Thinking of them is enough to send a shiver down most people's spines. Arachnophobia, or in laymen's terms, the fear of spiders, is not at all that uncommon. All of us know at least one person who suffers from it. Heck, we may even be suffering from it ourselves but will never care to admit it. Of course this widespread fear creates the potential for exploitation.
These movies were most cases unbearable to watch, either due to bad acting and poor special effects or simply because no one could sit through 90 minutes of huge, hairy spiders scuttling across the screen. Obviously this meant that movies like Tarantula were destined for cult status in very much the same way as Plan 9 From Outer Space.
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 Opens: 23 August
Director: Ellory Elkayem
Cast: David Arquette, Kari Wuhrer, Doug E Doug, Scott Terra
Classification: 13V
Running Time: 87 min
What do you get when you cross toxic waste with a bunch of exotic spiders?
Eaten.
As every fan of classic spine-tinglers knows, given the opportunity and the right chemical enhancement, arachnids will grow to humongous size and wreak havoc upon humanity. |
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Fast-forward almost 50 years to this century and you have
Eight Legged Freaks. However, while all the classic spider horror movies were serious attempts to scare the daylights out of its audience, this movie has been made as a humorous tribute to those early trailblazers. Producer
Bruce Berman is quick to point out though that this movie should also work for a generation that has never experienced those classic movies.
Predictably then Eight Legged Freaks tells the story of the residents of a rural mining town discovering that a chemical spill has caused hundreds of little spiders to mutate into the size of 4x4s. Mining engineer Chris McCormick (David Arquette) and Sheriff Sam Parker (Kari Wuhrer) must mobilise a group, including Parker's young son Mike (Scott Terra), her daughter Ashley (Scarlett Johansson), paranoid radio announcer Harlan Griffith (Doug E Doug) and Deputy Pete Willis (Rick Overton) into battle against the bloodthirsty spiders.
While Wuhrer, Arquette and Harry Potter lookalike Terra give adequate performances they are just there to give mankind fair representation. The movie's focus is on the giant spiders. They have been beautifully created by CFX who worked on such classics Independence Day and The Patriot. Some of the spiders even have their own character and that, in most cases, is hilarious.
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Mike (Scott Terra) and his mom, Sheriff Sam Parker (Kari Wuhrer) |
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While the special effects and number of fright scenes in Eight Legged Freaks are well done, its brand of humour will see the movie endear itself to many fans (the barber shop and tent scenes are two excellent examples). The movie does not take itself too seriously. It stays true to some of the classic B-movie ingredients but breaks the mould with humour that is interlaced throughout.
If you are a fan of the spider horror genre then you will love this movie. However, if you are looking for a serious horror (like Arachnophobia tried to be) then this is not for you. Teenagers will probably watch the movie in their droves while generation-X'ers will think fondly (or disapprovingly) back to the spider movies of yesteryear.
