Eight Legged Freaks (2002) User Reviews

Arachnocomedy!

[Coventry · 6/10 · 18 March 2004]

You could either be really harsh and say the film is a stupid and completely unnecessary CGI-playground or….you could sit back, relax and search for all the adorable references towards the delightful monster-movies like they could only make them in the 50's. In fact, that's all Eight Legged Freaks represents! A spoof slash tribute, updated with the latest and most expensive computer techniques. All the typical cliché aspects are there: the isolated little town with the ironic sounding name, the unfortunate hero and all the charming (slightly retarded) redneck town-inhabitants. And of course the giant, mutated spiders complete with ludicrous ‘yummy-noises. The ways these spiders are hunting they preys is funny instead of scary with complete over-the-top situations. You should already be warned…a film that stars David Arquette as the heroic savior can't be taken too seriously. Present in Eight Legged Freaks as well: two generations of stunningly beautiful actresses. Kari Wuhrer and Scarlet Johanssen. The latter is working her way up to the highest regions of Hollywood these days through starring in Oscar-favorites like ‘Lost in Translation' and ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring', whereas Wuhrer is fixing her career as a B-movie queen. After Eight Legged Freaks, she starred in (mediocre) films such as King of the Ants, The Hitcher II and another Hellraiser sequel.

I shamelessly admit I had a great time while watching Eight Legged Freaks. It reminded me of ‘Tremors' a bit…even though that one is better. Nonetheless, it's fun and a nice change from all those irrelevant and dull teen-slashers. If you're looking for a real tribute to the 50's monsters, check out the short film `Larger than Life' by the same director. That little film really breathes the monster atmosphere and formed the inspiration (and budget) to shoot Eight Legged Freaks.

A monster film plenty of spectacular scenes , frenetic action and humor

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 23 May 2010]

It's a monster movie' s homage with gigantic spiders as protagonists . A truck transporting waste crashes and dropping an unfortunate chemical spill in a river . Some spiders are accidentally escaped and the eight-legged beasts increase their weight and wreak havoc , terrorizing and destroying the villagers . Residents of a rural mining town called Prosperity discover that a radioactive stuff has caused hundreds of little spiders to mutate to a giant size . It's then up to mining engineer Chris McCormack (David Arquette)and Sheriff Sam Parker (Kari Wuhrer) to mobilize a diverse group of townspeople , including the Sheriff's young son, Mike (Scott Terra ), her daughter, Ashley (Scarlett Johansson), and paranoid radio-speaker man named Harlan ( Doug E. Doug), into fight against the lethal eight-legged Aracs. Meanwhile the bloodthirsty spiders meet up local citizens and spontaneously catch them and begins to consume people. The spiders rapidly multiplies and the protagonists confronting with them . The eclectic bunch takes refuge at the Prosperity Mall and the little town is devastated by the spiders attack.

This monster/comedy film with quite budget packs thrills, some good action and funny moments. It's a hybrid of monster movies from the 50s such as 'Tarantula' and modern American production plenty of C.G.I. The thrilling screenplay is a bit yawn-inspiring but nifty special effects will keep you from dozing off, with nice creatures designers, created by means of Animatronics and computer visual effects . This is a suspenseful and amusing thriller especially at the amazing ending tableau when Lewis Arquette and Kari Wuhrer have to tackle the gigantic spider at the lair in the final. The flick is lavishly produced by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. Emmerich is a good director, writer and producer who founded along with Dean Devlin the company Centropolis Entertainment and expert on making movies for the masses and specialist on large-scale disaster movies ¨Day after tomorrow¨, ¨ 2012 ¨, spectacular stories ¨ Stargate ¨,¨ The patriot¨, ¨Universal soldier ¨ and giant monsters as Mammoth and Sabretooth in ¨10.000 B.c ¨ , aliens in ¨Independence day ¨ , ¨Godzilla¨ and spiders in ¨Eight legged freaks¨. The picture is well directed by Ellory Elkayem with rather too much camera movement and there are also lots of low-angle shots of people hanging around waiting to get bitten by the carnivorous spider. Although nothing which haven't been seen before, this is not the picture to watch if you are scared of spiders , however the movie is quite entertaining. Utterly arachnophobia people must flee this film.

Other movies about those bugs are the following : ¨Tarantula(1955)¨ by Jack Arnold with John Agar; ¨Tarantula: the deadly cargo(1977)¨ with Claude Akins; ¨Kingdom of spiders(77)¨ by John Budd Cardos with William Shatner and ¨Arachnophobia(1990)¨ by Frank Marshall with John Goodman.

