"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.
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.