ActionComedyHorrorThriller

Eight Legged Freaks

- Let the squashing begin!

The residents of a rural mining town discover that an unfortunate chemical spill has caused hundreds of little spiders to mutate overnight to the size of SUVs. It's then up to mining engineer Chris McCormack and Sheriff Sam Parker to mobilize an eclectic group of townspeople, including the Sheriff's young son, Mike, her daughter, Ashley, and paranoid radio announcer Harlan, into battle against the bloodthirsty eight-legged beasts.

Release Date : 2002-07-17

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Centropolis EntertainmentVillage Roadshow PicturesNPV EntertainmentElectric EntertainmentWarner Bros. Pictures

Production Country : AustraliaUnited States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Chris McCormick

Original Name : David Arquette

Gender : Male

Character Name : Samantha Parker

Original Name : Kari Wuhrer

Gender : Female

Character Name : Harlan Griffith

Original Name : Doug E. Doug

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ashley Parker

Original Name : Scarlett Johansson

Gender : Female

Character Name : Pete Willis

Original Name : Rick Overton

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bret

Original Name : Matt Czuchry

Gender : Male

Character Name : Randy

Original Name : Riley Smith

Gender : Male

Character Name : Wade

Original Name : Leon Rippy

Gender : Male

Character Name : Waitress #1

Original Name : Randi Klein

Gender : Male

Character Name : Waitress #2

Original Name : Terey Summers

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mike Parker

Original Name : Scott Terra

Gender : Male

Character Name : Gladys

Original Name : Eileen Ryan

Gender : Female

Character Name : Emma

Original Name : Jane Edith Wilson

Gender : Female

Character Name : Amos

Original Name : Jack Moore

Gender : Male

Character Name : Floyd

Original Name : Roy Gaintner

Gender : Male

Character Name : Leon

Original Name : Jay Arlen Jones

Gender : Male

Character Name : Larry

Original Name : Matt Holwick

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mark

Original Name : John Storey

Gender : Male

Character Name : Leroy

Original Name : Don Champlin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Norman

Original Name : David Earl Waterman

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cop #1

Original Name : John Ennis

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cop #2

Original Name : Ryan C. Benson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Bruiser

Gender : Male

Character Name : Joshua Taft (uncredited)

Original Name : Tom Noonan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Girl in Window (uncredited)

Original Name : Debbie Overbey

Gender : Male

Reviews

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

Arach Attack! Spiders escape from a spider farm in Prosperity, Arizona, and become giant man eating beasts on account of toxic waste carelessly dumped in a near by river. Can the odd ball inhabitants of this Arizona town escape with their lives? Or will spiders rule the earth and lay waste to man kind? Eight Legged Freaks is unashamedly homaging B movie creature features from the 1950s. The likes of Tarantula and Them! have their Pedipalps well and truly watered, in what is possibly the most undervalued of all the modern day creature feature homages. Having no pretensions what so ever, the only real thing not in "Freaks" favour is the usage of CGI, but even that doesn't hurt the film, if anything it adds to the obvious preposterous nature of the genre. I mean how else are we to get 20 foot jumping spiders chowing down on some annoying teenager? Perhaps "Freaks" is viewed harsh because the cast is relatively C list? Again that is a genre staple, surely? For what it's worth I think they do real fine, David Arquette has oodles of goofy charisma, Kari Wuher makes a fine female ass kicker, and the kids (one a young Scarlett Johansen) are really rather cool. Director Ellory Elkayem, who after doing They Nest in 2000 clearly has bug issues, adheres to genre staples. Kooky western town out in the desert, the inhabitants of which range from near loonies to dopey politicians, and the plot follows the traditional sense of impending doom played for laughs. Listen out for the score from John Ottman, which plays on variants of "Itsy Bitsy Spider", whilst cast a keen eye on John S. Bartley's Arizona camera work. Whilst not having the savvy scripting of homage daddy, Tremors, or the star appeal of 1990's Arachnophobia, Eight Legged Freaks deserves its place amongst such fun and creepy company. As the tag line says, "Do you hate spiders? Do you really hate spiders? Well they don't like you either". With that, I think it's web well and truly spun, don't you? 7/10