This isn't a job for the pest control!

[lost-in-limbo · 6/10 · 14 April 2006]

In a remote, quiet mining town a barrel of toxic waste falls off a truck and lands in a creek. Naturally, it comes in contact with crickets, which are used to feed a collector's exotic spider collection and over a short matter of time these spiders have vastly grown. Arriving in town is a old resident, Chris McCormack who has return home after 10 years to look for the supposed gold that his deceased father claim was in their mine and also hopefully to clear up a certain matter with the lady he secretly loves; Samantha Parker, the town's sheriff. He discovers that the town is in ruin, but he wants to help it back from its economical ruin by finding that gold. But he didn't plan on the town soon being overrun by giant spiders! Now it's up to Chris, Sam and a small group of folks to team up and settle this "massive" problem.

"Eight Legged Freaks" is a lively B-grade, Sci-fi parody on the giant monster features from the Cold War era, where it combines nuclear matter with the disgusting fear of creepy crawlies. But this project adds some campy charm to proceedings, which does share a common interest with the even better "Tremors (1990)". This is a enjoyable, no-brainer of a film that doesn't waste any time by giving what the audience wants! There's nothing overly clever about it, but it delivers the excitement and occasion laugh when needed. While, the story might seem heavily cartoonish, the director is capable enough to provide good timing with the goofy humour and that of some thrilling set pieces that can raise some tense energy. What you'll notice would be the constant homage's cropping up and it goes out of its way to poke fun of the usual clichés that make headway in these films. The script is mostly in tongue-in-cheek and doesn't go into sort of mumbo-jumbo, but there are some self-knowing winks about too. The performances are all played with a straight-face, which definitely works in its favour and the combine cast turn in fine performances (yep, even David Arquette!). David Arquette is surprisingly good in a tone down way as the awkward Chris McCormack and his babelicious co-star Kari Wuhrer (who mostly makes appearances in shoddy b-grades) is equally impressive as Sheriff Samantha Parker. Other recognizable faces offered solid support included the always wonderful Scarlett Johansson, the humorous deputy sheriff played by Rick Overton and Doug E. Doug is the paranoid disc jockey, the usual comic relief guy. Now the film's main talking point has got to be well-presented CGI arachnids who come in many different shapes, sizes and personalities. Which, would create a spine tingling thought with anyone who suffers arachnophobia with the giant infestation of spiders who have a growing appetite. Though, one thing against the creative effects was that it was probably, terribly overused. The versatile score works out greatly too, by sticking with and drumming out the right tone to what's eventuating on screen. Also the closing gimmick song in the ending credits; "Itsy bitsy spider" by Joey Deluxe is rather a nice touch. Just expect some happy, feel good entertainment.

Sure it's forgettable, but I found it a delightful B-grade spoof that achieves what it was sets out to do. This throwback is nothing more than some good, lazy fun.

Side-note: Definitely check out Ellory Elkayem's suspenseful, experimental short film "Larger than Life" to see the inspiration for this piece.

If "Arachnophobia" made you shiver,this one will make you quiver.

[wneal · 17 July 2002]

If the movie "Arachnophobia" made you jump, gave you nightmares, or disturbed you enough that you are afraid to feel for a lightswitch in a dark,don't see "Eight Legged Freaks". This one has the feel of late 50's -early 60's horror/sci-fi movies without the phony looking monsters. These spiders looked REAL and their movements were orchestrated in such a way that you felt like you were really watching giant spiders on the screen. I can't say any of the human actors had really stand-out performances, because the spiders were the stars of this one. I will say that this movie and "Spider-Man" have the potential to interest young budding arachnophiles to take a serious look at the scientific side of spiders. Each of these movies gives the scientific names and characteristics of the different spiders involved(before the radiation takes effect),and does a super job of presenting their habits and idiosyncrasies. The only thing that might be questioned in either movie is the aggressiveness of the arachnids portrayed(perhaps this is the fault of the radiation as well). I give this movie "eight digits up" for sheer entertainment value.

Freakin' spiders run amok.

