Eight Legged Freaks (2002)

July 17, 2002 (AU) • Action, Comedy, Horror, Thriller • 99m

Overview

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. It's then 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 paranoid radio announcer Harlan, into battle against the bloodthirsty eight-legged beasts.

Director

Ellory Elkayem

Writers

Ellory Elkayem, Jesse Alexander, Randy Kornfield, Ellory Elkayem

Top Billed

David Arquette

Keywords

spider creature pick up wetting pants hockey mask barbershop perfume aunt nephew relationship straight razor forklift contamination animal horror

Where to watch

Free / Included

Rent

Buy

Top Billed Cast

David Arquette

Chris McCormick

Kari Wührer

Samantha Parker

Doug E. Doug

Harlan Griffith

Scarlett Johansson

Ashley Parker

Rick Overton

Pete Willis

Matt Czuchry

Bret

Riley Smith

Randy

Leon Rippy

Wade

Randi Klein

Waitress #1

Terey Summers

Waitress #2

Scott Terra

Mike Parker

Eileen Ryan

Gladys

Jane Edith Wilson

Emma

Jack Moore

Amos

Roy Gaintner

Floyd

Jay Arlen Jones

Leon

Matt Holwick

Larry

John Storey

Mark

Don Champlin

Leroy

David Earl Waterman

Norman

John Ennis

Cop #1

Ryan C. Benson

Cop #2

Bruiser

Self

Tom Noonan

Joshua Taft (uncredited)

Debbie Overbey

Girl in Window (uncredited)

