Very disappointing...

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

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

An inappropriate title adorns this weak rehash of 1986's THE FLY, with all of Cronenberg's chills and explicit gruesomeness watered down to a television movie level. Sadly, for fans looking for some giant creature action, the only thrills this movie offers are of the low-budget variety, and such thrills as they are come few and far between. Instead, this amateurishly-scripted nonsense treads the length of its storyline with too much talk and not enough action, and a rushed, anti-climatic ending which offers none of the destruction I had initially hoped for. More of a whimper than a bang. The film itself is part of a series of five movies called 'Creature Features', which - with the help of Stan Winston, Colleen Camp, Lou Arkoff and others - have been created as homages to the sci-fi/horror movies of the 1950s. I only hope that the other instalments are closer to the real thing than this disappointment.Not that the film is totally bad; indeed there are a few redeeming qualities here and there, but the combination of a veteran actor (Dan Aykroyd) and a veteran effects man (Stan Winston) should have at least made a good film. My mistake. Dan Aykroyd does star as world-weary cop Jack Grillo, but his character is underdeveloped and performance-wise he simply goes through the motions in his own downtrodden way. Don't get me wrong, I love Aykroyd and his work, but this is definitely one of his lesser performances. The bulk of the screen time goes to fresh-faced newcomer Devon Gummersall but he's no Al Hedison or Jeff Goldblum; you never really sympathise with his plight, which is proof of this. The fact that the situation arises because Gummersall wants to be a superhero like in his comics also smacks of dumbing down (previous versions of the tale used science gone wrong as a basis for the horror to follow).One genuinely good performance comes from female lead and Denise Richards lookalike Amelia Heinle, as the neighbour with a heart of gold who wants to help our lead out; her quiet, laid back character is a nice change from the screaming blonde heroines usually seen in modern horror fare. Theresa Russell also makes a small appearance playing an unlikable and slightly crazy character. The few deaths that the film offers are mostly off screen with nothing in the way of gore; the transformation effects are suitably icky but I was hoping for a little more realism from the Stan Winston Studio instead of just ripping off THE FLY. It doesn't help that 90% of the film takes place in a hallway and apartment room either. Sorely lacking in both action and intelligence, EARTH VS THE SPIDER is a disappointing film in which the various ingredients - tragedy, superhero worship and bodily deformation - never really gel.

There are many sides to a script, what you appreciated was just I wasn't admired for. I vote this film for 6,even 7, cause in my opinion, I assumed that this movie tended to transform the topic to humanity. When the comic-addicted person injected some unknown blood-cell, you know it was illegal, but he wanted to be like spider-man, saved those people who were needy. It's normal to have these feelings. But the effects of the injection was getting more and more weird, he lost his sensibility and humanity. When his beloved woman recognized that this huge human-like monster was Queen, she shed a tear, to my delight, the monster didn't bite her or hurt her, because "he" could tell that he was still a human being, she was standing nearby, still. The plots might be a little bit cliché these days, but personally, I think that it's also a good film which is worth browsing around.

goofs-the 'factual error' on the original IMDb site page is wrong. Further along in the movie, as the lead character gets further in his transformation. Senses become heightened to the point that the ticking of the clock is overwhelming during insomnia. He picks up the clock which looks to be attached to a cord or plugged in. This is actually a better of the quote B,C or D movies...If some so called critics would bother to watch the full length of some of these screen gems. Well, you might just want to avoid listening to them all together. It is actually a fun little movie. And as with all in this genre, a little bit of lower expectations always helps the experience...Enjoy

Earth vs. The Spider: 3/10: Earth vs. the Spider is a very slowly paced movie. How slowly you ask? It makes Larry Cohen (It's Alive, Q) look like a music video director on methamphetamine. It makes Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies) look like Michael Bay (Armageddon). Director Scott Ziehl has a pretty good story idea to work with (What would happen if Spiderman took on the other spider attributes after his radioactive bite. You know extra legs, a thirst for human blood) and seems afraid to get to the obvious. Instead we have endless tangents about a cop that lost his nerve (Dan Ackroyd) and his alcoholic cheating wife(Theresa Russell). Not just is this like skipping the shark attacks in Jaws to show an affair between the marine biologist and Mrs. Brody. But both Ackroyd and Russell are simply awful in their respective roles.Add in a surprising amount of community theater level supporting work and a boring love interest. And Earth vs. The Spider gives us nothing to hold our interest. (In true comic book geek tradition our hero gets nothing but a chaste kiss. Needless to say there is no nudity gratuitous or otherwise. Kind of a surprise from a made for Showtime horror film.)The movie, of course, has nothing to do with the pretty good monster movie from the fifties that share its name. And as a Spiderman parody Spiderbabe, a Misty Mundae soft-core porn film of all things, upstages it. The monster/superhero does make an appearance in the final ten minutes but I was really to bored to care and director Ziehl was still wrapping up boring love triangles instead of focusing on the good stuff. Indeed if someone ever makes a Dogma 95 superhero movie I expect it to look like this.