[michaelRokeefe · 4/10 · 7 August 2003]

With David Arquette starring you would immediately think this to be a stupid movie. Well, it is a stupid movie with a horrid script. But the F/X, namely the eight legged freaks, makes this flick a hoot to watch. A tribute, albeit on the silly side, to those great mutant creature features of the 50s. Arquette and Sheriff Sam(Kari Wuhrer)summon help in fighting off the toxic waste induced giant spiders wreaking havoc on their tiny town in Arizona. Also in the cast are Doug E. Doug, Rick Overton, Leon Rippy and the charming Scarlett Johansson.

It's called 'Eight Legged Freaks.' What did you expect?

[A_Roode · 7/10 · 12 March 2006]

Certainly there were any number of reasons for me to not like 'Eight Legged Freaks' before I watched it. I'm not a spider guy so I wasn't really interested in the first place. As far as actors go, I can't stand David Arquette. Generally I find him aggravating in the extreme and his characters highly unlikeable -- but more on that in a moment. And to paraphrase Val Lewton about his own RKO films: "It's hard for critics to give positive reviews to films called 'I Walked With a Zombie.'"

At the time of this review's writing, the film has a rating on the IMDb of 5.5/10. I'm actually quite surprised by that because despite my own personal biases, the film proved me wrong. I had no level of expectation for it and really no desire to watch it in the first place. I was wrong and I admit it. It was truly funny with some great sight gags and lines. There are definitely some decent scares and a pretty competent job of raising the level of tension in the film to a steady and consistent level. David Arquette surprised me and this might be the best performance he's ever put in. My personal bias against him was dead wrong in this movie.

'Eight Legged Freaks' is a throw back to creature films of the 50's and, as some other reviewers have alluded, to more contemporary films like 'Gremlins' and 'Tremors.' Horror-comedy is a difficult genre to work within but 'Eight Legged Freaks' manages to pull it off. The acting all around is good. A lot of the film is satirical (Doug E Doug's conspiracy guy) and the cgi is so obvious and over the top that, while it might be aggravating in a movie that took itself more seriously, you can't help but admire and respect the results.

That really is the strength of the movie -- it doesn't take itself as seriously as a lot of its critics did. 'Eight Legged Freaks' does what the best films should do: for two hours you forget you're watching a movie and you just enjoy yourself. I hope that time will be kind and maybe people will come around and give the movie another chance. Had this film taken itself seriously we would have ended up with a spider version of 'Bats.' This version and its self-deprecation are much worthier of your time.

almost but not quite

[FeastMode · 4/10 · 29 May 2020]

I liked this movie back when it came out, probably watched it two or three times. decided to give it another shot. it might have been better in its own time, but it's definitely no good enough now.

it made me laugh a few times but most of the comedy is pretty weak. and some of the spider attack scenes were exactly what i wanted out of a movie like this. but half of it so so goofy and cartoonish, like cat being attacked by a spider and you can see the outline of the cat as it gets thrown into the dry wall... numerous times. i couldn't believe it.

i'm all for a stupidly over-the-top movie about giant spiders attacking a town, but it can't feel like the loony toons. even the spider sound effects were ridiculous (about 4 viewings, 5/28/2020)

Good stuff!

[Cedric_Catsuits · 7/10 · 25 June 2006]

Unlike many modern-day movies that revolve around CGI and special effects, this one succeeds purely on the quality of the production and acting. There are some excellent effects indeed, but also some really dodgy ones. No matter when you have the likes of Arquette, Johansson, Wuhrer, Arlen Jones, and many more fine character actors on show. It must be very difficult to act with CGI, yet there are rarely, if ever, occasions when you see this cast looking even slightly lost.

It may be a parody, it may be silly, but it's apparent that a lot of care went into making this, and the cast look like they're having fun - which always creates a good impression. There is nothing remarkable here, or particularly scary, but it does what it's supposed to do - entertain the audience. One of those movies that seems to go by quickly, and during which you won't find your mind drifting off to another place. Not sure what to rent for the evening? This is definitely worth a look - unless spiders make you nervous!

Starts out pretty good but the tongue-in-cheek ruins it

[vostf · 4/10 · 27 August 2014]

It is OK to make a spoof movie. I am not a great fan of these, but it is a - lazy - genre. Now I really hate it when they switch horses in midstream with tongue-in-cheek jokes taking over. You cannot sell the real stuff and its spoof at the same time.

Eight-legged Freaks (not 8 legged freaks; see Goofs to see that Studios find it difficult to speak English) starts out pretty good for an horror movie. It is a well travelled road, so it is not actually original, but that is fine with me for the genre. The usual characters are in place and it is quite enjoyable to follow. Then, either it takes too long to establish the little community or it unfortunately switches from building up tension to unleashing hell. I reckon Roland Emmerich as a producer doesn't help maintaining subtlety as a motto.

