Eight Legged Freaks (2002)

Venomous spiders get exposed to a noxious chemical that causes them to grow to monumental proportions.

Director:

Ellory Elkayem

Writers:

Ellory Elkayem (story), Randy Kornfield (story)

Stars:

David Arquette, Kari Wuhrer, Scott Terra

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Arquette	...	Chris McCormick
Kari Wuhrer	...	Sheriff Samantha Parker
Scott Terra	...	Mike Parker
Scarlett Johansson	...	Ashley Parker
Doug E. Doug	...	Harlan Griffith
Rick Overton	...	Deputy Pete Willis
Leon Rippy	...	Wade
Matt Czuchry	...	Bret
Jay Arlen Jones	...	Leon
Eileen Ryan	...	Gladys
Riley Smith	...	Randy
Matt Holwick	...	Larry
Jane Edith Wilson	...	Emma
Jack Moore	...	Amos
Roy Gaintner	...	Floyd

Storyline

The residents of a rural mining town discover that an unfortunate chemical spill has caused hundreds of little spiders to mutate overnight to the size of SUVs. It's then up to mining engineer Chris McCormack and Sheriff Sam Parker to mobilize an eclectic group of townspeople, including the Sheriff's young son, Mike, her daughter, Ashley, and paranoid radio announcer Harlan, into battle against the bloodthirsty eight-legged beasts.

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Plot Keywords:

giant spider | town in panic | spider | three word title | spiderweb | 

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Taglines:

Do you hate spiders? Do you really hate spiders? Well they don't like you either.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence, brief sexuality and language

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros [France] Warner Bros [UK]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 July 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Arac Attack

Filming Locations:

Tonopah, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,485,458, 21 July 2002, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$17,322,606

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$45,867,333

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, NPV Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the mayor sees all the people running towards the mall, he says the line: "If you build it, they will come!". It's inspired by the line : "If you build it, he will come." from Field of Dreams (1989) starring Kevin Costner.

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Goofs

When Chris is hugging Aunt Gladys, a hand is visible pulling on the dog that is supposed to be biting his leg.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Harlan: Do you know fear?

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Connections

References Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! (1978)

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Soundtracks

Itsy Bitsy Spider
Written and Performed by Joey Deluxe
Produced by Joey Deluxe
(appears in the opening and closing credits)
Courtesy of Joe Merholz Music ASCAP

User Reviews

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

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.