like a bag of potato chips, a pair of slip-on shoes and a coffee mug — for maximum shock factor (this is the kind of movie that makes you pick your feet up off the floor in the theater). In fact, Crawlers opens with several deliberately silly statistics about spiders, culminating in the suggestion that there’s probably one lurking under your seat right now. There are a handful of inventive set-pieces that strand the characters in cramped spaces with the spiders, most notably a sequence in an elevator where they rain down from the ceiling and another in a shower, where they climb a glass wall as one massive, undulating entity.

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The spiders vary in size, with the bigger ones hilariously performing like army generals, instructing their smaller soldiers to charge on a young man lying prone on the floor by rearing their hind legs up and growling. There are several POV shots from a spider’s perspective as it prepares to pounce, and although these choices afford the movie a slightly goofier tone, nothing can take away from the terrifying viewing experience. Consider that Crawlers’ trailer gives away the moment when a spider pushes someone’s eyeball out, and another arachnid makes its way into a sleeping woman’s open mouth, which only showcases just how many horrible frights this movie has up its spider-infested sleeve. Once things kick off, there’s little reprieve from the scares, making it borderline difficult to watch at times. This, of course, is a massive compliment, especially for horror fans constantly chasing the high of their first scare.

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Lutz is onscreen for most of Crawlers’ runtime. As the young actor demonstrated in Revenge, she’s more than capable of tussling with horrible monsters. Serena may be somewhat timid, but she’s no slouch when it comes to fighting for her life, and those of others, whether they deserve it or not. Aside from being remarkably creative in evading her arachnid foes, the protagonist has a believably deep-seated desire to do right by those around her, as Serena has a duty of care that goes far beyond simply fixing a leaking water pipe. Much like Revenge, Crawlers also gives Lutz a big, bad ass suiting-up moment that’s sure to inspire Halloween costumes for years to come, and the fact that her outfit makes sense both logically and logistically is just the icing on the cake.

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Crawlers is surprisingly well-considered, threading little details into the story, and the geography of the building, early on that pay off down the line. Whether it’s Serena’s sole ally, dominatrix Lady Lash (an enjoyably arch Melina Matthews), fashioning a flamethrower out of her ever-present cocktail or the villainous landlord proving just how little he cares about other people, and then suffering the horrific fate he deserves as a result, nothing in the movie feels incidental. As one character gravely intones, the scary thing about spiders is that they could be hiding anywhere, at any time. Hernández exploits this idea with a cunning eye for where the audience will be drawn to look, often teasing a big attack before pulling back right at the last moment. It makes for an excruciating yet enjoyable movie experience.

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At the center of it all is Lutz, who skillfully evokes her character’s fears, insecurities, desperation and anger. She’s a magnetic screen presence, so it stands to reason nobody else leaves much of an impression since it’s likely by design, as Crawlers is a wonderful showcase for her talents. On the other hand, hideous examples of modern masculinity — one an obnoxious content creator, the other a misogynistic incel whose only friend is an AI avatar, played by Gregg Sulkin and Sam Lucas Smith, respectively — are essentially just grist for the spider mill. Such is the dark pleasure of Crawlers. Hernández and Rothwell aren’t precious about their characters, dispatching several with ruthless, even callous efficiency. If anything, they’re on the spiders’ side. The clean and striking direction allows for some alarming surprises, while the pounding synthwave score, by Jesús Díaz and Roberto González, perfectly complements the propulsive action, which — much like Serena — barely stops to take a breath.

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Crawlers is a nerve-rattler in the most visceral sense. The phrase “nightmare fuel” is overused when reviewing modern horror movies, but it definitely applies here. Arachnophobic or not, you’ll be checking for spiders everywhere after watching this one.

Joey Keogh (@JoeyLDG) is a writer from Dublin, Ireland with an unhealthy appetite for horror movies and Judge Judy. In stark contrast with every other Irish person ever, she’s straight edge. Hello to Jason Isaacs. Thank you for reading film criticism, movie reviews and film reviews at Vague Visages.

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