Once the spiders are all over the place the movie becomes a "family horror roller-coaster". You don't have to care for the characters anymore: it is all just for a laugh! With all those CGI spiders everywhere they simply stop being scary. Pity since there were good ideas at first to make the story real creepy. The cat fighting with a spider behind plaster walls was a great idea, but it already got stretched beyond the point of goofiness. Same for the motocross chase in the desert: fine idea which eventually turns cartoonish.

The final act at the mall is a total mess. At this point every character is a puppet. Extras and background characters get killed, top-billed get to live whatever they do. Bottom line: Arac-attack/Eight-legged Freaks does not deliver on its promise of being an impressive horror movie. And it fails too as a spoof since the first part is seriously developing a scary plot.

Great little spider film!

[tord-1 · 7/10 · 18 July 2011]

This is one of those films that you can see over and over, and finding new things to enjoy. The story is simple, and similar to many other horror films, where insects/spiders for some reason become unnaturally big and prey on man. Great spiders, good acting, not that bad dialog, and a lot of humor.

Many films in this class take themselves totally serious (like the abysmal Alien vs Zombies), which this does not - a big plus in my book. That a Taser should be able to fire up an entire electrical grid (if small), is just about the only total slip-up - the rest is fairly good in both continuity and SFX. Some guy is waving an unloaded crossbow at the spiders, and still he can fire it, and nobody collects any fired bolts (the missiles a crossbow is bolts, not arrows), also quite questionable.

Well worth watching, and great fun!

More Of A Cheesy Parody

[jeremycrimsonfox · 3/10 · 4 July 2019]

Yeah, Eight-Legged Freaks is supposed to be a tribute to the B-Movies of the 1950's, but watching it, I felt like I was watching a cheesy parody of monster films. While the acting and special effects were good, the writing was below average, mainly because the script is filled with lines taken from other movies, references to other movies, or bringing up the usual tropes used in such films. While I do like references, if you use them too much, they lose their funny factor and become groan-inducing. Also, some scenes are either not funny or not scary enough. Best to watch with the mindset that is a parody.

I'm Shocked This Turned Out So Good!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 1 August 2006]

The only way I gave this a look was that someone loaned it to me for free. I now own it! This looked like it would be a stupid movie, and it some scenes it certainly was, but it was so entertaining that I know I will watch this a number of times.

This is a 1950s-type sci-fi flick with modern-day special effects. In fact, if you liked "Them!" you'll get a big kick of out of this film. The difference is the much- better special-effects but some low-grade attitudes and some profanity. The characters are dumb but they were dumb in the '50s, too.

The story starts off a bit slow but once the overgrown spiders emerge, the film goes full bore and gets extremely entertaining. It's almost too much action. One needs a break! By the end, you're glad it's over. Thus, if they had chopped 5-10 minutes off this, it would have been much better. Nonetheless, it's a fun ride with some genuinely scary parts and some humor, too. Since "entertainment" is the name of the game, this gets 8 stars even though it's lower-grade material.

It flat-out entertains.

Let The Squishing Begin

[gftbiloxi · 7/10 · 18 April 2005]

EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS was not well received by the critics and it did poorly at the box office--and frankly I'm surprised. Obviously we're not talking about "deep meanings" in reference to this film, but what it does, it does extremely well: part homage, part spoof, part horror, part comedy, and all of it a tremendous amount of fun! The film is essentially the classic 1950s "big bug" movie brought up to date and given a comic spin. A truck driver skids on the road and accidentally releases toxic chemicals into a pond; unfortunately, an "exotic spider farm" happens to be nearby, and when the spiders are contaminated by the chemicals they explode into creatures of monstrous proportions, nasty dispositions, and insatiable appetites. Cats, dogs, and even the occasional ostrich goes missing--can human victims be far behind?

The cast plays expertly, and two deserve special mention: Doug E. Doug, who is hilarious as the independent radio station broadcaster obsessed with UFOs, aliens, and government cover-ups, and Eileen Ryan as the chain-smoking, drop-dead-talking Aunt Gladys. But although every one does well with their often-comic characters, the emphasis isn't on the cast: it's on special effects, sight-gags, and a traditional "big bug" plot played at a breakneck speed. It's all smoothly, slickly done, and the special effects are terrific without going into overkill.