Crew

Ellory Elkayem

Screenplay

Peter Winther

Executive Producer

John Ottman

Original Music Composer

William Fay

Executive Producer

John S. Bartley

Director of Photography

Dean Devlin

Producer

Bruce Berman

Producer

Ellory Elkayem

Director

Jesse Alexander

Screenplay

Roland Emmerich

Executive Producer

April Webster

Casting

Paula Rosenberg

Casting

Pat Banta

Stunts

Jim Holley

Stunt Driver

Heather Callow

Stunts

Louie Franco

Stunt Driver

James M. Churchman

Stunts

John Hateley

Stunts

Matthew Bekoff

Set Designer

Rick Miller

Stunt Driver

'Mad' Mike Jones

Stunt Driver

David Siegel

Editor

Jim Fitzpatrick

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

Gary L. Camp

Steadicam Operator

Robin Anderson

Script Supervisor

Terry Kempf

Construction Coordinator

Alan Benoit

Location Manager

Chas. Butcher

Art Direction

Jon Baronn Farmer

Still Photographer

Terry J. Erdmann

Unit Publicist

Karen E. Goulekas

Visual Effects Supervisor

Alix Friedberg

Costume Design

Yves De Bono

Special Effects Coordinator

Kosta Saric

Visual Effects Editor

Dan Hegeman

Sound Effects Editor

Anna Foerster

Additional Photography

Rick Sharp

Makeup Department Head

Kerry Carmean-Williams

Sound Effects Editor

Dino DiMuro

Sound Effects Editor

Kelvin Lee

Animation Supervisor

Thomas Dadras

Visual Effects Supervisor

Gary Gegan

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

Jo Ann Smith

Studio Teachers

Christopher Assells

Sound Effects Editor

Drew McKeen

Visual Effects Producer

Amanda Goodpaster

Music Editor

Kim Collea

Makeup Artist

Catherine A. McCabe

Art Department Coordinator

James Moriana

Foley

Michel Aller

First Assistant Editor

Charlie Brewer

Stunt Coordinator

Deborah Hall

Costume Supervisor

Marcia Calosio

Set Decoration

Beverli Eagan

Set Designer

Gary Mundheim

Sound Effects Editor

Scott Wolf

Supervising Sound Editor

Joachim Grüninger

Visual Effects Supervisor

Curt Pair

Camera Operator

Richard Lambert

Leadman

Gina G. Aller

Set Costumer

Kelly Van Horn

Co-Producer

Mike McNally

Set Medic

Claudia Breckenridge

Hairstylist

James K. Jensen

Post Production Supervisor

Gregg Singer

Picture Car Coordinator

George Bolton

Driver

John W. Ervin

Set Production Assistant

Scott W. Farley

Key Hair Stylist

Neil Gahm

Propmaker

Rich Ragsdale

Additional Music

Kristen Spinning

Standby Painter

Steve Roll

Carpenter

David E. Baron

First Assistant Camera

Tim T. Cunningham

Visual Effects Coordinator

Randy Kornfield

Story

Marie Randall

Craft Service

James Marbas

Digital Effects Supervisor

Leo Corey Castellano

Makeup Effects

Ellory Elkayem

Story

Larry Groupé

Orchestrator

Scott Baldyga

Casting Associate

Casey Stone

Scoring Mixer

Kate Jesse

Boom Operator

Andy Barrios

Digital Compositors

Peter Geoco

Production Sound Mixer

Peter Afterman

Music Supervisor

Jeff Glueck

Sound Engineer

John Alden

Stunts

Michael B. Russell

Transportation Captain

Daniel S. Irwin

Sound Editor

Jens Döldissen

Special Effects Supervisor

Daryl C. Lefever

Production Accountant

Karen O'Toole

Production Coordinator

Charles William Breen

Production Design

Kelly Van Horn

Unit Production Manager

Alex Madison

Stunts

John A. Stewart Jr.

Assistant Property Master

Maggie McFarland

Key Set Costumer

John Stewart

Underwater Gaffer

Lars P. Winther

First Assistant Director

Cindy Franke

Assistant Production Coordinator

Mo Henry

Negative Cutter

Vicki Dittemore

Set Dresser

Lewis Arquette

In Memory Of

Tim Ryan

Key Grip

Cris Rankin

Animal Wrangler

Carol Ashley

3D Artist

Damon Intrabartolo

Conductor

Paul F. Bernard

Second Assistant Director

George Doering

Musician

Andrew Tamandl

VFX Artist

David Orr

Color Timer

Keith Mosca

Property Master

Andy Gill

Stunts

Michael Green

"A" Camera Operator

Gary L. Camp

"B" Camera Operator

Roy Heath

Grip

Ron Colucci

Special Effects

Ron Colucci

Special Effects Technician

Xye

Visual Effects

Tina Sims

Assistant Hairstylist

Abra Grupp

Compositing Supervisor

Dirk Stout

Utility Sound

Karen Turner

Payroll Accountant

Scott Herrick

Rigging Gaffer

Kim Hyde

Set Medic

Jay Coolidge

First Assistant "B" Camera

Kenny Christiansen

Best Boy Electric

Shelly Boucher

Production Assistant

Christian Feldhaus

First Assistant Accountant

John Bozzalla

Visual Effects Production Assistant

Shari Lee

Production Secretary

Mark Hurtado

Storyboard Artist

Jessica Clements

Music Coordinator

Brian Basham

ADR Recordist

Blanca Garcia

Costumer

Ryan Chan

Assistant Editor

Michael J. Broomberg

Foley Artist

Cindi Reiss

Extras Casting

Ron Bedrosian

ADR Mixer

Ken Gorrell

Special Effects Technician

Greg Groenekamp

Visual Effects Compositor

Jason Casillas

Assistant Camera

Matt Balzarini

Second Assistant Camera

Damon Intrabartolo

Orchestrator

Freddy Mojica

Catering

Reviews

John Chard

⭐ 7/10

September 16, 2015

Arach Attack!

Spiders escape from a spider farm in Prosperity, Arizona, and become giant man eating beasts on account of toxic waste carelessly dumped in a near by river. Can the odd ball inhabitants of this Arizona town escape with their lives? Or will spiders rule the earth and lay waste to man kind?

Eight Legged Freaks is unashamedly homaging B movie creature features from the 1950s. The likes of Tarantula and Them! have their Pedipalps well and truly watered, in what is possibly the most undervalued of all the modern day creature feature homages. Having no pretensions what so ever, the only real thing not in "Freaks" favour is the usage of CGI, but even that doesn't hurt the film, if anything it adds to the obvious preposterous nature of the genre. I mean how else are we to get 20 foot jumping spiders chowing down on some annoying teenager?

Perhaps "Freaks" is viewed harsh because the cast is relatively C list? Again that is a genre staple, surely? For what it's worth I think they do real fine, David Arquette has oodles of goofy charisma, Kari Wuher makes a fine female ass kicker, and the kids (one a young Scarlett Johansen) are really rather cool. Director Ellory Elkayem, who after doing They Nest in 2000 clearly has bug issues, adheres to genre staples. Kooky western town out in the desert, the inhabitants of which range from near loonies to dopey politicians, and the plot follows the traditional sense of impending doom played for laughs. Listen out for the score from John Ottman, which plays on variants of "Itsy Bitsy Spider", whilst cast a keen eye on John S. Bartley's Arizona camera work.

Whilst not having the savvy scripting of homage daddy, Tremors, or the star appeal of 1990's Arachnophobia, Eight Legged Freaks deserves its place amongst such fun and creepy company. As the tag line says, "Do you hate spiders? Do you really hate spiders? Well they don't like you either". With that, I think it's web well and truly spun, don't you? 7/10

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