****1/2          Let the Giant Spider Blasting Begin!

Because they love old campy 50's giant bug movies so much, those guys who made "Independence Day" and "Godzilla" (98) and such decided to make one of their own. The result is a movie that is the same theme, but with updated special effects and a much bigger budget to use them with. Plus they decided to squash a bunch of computer generated giant spiders.

A barrel full of chemicals falls off the side of a road near Prosperity, Arizona, and just so happens to land next to a spider farm. The various spiders there grow to enormous size (of course), and start to wreak havoc. It starts out with a few house pets, then a few ostriches, and eventually becomes a full-scale invasion. Townsfolk get eaten left and right, with the exceptions of a few "chosen ones" (usually the main characters). They hide out in the local excessively large mall, but the swarm follows. Even though they keep getting "splatted", there are plenty of them (over 2,000 small ones and two big ones). They all eventually go in the mines under the town, which just so happen to be filled with methane gas. One gigantic explosion latter, and most of their spider problem is gone. Despite great loss, a new deposit of gold gives hope to the half-eaten town.

The basic concept is for a campy B-movie featuring giant spiders, except with much better effects. I think they reached that goal. The plot is on the same theme, most of the clichés still intact. You got down-to-earth characters going through a down-to-earth story-line before it becomes not so down-to-earth. Unlike earlier giant bug movies, this one has some pretty good acting, especially by David Arquette, who makes the line "Get back you eight legged freaks!" sound so good. The rest of the backplot is pretty good, centering around a dying mining town ran by a major who gets crazy businesses in it (like ostrich farms and big malls). There is enough humor around to make itself non-serious, and yet it never gets overly silly. There is a quick joke around every corner, and some hilarious spider splatter scenes. The spider plot itself is typical; chemicals make the spiders big and bad as usual. They're not really freaks, though, and mainly just look like larger versions of the real things. There is a variety of 5-6 different species, all chosen well. You got jumping spiders jumping around, trapper spiders coming out of nowhere, orb weavers tangling people up in webs, and of course the big bad tarantula. The humans get chased around through a variety of action scenes in a variety of places, all chosen well to. From the streets to the mall to the mines, each place is a great battleground. Only problem is that the humans don't put up much of a fight. Other than the main characters with shotguns, the people just stand around and get eaten. Still a lot of spider splattering, though.

The special effects themselves are quite good. The spiders look quite believable in appearance, and rarely slip into "fake-looking" mode. There is a ton of action scenes with tons and tons of spiders crawling around. Spiders are everywhere, and do just about anything. They take down people on dirt bikes, they invade Main Street, and they get blown up real good to. There are a couple really good really big explosions, and are about as cool looking as the spiders themselves. Spider juice gets thrown everywhere with great effect as they get shot or hacked up with a chainsaw. The spiders move around and act quite believable, but occasional act cartoony for campy fun value. Pretty much the computerized effects are used very well, and really add to the movie. Although it's a funny campy movie, the effects are all big budget. And so you can be thrilled with awe as a massive army of spiders run around and make havoc, and for once be able to think it looked quite real.

The movie is set to be a typical classic-style giant monster movie, and it does just that. And the great special effects make it even better. It has it's problems, such as the spiders making unrealistic funny noises when crushed, but most are there to add to the feel of the thing. It's a non serious movie where you just sit back and watch giant spiders run around. If you except this to be a movie with an original plot that has lots of plot elements to add to character drama, then you will be disappointed. If you except it to be a fun campy remake of movies like "Them", "Tarantula", and "The Black Scorpion", with a little bit of "Arachnophobia" and "Evolution" thrown in, then this movie would be a thrill to see. It billed itself as " The biggest... nastiest... mutant spider movie of all time!!!!", and it succeeded.

Great classic monster movie style plot

Terrific special effects

Lots of cool spider squashing

A lot of really cool action scenes

It's a fun thrill ride

Big explosions

Silly, funny, and lame in a good way

Succeeded in all expectations

Occasional lapses in "goodness"

I feel sorry for that cat

The generic townsfolk doesn't put up a good fight

So just why are the spiders working together anyways?

That guy with the chainsaw and hockey mask does not get enough screen time

Spiders are not capable of saying "Aaaeiiieeee", "Aaaaahhhh", or "Ouchies"!

Credits