Now, the film is rather icky: after all, the spiders jump and bite and slurp, and when the townfolk go after them with everything from guns to pitchforks to chainsaws they also splatter in an appropriately disgusting way. Some viewers will be turned off by the black humor of the piece--particularly as it references the pets that go missing early on in the film. (I admit I winced a bit myself there!) Some viewers may be turned off by the "ick" factor and the violence, of which there is aplenty; others may take issue with the plot itself, which as noted is pretty traditional. But this isn't an Ingmar Bergman or Fellini film we're talking about here, and if you want a modern twist on a classic sci-fi theme, EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS is sure to please. The DVD release has several extras, some of which are fun as well. On the whole, I give it seven big squishes!

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Eight Legged Freaks (2002)

[fntstcplnt · 5/10 · 31 October 2019]

Directed by Ellory Elkayem. Starring David Arquette, Kari Wuhrer, Scarlett Johansson, Scott Terra, Doug E. Doug, Leon Rippy, Rick Overton, Matt Czuchry, Eileen Ryan, Tom Noonan. (PG-13)

A plethora of spiders eat a bunch of toxic waste-exposed crickets and swell up to king-size bed proportions, wreak havoc in a small Arizona town. If the plot summary, title, poster, and presence of David Arquette isn't enough of a tip-off, rest assured that this one has all eight of its feet in campy/cheesy territory; the problem is that it doesn't go far enough in that goofy direction (it's certainly not serious or scary). The script isn't witty enough to be clever, not outrageous enough to be pure schlock, nor focused enough to be satirical; similarly, the special effects should either be a lot better or a lot worse to work. Workmanlike direction doesn't help much, either. Its overall effect is quite mild, a passable way to waste an hour-and-a-half watching giant arachnids stomp around, but most of its inspirations ("Tremors," "Arachnophobia," any number of 50s atomic monster rampage flicks, etc.) are more fun. Where's John Goodman when you need him?

47/100

We laughed a couple of times...

[ulrik_tr · 1/10 · 15 March 2003]

LOL, judging by the title, i don't think i have to write "SPOILER WARNING" here.. The plot is SO bad, it's unbelievable, and i think you can easily guess it by the title. Here's the story: A horde of spiders mutate overnight, and start killing people in the local town. It's not a horror movie. There's not a single scene that's chocking, and where's the atmosphere? Even if the characters have seen their best friends been eaten by giant mutant spiders, they don't seem to be very affected. They are still sarcastic and make stupid b-film jokes, where they are supposed to be frightened and sad. Okay, we laughed a couple of times while we saw this (when the spiders got shot, and the ugly-made blood splattered all over the place), and the silly sounds they had given all the monsters. When did spiders start making *squaky* alien sounds?

And a little one for the goofs: At the ending, they are walking around in a mine, filled with methane gas. They can't make any kind of fire or sparkle, because it will set it off. Still, they can run a motor cycle with an explosion-engine. LOL.

1/10 stars. crap.

Arachnophobia magnified

[view_and_review · 7/10 · 29 April 2007]

"Eight Legged Freaks" earned my respect simply because it never tried to pretend to be something it wasn't. It came right out and let it be known that it was a 'B' style comedy horror (or horror comedy, however it is supposed to be worded), instead of trying to disguise itself as a genuine and serious scary movie. They even gave the movie a silly name. If more movies were as honest as "Eight Legged Freaks", then they would probably do better at the box office, and they would definitely get better reviews because the audience would already know what they are going to watch. "Eight Legged Freaks" was very much like "Arachnophobia" of the early 90's except with the small difference, or should I say large difference. Of course, in "Eight Legged Freaks" the spiders were gargantuan and terrorized an entire town as opposed to being small and just terrorizing a couple of households.

When some toxic waste fell into a lake in the small town of Prosperity, Arizona, it set off a chain of events. An avid spider collector named Joshua (Tom Noonan) collected crickets around that lake to feed to his spiders. His spiders then grew to freakishly enormous sizes. They killed Joshua, broke out of their domiciles, and attacked the town.

The town fell into an all out panic with a handful of heroes emerging:

Chris McCormick (David Arquette). He is the main protagonist who returned home to Prosperity after being gone for ten years. His father ran the mines that were no longer in operation.

Samantha "Sam" Parker (Kari Wuhrer). She was the sheriff and love interest of Chris (there's always gotta be a love interest).

Mike Parker (Scott Terra). He was the young son of Sam and the most knowledgeable in the town regarding spiders.

