# GIANT SPIDER movies



## Jeffbert (Jul 5, 2015)

I just watched *BIG ASS SPIDER* last night (via NF streaming), & this one was really both great & silly. Great, because the spider had what seemed like very realistic movement (after having watched MONSTER BUG WARS  some time ago), & silly, because the thing grew so very fast. It also ate rather than drank its victims, but that was nothing compared to the growth rate. Compared to other GIANT SPIDER movies, I rate this one 4/5; it had drama, humor, & unintentionally funny (at least by my standards) scenes.  If there were a 5/5 GIANT SPIDER movie, it would lack the implausible elements that are in the others. 

The GIANT SPIDER was a Black Widow, unlike most others being tarantulas, its origin 


Spoiler



was that a scientist combined alien DNA with some type of fruit, unaware that the spider had nested within; so it compares to THE FLY IN that regard. At 1st, it seemed that the military had made the thing intentionally, & for some time, circumstances seemed to confirm it, so, it compares to the remake of  THE BLOB.



I would not compare it to the 1950s-1960s type of GIANT SPIDER movies, because they focused on drama/horror, while having very little spider action. *TARANTULA* used the shadow of the spider as much as, if not more than an actual or prop spider. Most others of that time did likewise. *Eight-Legged Freaks, *being more contemporary, used special effects, & rates similarly to this current one. *ARACHNIA* was likewise, & the DVD had a really nice feature about the GIANT SPIDER movie genre.


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## J Riff (Jul 5, 2015)

_Missile to the Moon_ has a great cheesy sawdust-filled spiddler.... and Gumby rock men! There is a 12 min. version of _The Giant Spider Invasion_ (1975) on YouTube.


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jul 5, 2015)

*Earth vs the Spider* is  . . . not good.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 5, 2015)

*Tarantula *1955 film had Clint Eastwood in an uncredited role as a fighter pilot.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 5, 2015)

Victoria Silverwolf said:


> *Earth vs the Spider* is  . . . not good.



I loved this film , thought it quite good.  and besides it had Fred Ziffle from Green Acres was in it .


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## Jeffbert (Jul 5, 2015)

_*Missile to the Moon* _was unintentionally hilarious! *The Giant Spider Invasion*_,_ I thought I saw a truck underneath that spider! 
I love that type of film, just too funny to even think of stifling the laughter. 


Victoria Silverwolf said:


> *Earth vs the Spider* is  . . . not good.


I disagree, the plot (as I recall) was at least o.k.; though there was at least one really stupid element, & the spider was rather realistic.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 5, 2015)

There was a Giant Spider in *Journey to 7th Planet.*


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## Jeffbert (Jul 5, 2015)

*Journey to 7th Planet*? I know I saw that one, but do not recall any giant spider. There was an implied giant spider in *AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON*, but as it had other [ahem] elements to my liking, I will not complain about its lacking an actual giant spider.


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jul 5, 2015)

Mention might be made of "A Fear of Spiders" on the _Night Gallery_ television series.  Small as these things go -- the size of a large dog -- but worth watching for the interplay between the two main characters.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 5, 2015)

Victoria Silverwolf said:


> Mention might be made of "A Fear of Spiders" on the _Night Gallery_ television series.  Small as these things go -- the size of a large dog -- but worth watching for the interplay between the two main characters.



Yes I remember that one.


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## dask (Jul 6, 2015)

If Cine-Town ever decides to faithfully film Ray Bradbury's *Fahrenheit 451*, we'd be treated to fairly large mechanical spiders running around. It was cool in print.


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## J Riff (Jul 6, 2015)

_Tarantula,_ Clint's 1st flick, I think, he appears for ten seconds at the end. He says 'Roger. Target destroyed' or something equally brilliant.
_The Land Unknown _had some giant arachnidism i think... and there's one just called _The Spider. _The classic _Incredible Shrinking Man. _




  a lovely montage. 
Up next, monster Centipedes. I just saw some nice ones in a new flik - _Dinosaur Island._
What was it that you found ungood about Earth vs. The Spider Victoria? i can't remember mulch about it.


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jul 6, 2015)

Well, maybe I just have a thing against the films of Bert I. Gordon.  Poor special effects and just plain boring stories, in my opinion.

I'll give him a few points for a couple of his movies.

*The Amazing Colossal Man* isn't too bad.

*Tormented* isn't too bad a ghost story, if nothing terribly creative.

*The Magic Sword* is fun, if silly, and it doesn't take itself too seriously.


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## Jo Zebedee (Jul 6, 2015)

As an arachnophobe I will now avoid this thread....


