Surfing the Web
Added 7/30/2009
Arachnid: 7 of 10: Maybe it's the puppets that I liked. It is nice to see a movie made in the 21st century that does not use horrible shiny CGI for its creatures. (It does use horrible shiny CGI for its alien spaceships.) Arachnid is all the better for its retro monster.
This is a true six-pack toke them if you got them B movie. Arachnid is a European production with decent location shooting, an international cast (half-horrible and unintelligibly dubbed), and a real B movie budget unlike those $10 Z movie digital camcorder pretenders.
It is all off course a bit predictable. (If you cannot figure out two of the survivors at the end turn in your monster movie-watching card now.) In addition, despite a lot of fodder (always a good sign) to many deaths seem off screen or at least over a little quickly. The movie also could have used some gratuitous nudity (If young thing Alex Reid was not willing at least allow Spanish star Neus Asensi to release those puppies as she has done in the past.)
Those quibbles aside, I could not help but cheer when the puppeteers took the Volkswagen sized spider out for the spin in the second half of the movie. Of course you enjoyment may depend on what you consumed during the first half.
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Spiders that can be silly
Added 2/14/2008
This movie was supposed to be scary, it was more silly than anything.
The people more of less walked into the spiders webs with their eyes open, and one man even recorded his experience.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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If spiders were...
Added 1/13/2008
"If spiders were as large as man, humans would have been extinct long ago."
I think that just about sums it up...the flick...the movie..."Arachnid".
If you love spiders, you won't love this film. If they give you the heebie jeebies, you won't love this film. If you love horror films, YOU'LL LOVE THIS FILM.
What a great setting...stranded on a deserted jungle island amidst a slew of giant oozing, goozing, lollapaloozing eight-legged puss poisoners from beyond.
Would I watch it again? Of course...me and my can of RAID! A 5!!!
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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I LOVE BEING A DISSENTER --
Added 12/19/2007
ARACHNID was pure entertainment and never claimed to be any thing else.
Giant spiders? ya'll should meet them. See how far you run.
Silly gal looking for her brother. Most plausible.
Natives did a good job. Just enough skin not to be obnoxious.
I liked Chris Potter [only reason I bought it] after seeing him in a Harlequin Romance movie - excellent acting there.
Enjoyed the idiots getting killed off. Some gorgeous scenary - chuckle action - nasty gorge -- all in all pretty decent entertainment.
Seeing is believing -
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Cheese filled fun!
Added 8/28/2005
Once again I find myself in the unenviable position of having to write a review about a creature gone amok movie. Well, not really "unenviable" since I covertly enjoy watching filmmakers try, and ultimately fail, to replicate the success of Spielberg's "Jaws" some thirty years after that movie arrived on theater screens. Show me a DVD case with a picture of a shark, spider, insect, snake, or assorted other beastie looming large over a gaggle of frightened humans and I'm there with bells on. Really. I can't seem to get enough of these cheesy films. I don't even bother reading the plot synopsis anymore; it's straight to the checkout line with membership card in hand followed by a rapid retreat to the homestead for a quick viewing. Of course, these films don't scare me anymore. In fact, I doubt that they ever did. I watch them in order to laugh myself silly at the onscreen shenanigans, the cardboard cutout yet archetypical characters, and generous heapings of gore. So here we go again, if you're willing to ride along with me, as I attempt to put together a coherent review of Jack Sholder's 2001 movie "Arachnid." Thanks for coming along!
"Arachnid" opens with an extraterrestrial event, namely some mysterious craft hovering out over the ocean examining wildlife or something. The craft is tricked out in some sort of camouflage so mere earthlings can't see it, but the pilot of a stealth plane runs into it anyway and both vehicles promptly crash on a remote island. Both pilots survive long enough to fall prey to some sort of gigantic spider beastie. The end. O.k., not really. Then the movie moves ahead some time to an airfield where the sister of the aforementioned pilot, a chick named Mercer (Alex Reid), learns from local doctors that some downright sinister shenanigans are unfolding on a nearby island. One thing leads to another--or something like that--and soon a team of disparate souls heads off to the island to launch an investigation. Mercer agrees to fly the plane (she wants to find her brother), and she's joined by a military guy named Valentine (Chris Potter), Dr. Samuel Leon (Jose Sancho), his sidekick Susana (Neus Asensi), a spider scientist named Henry Capri (Ravil Issyanov), Bear (Rocqueford Allen), and a bunch of other cannon fodder types. Sure enough, Mercer's plane crashes on the same island we saw in the introduction. Who cares how they get there, though, as long as the killing starts. Unfortunately, we have to wait awhile.
