Eight Legged Freaks *** (2002, David Arquette, Kari Wuhrer, Scott Terra, Scarlett Johansson, Doug E Doug, Rick Overton, Leon Rippy) – Classic Movie Review 7021

Watch out, bloodthirsty beasts are about when a bunch of exotic venomous spiders eat noxious chemicals of toxic waste and grow to humungous size. Naturally, there is a small American town to be terrorised, and a dumb hero, engineer Chris McCormick (David Arquette), to mobilise folk into battle against the bloodthirsty eight-legged monsters, with help from Sheriff Samantha Parker (Kari Wuhrer), her daughter Ashley (Scarlett Johansson) and her young son Mike (Scott Terra).

The scene is set for co-writer/ director Ellory Elkayem’s daft 2002 rollercoaster-ride of laughs and scares in a tongue-in-cheek, Fifties B-movie-style horror chiller along Tremors lines. If the script’s invention flags in places, the monsters are superbly realised in state-of-the-art special effects and visual effects, there are great stunts, the Arizona stock characters are funny, and the daffy Arquette proves a surprisingly endearing hero.

Also in the cast are Doug E Doug, Rick Overton, Leon Rippy, Matt Czuchry, Jay Arlen Jones, Eileen Ryan, Riley Smith, Matt Holwick, Jane Edith Wilson, Jack Moore, Roy Gainter, Don Champlin, John Christopher Storey, David Earl Waterman, Randi J Klein, Terey Summers, John Ennis and Ryan C Benson.

Eight Legged Freaks is directed by Ellory Elkayem, runs 99 minutes, is produced by Centropolis, Electric, NPV and Village Roadshow, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Ellory Elkayem and Jesse Alexander (screenplay), from a story by Ellory Elkayem and Randy Kornfield, is shot by John S Bartley, is produced by Bruce Berman and Dean Devlin, is scored by John Ottman and is designed by Charles William Breen.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7021

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