Spiders (2000) Reviews

• Decent fun with clever references to genre clichés.

  tabor-ukhodit-v-nebo2007-06-17

  I think most people who have commented on this movie have watched it with the wrong attitude. Get real; What do you expect from a flick blatantly named "Spiders", apparently featuring some generic monstrous arachnid creatures wreaking havoc on people? Unless you're an easily amused teenager with poor judgment, you instinctively steer clear from these kinds of pictures when looking for chills and thrills. There are quality films that offer just that. I thought I was about to watch a really bad movie, with unintentionally comedic elements and worthless cast, storyline and directing. I was wrong. This movie quickly reveals it's true nature for the perceptive. Taking for granted that the movie was "bad" on purpose, I could actually appreciate the cheesy dialog and all the self-irony that it displays. The characters make illogical decisions, use stupid reasoning and don't try to take themselves seriously. The way in which the plot unfolds and how the main characters figure it out is an obvious parody of the genre, and there are so many details which contribute to that feeling in the dialog and some of the scenes; a guy holding the spider's teeth like bull's horns, making DNA-enhanced mutant spiders from hell seem like a an ordinary casual case of lively struggle, quotes like "This is so creepy. Its like a bad sci-fi movie." and "I mean what the hell is this place?" -"I don't care what this place is, what the f-ck are *we* doing here?" etc. made me at least chuckle at times, because they often raise valid points regarding the absurd setting of the film, and do it with subtlety. The CGI was decent at times, yet laughable in some parts (especially when the spider was running around walls etc). The spider looks gory enough in close shots. The physical webs are composed of thin rope and you can see the knots tying together the intersections, which to me was a funny detail (c'mon, they could have easily avoided that, would they had cared for realism). The pacing is fine; There is enough action to keep the viewer at least semi-entertained, assuming they can appreciate other aspects of the film also (I'm not a big fan of "irrational abominable creature vs. bunch of dumb people" films). All in all, this is definitely not a serious movie, so you should not watch it as one. If you are in a humourless mood looking for some horror, then this movie will probably only make you angry. As a compensation for all the bad ratings this movie has received on IMDb, I have to give it 8/10. I'd dare to say it is more self-aware and intelligent than most people realize.

• Horror spiders film with an incredible makeup and formidable special effects

  ma-cortes2004-04-19

  Monster film plenty of thrills , chills , spectacular scenes , frenetic action and overwhelming spider attacks . It's an average spooky terror/monster movie . It is a blending of the monster movies of the 50s such as 'Tarantula' and modern American production plenty of C.G.I. The thrilling screenplay is a bit yawn-inspiring but nifty special effects will keep you from dozing off , with nice creatures designers, created by means of Animatronics and computer visual effects . The actors are unknown , Parrilla ,Greene and others must be one of their first films . The FX are extraordinaries , the giant spiders are breathtaking, they have been made by means of computer generator visual effects and Animatronics. The technicians set up the creatures effects supervision were the prestigious Robert Kurtzman , Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger and they made it pretty well . Although nothing which haven't been seen before, this is not the picture to watch if you are scared of spiders , however the movie is quite entertaining . Utterly arachnophobia people must flee this film. The production is quite good , it was realized by Nu Image now called Milennium , a production company formed by brothers Danny Lerner , Avi Lerner , and Boaz Davidson along with Trevor Short . The motion picture was professionally directed by Gary Jones with rather too much camera movement and there are also lots of low-angle shots of people hanging around waiting to get bitten by the carnivorous spider . Rating : Acceptable and passable. Other movies about this Spider sub-genre are the followings : ¨Tarantula (1955)¨ by Jack Arnold with John Agar ; ¨Tarantula: the deadly cargo (1977)¨ with Claude Akins ; ¨Kingdom of spiders (77)¨ by John Budd Cardos with William Shatner , ¨Arachnophobia(1990)¨ by Frank Marshall with John Goodman ; ¨Arachnid¨ (2000) by Jack Sholder with Chris Potter , Jose Sancho , Neus Asensi and ¨Eight Legged Freaks¨ (2002) by Ellory Elkayem with Scarlett Johansson , Kari Wuhrer , and David Arquette

• Okay, predictable, but great fun!

  mindgap0072001-10-21

  Well, having sat through countless low-budget monster flicks in my time, Gary Jones' SPIDERS is like a breath of fresh air. Okay, it's all very predictable, with the old conspiracy style "government creates some kind of horrible hybrid monster via experiment that goes wrong" storyline being utilised in the same old way countless movies have before. However, it's to Nu Image's credit that they've produced such a fun, energetic monster movie, which more often than not actually manages to betray it's low-budget origins very successfully. Even the performances are all pretty good, at least as far as these "B" movies go, although the script gets progressively more desperate as the movie goes on, particularly during the excellent TARANTULA style finale when the giant spider wreaks havoc in the city. Indeed, despite the sometimes laughable dialogue, SPIDERS succeeds where it might have failed, in that the special effects are quite superb. Okay, we're not talking top of the range Hollywood here, but the KNB guys have produced their magic again with some very impressive animatronic effects sequences. The CGI spider also comes across very well, and I was hugely impressed with the finale, where I couldn't believe so much had been achieved on such a low budget. No, it's nothing ground breakingly original, but then it never pretends to be for one minute. SPIDERS is pure and simply a "fun" and at times "creepy" monster movie, and comes highly recommended.

• Never to be taken seriously

  DoubleJack2001-02-09

  The film Spiders does not intend to be mentioned in the same breath as films like Jaws and the Alien series. It has its tongue planted firmly in its cheek and as a result is hoping for the chance to rub shoulders with gems such as Piranha and Lake Placid. Whilst viewing the film you may tut and groan at some of the scenes with tacky dialogue and acting, it is only near the end when you realise that the producers have attempted to have as much fun as possible, at the expense of all those X-files/Dark Skies/Millennium style conspiracy shows, with a bit of monster movie digs in for good measure.

• I didn't think it was that bad!

  TheLittleSongbird2012-06-14

  I personally wouldn't go as far as to call it a great movie, the special effects are wildly inconsistent, sometimes decent but also sometimes very superficial and the film, despite the fact it has the feel of a parody, can get very derivative and predictable at times and the editing could have been a little sharper, at times there was too much of a 60s-70s TV movie feel to it. However, the costume and set design were reasonably good, I enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek dialogue with its embracing of the genre clichés and the spiders do have a certain menace to them. There is also a nice mix of fun and scary moments, including the wonderfully chaotic ending, the characters are admittedly clichéd but I have seen and heard far worse written characters before in far worse movies that had no excuse to be as bad as they are and the young cast are very likable. Overall, not great but could have been far worse. 7/10 Bethany Cox