Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Venomous spiders get exposed to a noxious chemical that causes them to grow to monumental proportions.What separates this film from some of the lowest-budget science fiction films out there is the cast. The effects are not really any better than the films shown on SyFy, but the talent in the cast brings this up a notch from crud to minor cult classic. The inclusion of Scarlett Johansson right before she got big helps, too.Having David Arquette as the leading man is an interesting choice. Arquette is fun, quirky and does a great job as comic relief. We rarely see him carry a movie. But, to be honest, he did a fairly good job here. The cover tries to play up his goofiness, but he is actually very much the "straight guy" here.

The residents of a mining town discover that a chemical spill has caused hundreds of spiders to mutate overnight to the size of SUVs. It's then up to mining engineer Chris McCormack and Sheriff Sam Parker to gather a group of townspeople, including the Sheriff's son, Mike, her daughter, Ashley, and radio announcer Harlan, into battle against the eight- legged behemoths.With all the good intentions of the film trying to homage creature features from the fifties, Eight Legged Freaks forgets to do the important thing when homaging a genre, to make it a fun.I wanted something in the vein of Gremlins, something that was dark, as well as funny, but it's not dark at all, in fact, watching it 14 years after it's release, it's about at the standard of an Asylum production.To make a film like this, you really have to go over the top with the narrative, because after the initial Spider rampage starts, you need some characters who are eccentric, and have some strange character traits.The cast are okay, but they have nothing about them. Arquette just does Dewey, but with a higher intellect, Doug E Doug plays the most interesting character, but again, they could have really made the paranoid DJ just that little more crazier.In a world where Sharknado and Lavantula exist, this bigger budget product looks quite lame compared to those two franchises, because it's just a little to serious for it's own good.Only worth seeing if you have a strange desire to see Scarlett Johannssen get covered in a spider web....

One night on a dark, desert highway the driver of a truck carrying a few barrels of hazardous chemicals takes a turn too quickly and one of the barrels accidentally gets dumped into a pond off of the side of the road. As luck would have it this pond just happens to be near a house where an eccentric man collects all kinds of spiders. Noticing that the insects near the pond have started to grow to a pretty good size, the man gleefully begins to use them as food for his exotic pets. What he doesn't count on is these spiders getting loose and subsequently growing to a massive size. Soon the residents of a nearby town notice that their cats and dogs are disappearing with no apparent explanation for it. However, that soon changes one night when the spiders decide to start feeding on the humans as well. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this started off as a decent sci-fi/horror film not unlike those seen back in the 50's. Unfortunately, the focus shifted from horror and suspense to non-stop action which resulted in an all-too-typical over-reliance on special effects and other assorted gimmicks thus causing it to essentially morph into a host of similar movies produced in the last decade or so. Basically, if you've seen one action film like this then you've pretty much seen them all. And, quite frankly, there's only so much enjoyment a person can get from watching the same action-packed scenario over and over again. In short, there were a lot of big spiders killing people for almost 90 minutes followed afterward by a rather predictable ending. No doubt those who enjoy movies of this type will absolutely love this particular film. However, I got bored with it after the first 30 minutes or so and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

This is going to date me. "Eight Legged Freaks" is the first time I can remember being excited about a movie no one else cared about. It was my first year of high school, I think. I was just far enough into my teens that my love of black and white creature features were confirmed. Someone was attempting to revive the big bug picture in 2002? Hell yeah, I was up for me. No one else was. It bombed domestically (though broke even internationally) and reviews were middling. The movie isn't quite old or endearing enough to have a cult following. If the "Eight Legged Freaks" fandom has to start somewhere, let it start with me.The story is basically "Gremlins" by way of "Tarantula." This is most obvious in how the film treats its threats. The giant spiders of "Eight Legged Freaks" are arachnid goof balls. The CGI is clearly dated but the animators and special effect guys made sure the spiders had personality. They mumble, shriek, and grumble like Killer Tomatoes. Their vocalizations are intentionally exaggerated and cartoonish. On two separate occasions, giant spiders get dragged behind moving cars. One grumbles in frustration after taking a bite out of a stuffed moose. Another jumps flat into a closed window. One spider out-boxes a boxer. Another cheers on his brothers as they rush the mall. One slides down on a rope, screaming the whole way. A shot spider swings on a thread, dousing his pals with green spider goop. One of the best spider gags involves a sneaky tent. Even a die-hard arachnophobe is more likely to laugh then scream. "Eight Legged Freaks" is less a modern reinvention of the classic big bug flick then a Mel Brooks parody on the subgenre. I guess some might find that to be a one-note joke but, I don't know guys, wacky giant spiders? Count me in.The film also nails the small town setting. Prosperity, Arizona is nicely isolated at times. The ensemble cast quickly gives you a sense of community. You believe that this small time is fighting for their mutual survival. The crusty old barber and near-sided janitor are equally amusing, each assign simple, entertaining personalities. Doug E. Doug finds a great home for his overtaxed comedic style as the local conspiracy radio host. His beleaguered shouts of frustration prove consistently funny. Rick Overton is also great as Deputy Pete. His reactions to the spiders are, at first, shocked confusion, later transitioning to dead-pan fear. Leon Rippy's talents are also well-suited to the conniving town mayor. Tom Noonan, uncredited and with minutes of screen time, makes an impression too. The strong character actor cast is another reason to love "Eight Legged Freaks." The supporting cast proves far more memorable then the leads. I'm willing to give David Arquette more slack then others. But there's no mistaking the guy for leading man material. His attempts at one-liners are especially groan-inducing. His performance works best when playing up his nervous qualities. Kari Wuhrer is never convincing as a mom or action heroine. Yeah, she looks fantastic in tight jeans and t-shirts but can hardly carry the film. She has zero chemistry with Arquette. Even Scarlett Johansson, hardly a great actress in her right, outshines the leads. (And also looks fantastic in tight t-shirts and jeans.) You can actually see elements of a more serious horror film under "Eight Legged Freaks" goofy exterior. A mouthful of spiders, regardless of size, is likely to make some squirm. The trapdoor spiders snatching people running across a parking lot could have been mined for real scares. Probably the biggest action set-piece in the film is the jumping spiders going after the kids on dirt bikes. This is the closest the film comes to real tension and, even then, it's awash in silly special effects. I'm not complaining, simply noting. It wouldn't surprise me if this started life as a more serious screenplay.The script is decently constructed. You can tell that the cigarettes, stun gun, and underground gas veins will be important later. I still appreciate the effort to set them up. I also appreciate the horror in-jokes, "Them" on TV, the mall invasion finale, the Hockey Mask/Chainsaw combo. The Micky-Mousing score is probably the only thing about the movie I don't like. That's the only overly jokey element. Even then, incorporating a low-pitched version of "Itsy Bitsy Spider" was clever. An early scene where a spider and a cat wrestle inside a wall probably goes on too long and reaches too hard for the kind of silly laughs the rest of the movie has no problem with. "Eight Legged Freaks" is still underrated and underseen. This surprises me. I can think of many horror fans who would love its goofy charms.