Ashley Parker (Scarlett Johansson). Sam's daughter, the sassy teen who was scared straight and became helpful.

Harlan Griffith (Doug E. Doug). He was a big time conspiracy theorist who ran a small radio station out of his aluminum trailer home.

Pete Willis (Rick Overton). He was the dumb, yet faithful deputy.

Nearly everyone else besides them became spider food. I liked the movie. I liked it even more than "Kingdom of Spiders" (1977) and "Arachnophobia" (1990). It was funny, it was eerie and it was as cheesy as advertised.

Netflix.

Not as corny as you might think..

[Troy2Slick · 4/10 · 4 May 2003]

This movie isn't as corny as you may think it will be. It does have a lot of wackiness involved, but it's all done intentionally. It doesn't try to portray itself as a high tech, knock your socks off horror or thriller. It's a portrayal of the '50s genre of horror. As Slapsticky as that was, this is as well, in a sense. The spiders look pretty realistic, if you ask me. Of course, they squeak and sputter nonsensical stuff, kind of like the little gremlins did in the 1984 Gremlins, or like Critters. It's a good popcorn, leave your brain at home, make sure to buy a matinee movie ticket type of flick. But heck, it's a lot of fun! This is one of David Arquette's better movies to date. With many duds in the past such as See Spot Run, Ready 2 Rumble, Scream 3, 3000 Miles to Graceland, The Shrink is In, Free Money, RPM, The Alarmist, Wild Bill, Fall Time, Airheads, The Road Killers, The Killing Box, The Webbers and Never Been Kissed, you can tell from this list of duds, that he's grasping for a job in Hollywood. This film also features Scarlett Johansson (The Horse Whisperer, Ghost World), Scott Terra (Daredevil), Kari Wuhrer (Anaconda), Doug E. Doug (Cosby, Jungle Fever), Rick Overton (Mrs. Doubtfire, Groundhog Day) as you can tell, these actors aren't just fresh off the street. It does have somewhat of a B-Movie feel to it, but the spiders don't look low budget. The acting isn't anything to spectacular, but it's good enough to make it effective. I give this movie 2 *'s out of 4's. Recommended as a no-brainer, enjoyable invasion of the giant spiders flick. Rent it today.

Could you ask for more than "big bugs" in a B-movie homage.

[vip_ebriega · 7/10 · 15 May 2008]

My Take: A hilarious send-off of the silly B-movies of the 50's.

EIGHT-LEGGED FREAKS is a campy, big-bug B movie with all the usual refinements: actors with a B-profile resume, a script which is only about of town fighting against uninvited guests (in this case, giant spiders) and a special effects crew that could make this menaces into the new special effects creature in the book. Although the special effects in EIGHT-LEGGED FREAKS won't break anything in the record of special effects creations, they do their job. These slime-spewing, screeching arachnids are both phony and convincing, sometimes at the same time. But they are what they are, there the behemoths that are expected from a B-movie homage called EIGHT-LEGGED FREAKS.

Almost every frame of the film is devoted to those old B-movie clichés. There's the hero, an average Joe returnee named Chris McCormick (David Arquette), returning home after years of absence. He, as son of a famous mining engineer, is disappointed at how the town's (Prosperity, Arizona) economy has dropped. The mines are being closed in favor of a mall being built by the town's greedy consumerist mayor (Leon Rippy), who has also moved to a business of an ostrich farm. Chris is the town hero who leads the brigade to stop the creeping crawlers, who are by the way mutated to large size when they ingest a certain amount of nuclear wastes.

What B-movie (or an homage) would be complete without the presence of the kid who discovers the danger and is never believed by those he tells. This kid is played by Scott Terra, a kid who loves spiders and freaks out when he finds one that's way bigger than the usual size. Kari Wuhrer (from ANACONDA) plays Sheriff Sam Parker, another tough fighter as well as Chris' ex-flame and Scarlett Johanssonn plays her rebellious daughter. Doug E. Doug provides the most hilarious character as an eccentric radio announcer who believes in the coming of "them". Eileen Ryan and Rick Overton play other townies fighting against the giant spiders.

Despite the human cast, there's the real stars of the show, the giant spiders. Like dinosaurs in JURASSIC PARK or the cantina creatures in STAR WARS, these critters come in all of sorts. There are giant tarantulas, leaping spiders, trapdoor spiders and spiders the size of the latest SUV's. It's all thanks to the creative wackiness of the special effects crew. The script is also filled with wit an charm, a straight to those B-movies like THEM and TARANTULA. Not for all tastes, but anyone with a taste for the absurd will definitely love this.