All these dolts start trooping around the jungle looking for a native village. Sholder and company toss in a bunch of false scares, like Mercer's leg caught in a hole, to keep our spirits up until the sauce starts to flow. Fortunately, disaster strikes when one of Valentine's compatriots falls prey to some sort of tick that burrows its way deep into his body. Ouch! It's only the beginning, however, as our cast of characters soon learn that the whole island is crawling with unpleasant things. Take the tick, for example. Once the group finds the native village--deserted, predictably enough--the little beastie decides to dig its way out of this poor schlep's body. From here on out the deaths come fast and furious. The spider shows up and wreaks bloody havoc on several members of the group, spinning these huge, sticky webs drenched in some sort of nerve killing agent. "Arachnid" rapidly devolves into a series of shoot 'em up encounters with the nasty things on the island as the diminishing band of survivors tries to survive. The spider itself makes a last stand in a cave in a series of scenes so cheesy as to defy description. It's fun!
And it really is a lot of fun, despite the number of flaws displayed for all to see. I liked most of the characters, surprisingly, especially the spider scientist. Here's a guy remarkably devoted to his scientific endeavors, so much so that he records a running commentary concerning his own unfortunate demise. A Nobel winner in the making! The gore in "Arachnid" works, too. That tick scene is definitely gross and head and shoulders above a lot of what you'll see in flicks like this one. Just as there is good here, however, there is also bad. Special effects, especially CGI effects, are tough to carry off with a low budget, and nowhere is this more apparent than in "Arachnid." The opening scenes involving the extraterrestrial craft reek of cheese, as do the situations with the spider in the cave. It's so obvious--painfully, avert your eyes to avoid the shame obvious--that they just laid an image of the spider over the film and left it at that. Oh well. Everyone associated with the film must have known this sucker wasn't going to pull in big bucks at the theater (if it had a theatrical run). They probably relied on people like me to rent it for a night. Who cares where the money comes from as long as it's green, right?
Extras consist of a trailer, production notes, and a photo gallery. A commentary track would actually be a nice addition considering that the director, Jack Sholder, has quite the reputation in the horror/science fiction field for lensing "The Hidden." How he went from that picture to stuff like "Arachnid" is, unfortunately, not that rare of an occurrence in Tinseltown. The answer comes in two parts: a guy's gotta eat, and it's far better to direct schlock like this film than it is to go out and find a real job. Anyway, you'll watch "Arachnid" if you're a creature feature lover like me. If not, you won't. Simple, isn't it?
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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Surfing the Web
Added 7/30/2009
Arachnid: 7 of 10: Maybe it's the puppets that I liked. It is nice to see a movie made in the 21st century that does not use horrible shiny CGI for its creatures. (It does use horrible shiny CGI for its alien spaceships.) Arachnid is all the better for its retro monster.
This is a true six-pack toke them if you got them B movie. Arachnid is a European production with decent location shooting, an international cast (half-horrible and unintelligibly dubbed), and a real B movie budget unlike those $10 Z movie digital camcorder pretenders.
It is all off course a bit predictable. (If you cannot figure out two of the survivors at the end turn in your monster movie-watching card now.) In addition, despite a lot of fodder (always a good sign) to many deaths seem off screen or at least over a little quickly. The movie also could have used some gratuitous nudity (If young thing Alex Reid was not willing at least allow Spanish star Neus Asensi to release those puppies as she has done in the past.)
Those quibbles aside, I could not help but cheer when the puppeteers took the Volkswagen sized spider out for the spin in the second half of the movie. Of course you enjoyment may depend on what you consumed during the first half.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Spiders that can be silly
Added 2/14/2008
This movie was supposed to be scary, it was more silly than anything.
The people more of less walked into the spiders webs with their eyes open, and one man even recorded his experience.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
If spiders were...
Added 1/13/2008
"If spiders were as large as man, humans would have been extinct long ago."
I think that just about sums it up...the flick...the movie..."Arachnid".
If you love spiders, you won't love this film. If they give you the heebie jeebies, you won't love this film. If you love horror films, YOU'LL LOVE THIS FILM.
What a great setting...stranded on a deserted jungle island amidst a slew of giant oozing, goozing, lollapaloozing eight-legged puss poisoners from beyond.
Would I watch it again? Of course...me and my can of RAID! A 5!!!
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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