'Larger than Life' is one of the special features on the Australian edition of the 'Eight Legged Freaks' DVD. This short film, directed by NZ filmmaker Ellory Elkayem, inspired the feature 'Eight Legged Freaks' (also directed by Elkayem).
'Larger than Life' is a tribute to the type of cheezy Z-grade horror films that Ed Wood would have made. Filmed in black & white, Elkayem's film concerns a young woman caught up in the specificities of everyday domestic life: cleaning the bath, using a malfunctioning gas stove, calling the exterminator because of the not-so-usual-proliferation-of-larger-than-life-arachnoids! Cue the dramatic orchestrated music and corny spider sound effects and you have classic cheese horror that ironically recalls early exploitation horror flicks without being overly postmodern - or is that postmortem? It's hard to tell the difference these days...
'Larger than Life' is a great short that ranks alongside fellow NZ-filmmaker Alison Maclean's dark, menacing black & white short 'Kitchen Sink' (1989).