Rating: ***1/2 out of 5.

Ehhh...

[nike738 · 2/10 · 14 December 2002]

When I popped the movie into my DVD player, I wasn't expecting much. Yes, I knew it was gonna be a pretty bad movie, but I wanted brainless fun. It started about pretty good, catchy music, good camera work, but then it just started to stink. I couldn't tell what the movie wanted to be! Was it horror/suspense, comedy, love, a spoof,? Basically, It was one of the biggest messes of a film that I have ever seen.

The story (if that) was okay, a small town being taken over by giant spiders, it had the potential to be a fun movie. But everything got ruined! Lame jokes, pitiful acting, annoying characters, the list is endless. They even made the spiders have little voices, like the gremlins, for gosh sakes! This may be a spoiler, but not really.

*****SPOILER******* Mostly everyone and everything dies! The first few times it was entertaining, but then it just got sooooo redundant, I could have fast forwarded without missing anything! I mean, who wants to see animals and humans getting killed by spiders every five minutes? ******************

I know the movie was not taking itself seriously, and I know the producers of it probably don't want anyone thinking about it too much, but still, I can't stand it when so much money is spent on useless trash that could have helped starving children! Thanks for reading my comment, I'm done. Overall Grade: 2 (I am against giving movies a '1', because I don't think there is a movie where every single thing about it is bad, but this came really close!)

Arach Attack!

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 12 June 2009]

Spiders escape from a spider farm in Prosperity, Arizona, and become giant man eating beasts on account of toxic waste accidentally dumped in a near by river. Can the odd ball inhabitants of this Arizona town escape with their lives? Or will spiders rule the earth and lay waste to man kind?

Eight Legged Freaks is unashamedly homaging "B" movie creature features from the 1950s. The likes of Tarantula and Them! have their Pedipalps well and truly watered, in what is possibly the most undervalued of all the modern day creature feature homages. Having no pretensions what so ever, the only real thing not in "Freaks" favour is the usage of CGI, but even that doesn't hurt the film, if anything it adds to the obvious preposterous nature of the genre. I mean how else are we to get 20 foot jumping spiders chowing down on some annoying teenager?

Perhaps "Freaks" is viewed harsh because the cast is relatively "C" list? Again that is a genre staple, surely? For what it's worth I think they do real fine, David Arquette has oodles of goofy charisma, Kari Wuher makes a fine female ass kicker, and the kids (one a young Scarlett Johansen) are really rather cool. Director Ellory Elkayem, who after doing They Nest in 2000 clearly has bug issues, adheres to genre staples. Kooky western town out in the desert, the inhabitants of which range from near loonies to dopey politicians, and the plot follows the traditional sense of impending doom played for laughs. Listen out for the score from John Ottman, which plays on variants of "Itsy Bitsy Spider", whilst cast a keen eye on John S. Bartley's Arizona camera work.

Whilst not having the savvy scripting of homage daddy, Tremors, or the star appeal of 1990's Arachnophobia, Eight Legged Freaks deserves its place amongst such fun and creepy company. As the tag line says, "Do you hate spiders? Do you really hate spiders? Well they don't like you either."With that, I think it's web well and truly spun, don't you? 7/10

Where have all the chiche's gone?

[Charles-31 · 3/10 · 28 July 2002]

One thing I have never cared much for is the movie cliché. You know, evil twins and the like. You've seen them many, many times. And, horror movies have more than their fair share. Let's split up. Invincible monsters that cannot be destroyed. Just stick your head into that hole. The inevitable "bad guy who's only out for himself". Telegraphing the means of your salvation to the audience. "Nobody believes me!" The brilliant kid nobody will listen to. The rebellious daughter. Television series die from their inclusion. Movies such as Hollow Man resort to them because they have no original ideas. In general, they are a sign of awful film making.

Interestingly enough, Eight Legged Freaks appears to have spent considerable effort cataloging the horror/monster genre cliché's in an effort to get them into one film all at once, and that they do so admirably. No, the movie is not very good. The acting is awful, there is NOTHING you can't predict, the heroes can escape any hazard, and the extras are toast. But, just the amazing completeness of the cliché catalog makes this movie worth not only watching, but worthy of detailed study by a film researcher. They have them all, some more than once. Had I spent weeks working on a checklist, I could have checked them all off as present and accounted for during this film. So, be sure to see this film, though I don't recommend actually giving them money. Wait for it to be on cable TV. If Mystery Science Theatre ever returns, that would be the perfect forum for it.