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## Ray McCarthy (Jul 6, 2015)

I can't remember, does LOTR movie have the spider in the book?
also The Hobbit.


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## Dave (Jul 6, 2015)

In *The Incredible Shrinking Man* the spider was normal size but the man was shrinking. At the end you don't know if a spider would eventually get him or if he just grew so small nothing could see him anymore.

You do know that physics prevents animals from having exoskeletons that large don't you? But then it also prevents having shrinking men too.

I thought that the mechanical beasts that caught criminals in _Fahrenheit 451_ were dog-like, but I may be confusing that with _Snow Crash_.


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## dask (Jul 7, 2015)

Dave said:


> I thought that the mechanical beasts that caught criminals in _Fahrenheit 451_ were dog-like, but I may be confusing that with _Snow Crash_.






Sorry, my mistake. I guess it having eight legs like a spider confused me.


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## Dave (Jul 7, 2015)

It's okay, my memory is terrible. On further investigation, it was called _The Hound_ and had a great sense of smell, but it did have eight legs, so how you imagine them to be is up for grabs. Films rarely depict things exactly as I read them.


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## Ray McCarthy (Jul 7, 2015)

Dave said:


> You do know that physics prevents animals from having exoskeletons that large don't you?


Unless they have lungs, circulatory system etc. Certainly small insects can't scale up. Crabs are another story. So some sort of giant spider like creature related to crabs and spiders is possible (both phylum Arthropoda). Coconut crabs can't really even swim, they have a sort of lung and vestigial gills so drown easily! Spiders are not insects. Insects won't scale up, they would suffocate and probably don't have an advanced enough circulation system anyway. Insects are of course also Arthropods, but quite different to Spiders, crabs, scorpions and lobsters. Horseshoe crabs may be closer to Spiders than regular crabs. They are pretty weird. Like slugs, snails and octopus they have copper based instead of iron based blood.


> Horseshoe crabs resemble crustaceans, but belong to a separate subphylum, Chelicerata, and are closely related to arachnids
> ... _L. polyphemus_ can be up to 60 cm (24 in) long (including tail).



Most spiders do bleed to death easily.

So while ordinary insects can't scale up and be large, there are a variety of exoskeleton species that in theory could have a giant relative.

EDIT
Which GIANT version would be worst or scarier? (Not same thing!)

Spider
Scorpion
Coconut crab (terrestrial, only lays eggs in water)
Horseshoe crab (Aquatic, but does leave the water).


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## Dave (Jul 7, 2015)

I completely agree they don't have any of the huge problems that Insects have in scaling up, and yes, you could have giant versions, but there are still some problems - using lungs inside a solid exoskeleton (try breathing with someone sitting on your chest) - also the strength of an exoskeleton is poorer when scaled up (tower blocks are built with a central core rather than outer walls like houses.)


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## Ray McCarthy (Jul 7, 2015)

*Coconut Crabs:*
Body length of up to 40 cm (16 in), a weight of up to 4.1 kg (9.0 lb), and a leg span of more than 0.91 m (3.0 ft), with males generally being larger than females. The carapace may reach a length of 78 mm (3.1 in), and a width of up to 200 mm (7.9 in).

I'd not want to meet a group of natural sized enraged coconut crabs. How big would one need to be to bludgeon you to death?

The Horseshoe crab (which is hardly really a crab at all!) has a primitive endoskeleton.

Turtles and tortoises have "armour" and can breath.


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## Vaz (Jul 7, 2015)

Victoria Silverwolf said:


> *Earth vs the Spider* is  . . . not good.


so true


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## Vaz (Jul 7, 2015)

*Enemy - *With Jake Gyllenhall, Go watch it and have fun figuring it out


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## J Riff (Jul 7, 2015)

But, if they came from a different planet, where they had grown used to different gravity and oxygen content and what-not... couldn't they come here and do okay, or would they need help getting around?


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## Dave (Jul 7, 2015)




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## J Riff (Jul 7, 2015)

Phwaw... well.... there's _Horrors of Spider Island,_ which I've seen a few times but can't remember... like a lot of these movies, they blur together.
I'm going to watch_ The Brain Eaters, The Astounding She Monster_ and/or _The Unknown Terror_ tonight, but by tommorow it could all be rather hazy. That's one attraction of this stuff, the brain can't hold it, too inane, so you can watch it again later and it's all new.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 8, 2015)

Ray McCarthy said:


> *Coconut Crabs:*
> Body length of up to 40 cm (16 in), a weight of up to 4.1 kg (9.0 lb), and a leg span of more than 0.91 m (3.0 ft), with males generally being larger than females. The carapace may reach a length of 78 mm (3.1 in), and a width of up to 200 mm (7.9 in).
> 
> I'd not want to meet a group of natural sized enraged coconut crabs. How big would one need to be to bludgeon you to death?
> ...




