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Eight Legged Freaks - R2 (United Kingdom)
R2 - United Kingdom - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Sam Scott (14th April 2004). |
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The Film
 I was really looking forward to this film as it seemed to look like it followed one of my golden rules of cinema. Whenever you make something bigger in size, it almost always becomes better. I would say always, but that damn 40ft baby called Adam from Honey I Blew Up The Kid spoilt that theory for me. Set in the small Arizona mining town of Prosperity, a collector of the most exotic spiders starts feeding his collection with insects from the local lake. It just so happens, though, that the lake has been contaminated by a barrel of waste, which has fallen off the back of a lorry. Feeding the spiders these insects has a strange effect on the spiders. It makes them become much bigger in size. Sure enough, insects are becoming light snacks for these massive spiders, so for the full sized meals they need, if you haven’t already guessed, they start feeding on the local townsfolk. The story revolves around one family in particular, the Parker family, consisting of spider mad son Mike (played by Scott Terra), whinging daughter Ashley (played by Scarlett Johansson) and sheriff/mother Sam (Kari Wuhrer). Joining them is Chris McCormack (David Arquette in his usual goofy style) who has returned to Prosperity to save the mines owned by his family. The acting isn’t bad. It’s just David Arquette. He seems to struggle getting his character across in the way and style that he wants too. Scott Terra and Scarlett Johansson are fine and Kari is occasionally a bit Pinocchio (wooden for those not with the lingo). The movie is obviously based on the creature features of the past. Those that sprang to mind when watching the film were Tarantula!, Them! and to a lesser extent, The Fly. As you can imagine, however, special effects have advanced since those days, and the CGI in this film I great. I can honestly say it is some of the best CGI I have ever seen.
Video
A 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer has been given to us from Warner and a very good one at that. My only complaint is the occasional bit of edge enhancement, but other than that, it’s a good clean print. The colours are excellent, particularly the flesh tones and the blacks (good job as the majority of the film is in the dark). The film has optional subtitles in Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Audio
We have an option here of Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, French or Spanish. The track is OK, but has very small use of the bass. The surround speakers do show life, yet not when you want it too. Oh, and whilst I’m at it, this should have a DTS track like all films should!
Extras
We start off with an audio commentary from director/writer Ellory Elkayem, producer Dean Devlin and stars David Arquette and Rick Overton. It’s a good commentary, which is informative and interesting. There are not many quiet spots, and you can tell that they had fun making this film. We then have a short film, entitled Larger Than Life, also directed by Ellory Elkayem. This short, low budget film is the basis for the main feature and is explained at the start of the audio commentary. We also have some additional material from 11 scenes which hit the cutting room floor. Unfortunately shown as one piece with no option to view them by themselves. I’d have also liked an optional audio commentary here to explain why these were cut. Other than the above, we get a cast and crew list and a theatrical trailer.
Overall
This is a great little no brainer flick WITH replay value and I fully recommend it to anybody with a slight interest in B-Movie schlock or creature features of the old. The release has a decent set of extras, but could’ve been so much better with a few featurettes and interviews.
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