This movie has another interesting characteristic that is worth pointing out. I first noticed this characteristic in the old Stephen King movie Maximum Overdrive. It's what I call the surrender to comedy trend. About half way through Eight Legged Freaks you can tell that the director has given up on making anything remotely resembling a horror movie. The rushes have demonstrated that attempts at fright are coming out dumb or humorous. So, they give up. It happened in Maximum Overdrive and it's happened here. They decided to make a comedy. They try to cover it up a bit, but it doesn't work very well. You know that they know they failed and are trying to salvage what they can.

I did expect one thing that would have been fun in this movie, but did not happen. I fully expected the ending (after everyone is happy) to exhibit the ominous shadow of a very large rabbit.

Beautifully brainless fun!

[EmbyQuinn · 8/10 · 13 January 2006]

Giant spiders attack a sleepy Arizona mining town. Zany hijinks ensue.

This movie is a nod--or a series of nods, really--to the classic B-movie "giant insect run amok" genre in the spirit of "Them!", "The Praying Mantis", and especially "Tarantula". A mixture of weird science gone wrong and shady double-dealing turns a local exotic spider collection into rampaging, man-eating monsters.

Is it scientifically accurate? Hell, no. Is it great drama? Afraid not. Is it Academy Award material? I don't think so. Is it *fun*? You bet! Part of the fun of this movie is that it *isn't* trying to educate anybody about the environment, the ozone layer, global warming, or terrorist attacks. It's beautifully brainless entertainment and if you like to laugh--a *lot*--you'll love this movie. Rent it! Now!

Lot like Tremors, which is a good thing.

[rooboy84 · 7/10 · 8 October 2002]

This film is a hell of a lot like Tremors, and I give Eight legged freaks points for just trying to beat it.

*Spoilers*

When all kinds of species of spiders are contaminated with the toxic waste that is accidently dumped into a local river/lake, they mutate into giant killing machines.

Amazing special effects definetley bring the freaks to life, and mixed with great acting by fresh actors and humour equals a serious challenger to Tremors.

Like Tremors, it's not gorey, just a little gross - well - probably not even that. Also I noticed when the spiders were attacking the mall one of the spiders up on the ledge was waving them in - like a commander. I thought this was funny - like lots of other things in the movie.

In my book, Tremors comes first, but Eight Legged Freaks gives it a run for it's money and is the second best sci-fi/comedy spoof i've seen.

8.7/10

By the way, if you don't like spiders you probably shouldn't see it.

Eight Legged Nonsense.

[anaconda-40658 · 3/10 · 23 June 2015]

Eight-Legged Freaks (2002): Dir: Ellory Elkayem / Cast: David Arquette, Kari Wuhrer, Scarlett Johansson, Doug E. Doug, Rick Overton: Presenting a mutating normality that isn't a great idea. The simple plot regards a barrel of toxic substance spilling into a river with a growth affect on spiders. What follows is numerous attacks on people for no other purpose than to entertain stupidity. Horrible special effects with spiders jumping out at people but it doesn't even look as if any contact is being made. Repetitious story with director Ellory Elkayem quoting from other pathetic spider trauma movies. David Arquette hardly sympathetic as he arrives back in town after ten years away. After this film he may desire to take ten years off from acting so to forget this sh*t stain film altogether. Kari Wuhrer plays a Sheriff who warns daughter Scarlett Johansson about sexually corrupt males. Perhaps she should warn her about accepting scripts as lame as this one and then apply the same medicine to herself. Doug E. Doug plays a radio personality who believes in aliens. Well, if he believes that this film is a career booster then perhaps he can believe in anything. Rick Overton plays Wuhrer's moron Deputy who has cob webs for brains. Basically a send off to superior monster movies of the 1950's but this film should be squashed with an oversized sledgehammer. Score: 3 / 10

SHAME ON THE CRITICS! THIS MOVIE IS GOOD!

[GOWBTW · 4 December 2003]

Hey! David Arquette did very well in this movie. Like most horror spoofs of mutant spiders, this one really took it on a funnier note. It wasn't all too scary, nor was it very gory. It was just perfect for spoof fans. If you like "Kingdom of the Spiders" with William Shatner, you enjoy "Eight Legged Freaks" You'll have a ball with it. 3 out of 5 stars.