All in all, I'd definitely recommend this movie to fans of the genre. It's a real throwback to the '50 and '60s movies - show people screaming, cut to giant monster approaching, etc. Lots of fun. The DVD is great - sharp, clear picture quality, 5.1 Dolby surround sound, and there's a nice 20 minute "making of" featurette as well.


Giant "Spiders" Must Now Be Politically Correct   January 18, 2004
 0 out of 2 found this review helpful

In the Big Bug movies of the 50s, the Big Bug was almost always the result of a mad scientist who was carrying on secret research. TARANTULA (1955) with John Agar is a prime example. The focus was on the mad scientist, the handsome hero, and the Big Bug. With modern day versions, an X-File ingredient has been added: the intervention of a government conspiracy that usually involves alien DNA. In SPIDERS, director Gary Jones updates the traditional havoc laden plot to suggest that the real monsters are neither the mad scientist nor the monster itself. In its place lies a shadowy government supersecret organization that seems staffed with rather unintelligent if not fanatic Men in Black types.

Lana Parilla is a college newspaper reporter who with two other nerdy computer geek companions breaks into a restricted government installation that houses a recently returned space exploration vessel that was used to expose spiders to hard radiation. Naturally, there is an accident that allows the spiders to attack the astronauts who manage to crash land their vessel. The plot is special effects driven as itsy-bitsy spiders somehow morph with deadly speed into huge bouncing arachnids. Ms. Parilla has the obligatory romance with yet another government agent who is the good guy in this one. It was probably too tempting for director Jones to resist having the evil leader of this shadowy government CIA type rogue act as the prototypical Mad Scientist. SPIDERS is the sort of movie in which the viewer is not supposed to notice its many logical gaffes and inconsistencies, such as how Ms. Parilla needs glasses at the start but manages to see quite well enough after they get smashed. The viewer is rather asked to sit back and hearken to an earlier more innocent generation in which the greatest threat came from the Big Bug, not from the government that tries to cover up the monster's existence. Unfortunately, John Agar was the last Handsome Hero who could stake claim to this.


TIME TRAVEL BACK TO THE FIFTIES   November 25, 2003
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Gary Jones should be commended for his faithfulness to those wonderful giant bug movies of the fifties, like "Tarantula" and "Them." In this underappreciated thriller, Jones gives us animatronic spiders that look as real as one could expect, and delivers an action packed, delightful thriller. Of course, the plot has holes, and there are some ridiculous "how come so and so did this?" Like, for instance LANA PARRILLA, the savvy and Siguourney Weaverish heroine, has her glasses knocked off, crushed, and there is no mention of how this girl can see so well. Sure, JOSH GREEN has to have his shirt come off so we can see that buff bod. (How in the world does anyone get shoulders that wide???). But who cares? I enjoyed the ride, and the guilty pleasure of watching giant spiders running amock. There is some clever lines and I liked the innocence and naivete of the actors. Parilla starts out pretty obnoxious, and continues to be so, but by the time she joins forces with Green, she's a knockout. Green is also more than just a hunk of meat; his soft-spoken innocence and his easy swagger are endearing and refreshing in a day of "super macho" men. And just when you think the movie is over, the ending explodes and it's pure mayhem and excitement thereon.
I just loved this movie, because it was so much like those older gems, and it fulfilled those childhood fantasies of heroism and the good guy always wins!


Giant Spiders and conspiracies   April 29, 2003
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

A very well thought out bugfest. While the title creatures are the original reason for watching this one, there is far more to the plot than rampaging arachnids.

A college newspaper reporter is convinced that aliens exist and that the government has been hiding the fact. But when she heads to a secret government facility that is supposedly abandoned, she finds far more than she was expecting.

First off, a shuttle that supposedly burned up on re-entry lands at the base. The crew are dead in horrendous ways. Then the Men in Black show up. They are obviously cruel and cold-blooded.

Trying to avoid discovery, she and her friends hide in a truck and find themselves far underground beneath the facility. There they discover aliens, Apollo missions that were never reported, and a project to mix alien DNA with that of spiders. Then things get really tense.

Fun, fast and with some true jump-out-of-your-0seat moments, this is an above average monster flick with excellent effects and a solid storyline.