Eight Legged Freaks

2002 • 99 minutes
4.5
261 reviews
47%
Tomatometer
PG-13
Rating
Eligible
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About this movie

The residents of a rural mining town discover that an unfortunate chemical spill has caused hundreds of little spiders to mutate overnight to the size of SUVs! When the alarm is sounded, it is up to mining engineer Chris McCormack and Sheriff Sam Parker to mobilize an eclectic group of townspeople, including the Sheriff's young son, Mike, her daughter, Ashley and a paranoid radio announcer named Harlan to battle the bloodthirsty eight-legged beasts.
Rating
PG-13

Ratings and reviews

4.5
261 reviews
Jacob Radford
September 26, 2015
I'm not even joking. All the other movies are low budget "SyFy Original Movie" type films. That isn't to say this movie isn't good. Its pretty decent. Special effects range from great to almost bad. The resolution on some spiders are so low they look like they were copy and pasted onto the film by an amateur graphics designer. But like most people who made a review, I grew up with this film. 7.5 out of 10.
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Kyle Vansteelandt
October 20, 2020
I don't have arachnophobia, but the giants spiders in movies with close-up shots of their faces, the sounds that they make, and how they move. Those are the kinds of spiders that scare me and make me itch. This tongue-in-cheek B movie is no exception. But it's more of a sci-fi creature feature than a horror film, but I actually had fun watching this film and I liked it. The film has a very creative and captivating concept; using different species of spiders, growing into enormous size and developing personalities that are monstrous and more aggressive, and attacking humans with their own methods of attacks with realistic precision. Okay, I will admit that there are elements of cheesiness; 60% of the movie's dialogue is unacceptably cheesy (particularly in the first act of the film), but as the movie progresses, the cheesiness wears off and slowly fade away in the process. What saves this movie from being totally cheesy, is that there are three moments of sharp and slick comedy. Even though the spiders are obviously CGI, everytime a spider attacks, it's shocking, not to mention the special effects are as decent as the movie itself. And when the characters see a lot of spider webs or anything that involves with spiders unseen, it creates this freaky atmosphere for suspenseful tension. This is the kind of mood that is really dynamic. Anyways, There are also some inaccuracies on spiders: for instance, Consuela is supposed to be a female orb weaver spider, but her appearance looks more like a black widow spider and is about the size of my heel. The male orb weavers look a lot like female orb weavers, now that is ridiculous. Sheriff Samantha mentioned that spiders are dangerous and we see a whole bunch of spiders loose and attacking Joshua the spider seller. Now that is ridiculous and unrealistic. Spiders are not out to get us, but some spiders are dangerous only when they are provoked and they just want to be left alone. The characters are plain but surprisingly fleshed out, and most of them reflect that Saturday-morning tongue-in-cheek sensibility. During the second and third act of the film, the characters get together, work as a team, and care for each other. My favorite character is Mike Parker (Scott Terra); he is a smart, curious, adventurous young boy who knows a lot about spiders, and they are not false. The score by John Ottman is a fun and whimsical score that really gets in involved in the culture of the movie. In conclusion: Eight-legged Freaks is a silly and scary sci-fi creature feature with a creative and captivating concept and offers some tongue-in-cheek fun. For recommendation: Worth a rental.
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mike hall
December 13, 2016
It is so damn silly i want to watch it over and over again. This movie is a Thanksgiving tradition at my house. After we eat we sit around and watch it and laugh our asses off. Its great!!
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