The Coconut Crab has a very notorious reputation indeed. The typical crap will climb  a coconut tree, snip a coconut free with one claw , catch it with the other and wait  for an unsuspecting tourist to walk under  the tree.  It will then take aim and throw the coconut at the tourist. Once the person is  rendered unconscious by the blow from the coconut , the crab will climb down the tree, go over and lift the person wallet . These crabs are known to prefer cash over credit cards.


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## Dave (Jul 8, 2015)




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## Jeffbert (Jul 8, 2015)

J Riff said:


> Phwaw... well.... there's _Horrors of Spider Island,_ which I've seen a few times but can't remember... like a lot of these movies, they blur together.
> I'm going to watch_ The Brain Eaters, The Astounding She Monster_ and/or _The Unknown Terror_ tonight, but by tommorow it could all be rather hazy. That's one attraction of this stuff, the brain can't hold it, too inane, so you can watch it again later and it's all new.


I saw that one way back when I first joined NETFLIX. This man somehow became a mutant man/spider (face only), and terrorized the others. I think their plane crashed, marooning them on the island-- I was sure the girls were skinny dipping, but they were too distant to be sure -- anyway, the ending reminded me of HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 



Spoiler



when they took up torches & chased the guy into the quicksand, which had not been mentioned earlier, same as in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN.


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## J Riff (Jul 8, 2015)

Then there's Brian Aldiss and his giant vegetable-spiders that weave their webs twixt the Earth and Moon in_ Hothouse/Long Afternoon of Earth_.
It's believable, they bask in hard radiation, the humans hitch rides on their legs in seed-cases. The only known way to hitchhike to the Moon, that I know of.


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## clovis-man (Jul 8, 2015)

Then there's the medium-large rubber spider in *World Without End* (1956)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049964/?licb=0.29327183862560857


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## J Riff (Jul 9, 2015)

And Shelob. There's bound to be more. Must-have-more giant spiider flicks* What are we, nuts? Adults collecting and analyzing Giant Spider movies?
Yes. Ant Man will be out soon, he leads an army of ants, I bet there's some arachnoid action too.


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## J Riff (Jul 9, 2015)

Just to continue in the giant insect mode... _Empire of the Ants_ is on tonight. I don't know if giant ants merit their own thread, but I like 'em.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 10, 2015)

J Riff said:


> Just to continue in the giant insect mode... _Empire of the Ants_ is on tonight. I don't know if giant ants merit their own thread, but I like 'em.



It's a very silly and cheesy film  with 1970's cheesy effects and acting. But it is entertaining. 


 A better fim about giant ants is *Them. 
*


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## BAYLOR (Jul 10, 2015)

One film which you might find of interest Is *Phase 4* 1974. In the film a mysterious object approaches Earth, It grants  super intelligence  and sentience to all of the world Ants , They get together  and declare war on Mankind.    Two scientist and girl in bunker do battle with these super intelligent ants. The film is quite good.


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## Droflet (Jul 11, 2015)

J Riff said:


> Just to continue in the giant insect mode... _Empire of the Ants_ is on tonight. I don't know if giant ants merit their own thread, but I like 'em.



Of course, they're you friends. Right?


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## Droflet (Jul 11, 2015)

BAYLOR said:


> It's a very silly and cheesy film  with 1970's cheesy effects and acting. But it is entertaining.
> 
> 
> A better fim about giant ants is *Them. *



Yes, best giant ant movie ever. I pull a copy out from time to time and bath in its black and white glow.


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## Ray McCarthy (Jul 11, 2015)

J Riff said:


> The only known way to hitchhike to the Moon, that I know of.


One of the Doctor Doolitte books.  I think a giant moth that flies to moon. But that book wasn't made into a film.


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## Jeffbert (Aug 1, 2015)

A giant spider is merely a matter of comparison to a human, & the film *The Incredible Shrinking Man* had a normal spider that was, compared to the ever-shrinking man, increasing in size.


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## JunkMonkey (Aug 16, 2015)

The otherwise fecking awful _Mesa of Lost Women_ has one of the best ever giant spider moments  put on screen when in one scene, due,I guess, to budgetary cuts, only one giant spider arm appears poking out from behind one of those screens that women changed behind in the movies when there was a man in the room.


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## Dave (Aug 16, 2015)

JunkMonkey said:


> ...one giant spider arm appears poking out from behind one of those screens that women changed behind...


Well, that's one way to get your acting break in movies!


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