As I mentioned in my review of Them!, society's concerns are reflected in the movies. Them! tells the tale of giant ants, mutated into a horrendous size by fallout from above- ground nuclear testing the Southwest. But today's environmental concern is toxic waste, so it should come as no surprise that a single barrel of chemicals that finds its way into a pond creates the crisis here. The chemicals' effect on the arachnid population will be very dramatic indeed, transforming them into vast Eight Legged Freaks.

More about this DVD  •  DVD Info  •  Movie Main Page  •  Message Board

The film opens just outside the little town of Prosperity, Arizona. That name, we will learn, is an oxymoron; the local gold mine has played out, and unemployment is rampant. To attract some income, the mayor pulled an underhanded deal to store toxic waste illegally in some of the deserted mine tunnels. But in the dead of night, when a truck carrying a load of chemical waste swerves to avoid a rabbit, a barrel careens of the truck to land in a lovely little pond. Joshua (Tom Noonan), a local who runs an exotic spider farm, regularly captures crickets at that pond to feed his collection of over two hundred spiders. Quite unexpectedly, something rather startling happens; on the cricket diet, the spiders begin to grow. With an exhibit of huge spiders, he'll grow rich. Joshua gleefully shows his young friend, Mike Parker (Scott Terra), son of the local sheriff, Sam (short for Samantha?) Parker (Kari Wuhrer). What Joshua does not appreciate is that his spiders will grow large enough and powerful enough to escape. And when a poisonous spider grows larger, can there be any doubt that it will grow more lethal?

Enter mining engineer Chris McCormack (David Arquette), returning to Prosperity after a decade away. He's been pining for Sam for years and, in fact, had left town when he lost her to another. Chris is the son of the deceased mine owner; he's come back to help find that mysterious vein of gold his father claimed to have found before he died. No one has been able to find it since. Chris approaches Sam to reconcile, but before he can get to first base, all hell breaks loose. The spiders have grown hungry. Pets and livestock simply will no longer do; the citizens of Prosperity have been put on the menu.

Director Ellory Elkayem keeps things light and comic. The spiders make strange little noises that reminded me of Gremlins and Jawas (I didn't know spiders had vocal chords). They can be clumsy, and sometimes exhibit an almost human reaction to a gaff. Clearly, no seriousness is intended here; when a cat and a spider battle within a drywall, the cat's impression, right down to its fangs, is extended inward on the sheetrock. The town is populated with eccentrics, not the least of which is Harlan (Doug E. Doug), a local radio broadcaster and conspiracy nut who rants about alien invasions and government cover-ups. Much is silly, and it would be a mistake to expect to be scared. As well-rendered as the giant spiders are, and as person after person is cocooned for inside-out ingestion, it's impossible to take any of this nonsense seriously. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film's theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in anamorphic video, and this is another very fine transfer from Warner Bros. It may not be as pristine or sharp as Warner's Thir13een Ghosts, but it's close. Edge halos do appear from time to time, but they are neither obvious nor distracting. Textures, like the hairs that cover some of the spider species are rendered well, as is small object detail, like distant faces in a wide-angle shot. Colors are vivid and noise free, like the primary red of the Prosperity Mall sign; those DVD players with the chroma upsampling error might generate some visible striping in those scenes. Shadow detail in the nighttime scenes is excellent, revealing subtle markings on the dark arachnids. I noticed no compression artifacts.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is used to surround the viewer in creepy crawlers, but not as frequently as I would have expected. Off screen clattering and chirping both amuse and occasionally raise the hairs on the back of the neck, but it's almost as if the director decided to use the surrounds sparingly to enhance their shock value. There is some deep bass present, but it isn't as gut thumping or visceral as many contemporary releases. John Ottman's orchestral score telegraphs the humor; he frequently expresses his musical terms in playful ways, dissipating any shock value or fright. I'm confident that the director set the tone. The dialog remains crystal clear throughout.

The alternate language track is in French. Optional subtitles are available in French, Spanish, and English for which Closed Captions are also included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The DVD features a feature-length, screen-specific commentary by director and co- writer Ellory Elkayem, producer Dean Delvin, and costars David Arquette and Rick Overton. These guys seem to have a lot of fun together, and joke and tease one another as they discuss how the film was made. The commentary reinforced the obvious, that there was a conscious attempt to fuse horror and humor. The filmmakers and players make clear what is real and what is CGI, and the filmmakers are particularly effusive about the CGI artists. Ottman's score is mentioned and complimented. This is a pleasant blend of technical descriptions and horsing around. Nicely done and entertaining.

The producers have included several deleted scenes that run 13:10 and would have contributed little to the film. Most, but not all, are character development sequences and since I suspect that pace was the priority, they were dropped. The scenes are shown in rather messy non-anamorphic widescreen.

Perhaps the most interesting supplement on the disc is the short film that inspired the feature. Director Elkayem made this short under the auspices of the New Zealand Film Commission. It's in black and white, it's in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, is unfortunately shown in non-anamorphic widescreen, and is called Larger Than Life (13:35). When it was shown at the Telluride Film Festival, talent agent Howard Cohen was sufficiently impressed to bring it to the attention of Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. You'll marvel at the similarities between the original and Eight Legged Freaks.

Creepy Crawly Giants is a modest text essay that has little to offer but brief descriptions of many bug-inspired films from the ‘50s through this 2002 feature. Cast and Crew offers filmographies for a scant few of the principals: David Arquette; story credit Randy Kornfield; screenwriter Jesse Alexander; and, director Ellory Elkayem. The 1.85:1 theatrical trailer is shown in respectable anamorphic video. The 99-minute film is organized into twenty-nine chapter stops.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

After the Warner skin wraps on top of the InterActual player, you'll have several choices. There's are links to the Eight Legged Freaks web site, the Warner DVD Events site, the Warner Home Video site, the Warner Bros. Studio site, and a Movie Mail e-mail subscription page.

But the most intriguing feature here is a video game called Let The Squashing Begin. The software installs itself if you allow it to, and it becomes you against the spiders. I was able to maneuver around the Prosperity Mall and pick up a box of bolts for my crossbow, but after two or three minutes, no spiders showed up, nor could I find a door to pass through to find them. I'm not a competent video game player; I'll leave it to you to sort it out.

Parting Thoughts