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.
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.