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Travis Willock reviews
(Widescreen Edition)
Warner Home Video
- Cert: PG-13
- Cat.no: 23309
- Running time: 99 minutes
- Year: 2002
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 1, NTSC
- Chapters: 29
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English, French
- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: $26.98
- Extras:Audio Commentary, Additional Scenes, Larger Than Life Film,Creepy Crawly Giants Essay, Theatrical Trailer, Cast & Crew.
Director:
- Ellory Elkayem
Info on the R2 DVD from 
Screenplay:
- Jesse Alexander and Ellory Elkayem
Cast:
- Chris McCormack: David Arquette
Sheriff Sam Parker: Kari Wuhrer
Mike Parker: Scott Terra
Harlan: Doug E. Doug
Ashley Parker: Scarlett Johansson
It’s good to see that a B-Movie even exists nowadays.With the “not fun”antics of the US remake of The Ring and the recently released Ghost Shipit was looking dim for the fun little flicks with horror elements. Thatmay turn people off right there though, Hollywood’s inability to make atrue horror movie anymore without some goofy comedy elements for kids.But if you look at it, even Friday the 13th and the other slasher flickswere all unintentionally funny. Eight Legged Freaks was a comedy fromthe get go and works moderately well at doing so.
The story is pretty simple. A sleepy town named Prosperity is subject toa spill of radioactive waste in a pond. By mere coincidence the pondalso happens to be by an exotic spider farm. The crickets in the pondare genetically enhanced and the spiders devour them. Immediately thespiders grow bigger and bigger until they’re… eight legged freaks.
Animal disapearances happen all over town until a big “Arac Attack”(what the film was originally called, sounded more like Iraq Attack)forces all the town’s inhabitants to converge into the ghost town of ashopping mall. Then we’ve got David Arquette playing a returner to thetown just in time and Kari Wuhrer playing the sherriff. Now all hopehinges on destroying the spiders altogether or becoming food to thequeen.
Roger Ebert stated in a review of this film: “This is the movie peoplewanted to see when they saw Men in Black II”. I totally agree,Men in Black IIwas garbage and this was the diamond in the ruff last summer.But this diamond has a few scrathes on it.
For one thing I’m stilluneasy about David Arquette having a lead role, he handles it ok, betterthan I could have but he’s still not that great. The other actors handletheir roles well especially Kari Wuhrer and Doug E. Doug. Then there’sthe whole noise making spiders. True the carnage does have a StarshipTroopers-esque feel to it but the spiders make squealing noises andmore. I guess they couldn’t just have a silent spider even though theyreally are. But overall Eight Legged Freaks succeeds in delivering a funmovie that anyone could get into.
While Warner’s transfers are not as good as sister company New LineCinema this one shines good enough. Presented in anamorphic 2.35:1widescreen (as always with Warner a separate full-frame edition isavailable) the first thing’ll you notice is how the colors all look verynatural. Edge enhancement is completely absent and colors are as brightand vivid as they could be. Blacks are relatively deep with some minimalpixelization that Warner has become known for but it’s hardlynoticeable. I noticed a bit of grain a couple of times but then itturned around and showed a great looking outdoor scene that showed theprevious to the door. A very fine transfer with just a few mistakes.
The sound is delivered in a full blast Dolby Digital 5.1 track. This wasjust as agressive as I thought it would be. Surround chanels areeffectively used as scamperings of spiders can be heard all around youat times. At times this track got pretty loud.
Despite being three months old (premiered at the theater on July 17th)and quite the bomb Warner has at least put a few extras on a disc thatcould have been bare bones. Here’s how it stacks up:
- Audio Commentary: Stars David Arquete and Rick Overton, Writer/Director Elloroy Elkayem, andProducer Dean Devlin are all here and accounted for on this suprisingly decenttrack. Definitely worth a listen.
- Additional Scenes: 8 deleted scenes are here and presented innon-anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen. Runs 13 minutes total and includes analternate ending and an unfinished scene that would have introduced babyspiders.
- Theatrical Trailer: More of a teaser trailer really as it only runs one minute. This was the onlytheatrical trailer to be released. Presented in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen.
- Creepy Crawly Giants: A text essay that includes references to other classic B-Movies.
- Larger Than Life: A New Zealand giant spider movie that earnedwriter/director Ellory Elkayem the job of Eight Legged Freaks. Presentedin black & white, non-anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen, and runs about 13minutes.
Not too much in terms of quantity but succeeds in delivering quality.
Packaging is the standard Warner snapper case. There are 29 chapters tobreak it up and menus are animated.
Overall Eight Legged Freaks is at least worth a rental if you’re stillnot sure. People going in will find a pretty fun movie with just a fewflaws.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALLEmailTravis Willock
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.