When I first saw the trailer for Eight Legged Freaks I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Were these people serious? A movie about giant spiders?
Instantly my mind raced back to the old Saturday morning "Creature Features" (and when we were lucky, "Creature Feature Double Feature"!) and seeing a really bad movie called Tarantula where a giant, badly superimposed arachnid was wreaking havoc in a small town. Hell, it looked bad then, when I was young and innocent, so this new flick looked really stupid.
But then the next trailer came out, and it was obvious that this movie didn’t take itself seriously...besides, Kari Wuhrer is freaking hot!
I had to see it!
David Arquette is the hero here folks. He plays a local boy who comes back to his small town after a 10 year absence. I like David, but, well, I dunno if he could carry a movie. Well to be fair, he doesn’t really have to carry this movie, what with all his CGI costars. He does a decent job. I shouldn’t diss him, after all he is married to Courtney Cox, so he must be pretty cool, right?
Kari Wuhrer is in her 30’s now, and wow, she’s beautiful. She plays the sheriff of this small town, and even though she’s really hot, she pulls off the role nicely. I was even OK with her having a son, played nicely by Scott Terra, and an older teenage daughter played by the very lovely Scarlett Johansson. It’s kind of explained in passing how it’s feasible that Kari can be Scarlett’s mom…
I’m kinda surprised that after appearing in the indie hits THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE and Ghost World, that Johansson would choose to appear in such mainstream fluff, but I’m glad she did, because she’s really hot too! Oh, and yeah, she’s a fine actress too.
Unfortunately, I was kinda disappointed with Eight Legged Freaks over all. While it definitely had fun with it’s premise (listen closely while watching the spiders frolic), it’s a little more serious than I would have liked. At least it doesn't take itself as serious as the God awful JURASSIC PARK III!
But the movie does seem to have it’s heart in the right place.
Gotta take the good with the bad, I guess.