# Eight Legged Freaks (2002)



## Tabitha (Jul 3, 2002)

*Eight Legged Freaks - Spider Mayhem!*

Arachnophobic?  Well you should probably avoid this movie about spiders the size of trucks!

Synopsis from www.countingdown.com


> 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. ItÃ­s up to mining engineer Chris McCormack (David Arquette) and Sheriff Sam Parker (Kari Wuhrer) to mobilize an eclectic group of townspeople into battle against the bloodthirsty eight-legged beasts. With state-of-the-art visual effects, Eight Legged Freaks updates such inspired genre classics as Them and Black Scorpion into a terrifyingly fun experience.



The movie stars David Arquette and Scarlett Johansson.

Released in the US July 19, 2002

Sites:
Official Site
IMDB ENTRY


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## Tabitha (Jul 3, 2002)

*Spoiler-ish review from www.aintitcoolnews.com*



> But anyways, on to the movie. Weird as it may sound, the movie is bookended by closeups of Doug E. Doug's teeth. Not entirely pretty. What follows is the obligatory setup: We meet the characters, the local sheriff, played by Kari, and her two children (the girl is played by Scarlett Johanssen from Ghost World....glad to see "critical acclaim" hasn't stopped her from making fun movies). All the regular small-town local yokel characters are present: the bumbling deputy, the salty old woman, the dumb jock teenage boys, the asshole real-estate developer, and other miscellaneous hicks. The only other noteable characters are David Arquette, who returns to town for no apparent reason other than to romance former flame Ms. Wurher...and Doug E. Doug's conspiracy spouting radio host.
> 
> The setup takes a little while, actually maybe about 10 minutes longer than it probably should, and then it gets around to what we've all been waiting for....giant mutant man-eating spiders. They generally don't disappoint either. The special effects are great, and even though everyone's running around all panicky, in the back of your mind you know their having a ball. The filmmakers are obviously attempting to re-create the B-movie feel, and at times they really nail it. Nice tongue-in-cheek touches, such as a nod to HG Wells "War of the Worlds" were great. The whole time I felt like I was watching a cartoon for grownups. It was like the director said to the cast and FX guys "do whatever the hell you want! Let's party!"
> 
> ...



Sounds interesting!


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## Dave (Aug 12, 2002)

There is an eight legged freeks review on ain't it cool: "Is EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS the greatest giant mutant spider movie of all time?"


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## Tabitha (Aug 12, 2002)

I do like Harry Knowles' reviews, sometimes he comes out with things that I have been thinking, but not able to really articulate.  I still haven't seen Eight Legged Freaks, it only stayed at the cinema here for a very short time, and I hear (from places like www.boxofficemojo.com ) that it totally tanked upon release, taking in a much smaller amount than expected.  Oh well, I am sure I will catch it when it comes to video...

Any ascifi-er's actually seen it and got an opinion?


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## darkjedi77 (Aug 25, 2002)

I so wanted to see this in the theatres but just couldn't make it.  I love movies like this, how was it anyway?  It reminded me of Tremors in a way.


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## triffid (Aug 31, 2002)

> _Originally posted by darkjedi77 _
> *I so wanted to see this in the theatres but just couldn't make it.  I love movies like this, how was it anyway?  It reminded me of Tremors in a way. *



The movie is fab, I highly recomend it . It doesn't take itself at all seriously and even though I don't like spiders these ones didn't freak me out. And the comparison to Tremors would be very correct, it does indeed have the same feel .


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## Tabitha (Sep 2, 2002)

I  missed this altogether at the theatres, definitely will pick it up when it hits the video shop.


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## Starbeast (May 13, 2011)

I'm a fan of giant monster movies, and I have a great admiration for arachnids (I collected a few in the past as pets), so this film was a dream come true. I was thrilled to see different types of spiders used in the movie, most flicks usually feature one kind (be it mutant or normal looking).

This film is funny and highly entertaining, even my arachnophobic nephew had a great time with this movie.


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## Daisy-Boo (May 17, 2011)

This is movie was great. I watched it twice, some years back. One moment in the movie still makes me giggle a little. There is a scene where the spiders are running amok underground, chasing down people. At one point, one of the spiders briefly stops its rampage to glance directly at the camera, snigger derisively and then run off again. For some reason that makes me laugh every single time.


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## The Ace (May 17, 2011)

Freda doesn't like it.


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## Daisy-Boo (May 17, 2011)

*Passes Freda the Pringles* 

To make up for her having to watch a spider movie she didn't like.


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## Rodders (May 17, 2011)

I must admit that i found this to be quite a fun B movie despite having a fear of spiders.


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