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 EARTH VS
THE SPIDER. DVD. Horror. Approx 90 minutes. Rated R, violence.
Quentin, a wimpy laboratory security guard, and super fan of the comic
book hero “Arachnidman,” knowingly injects himself with a powerful
drug made from spider blood. After a few days, he starts to take on the
characteristics of a spider. A few more days later, he starts to morph
into a hungry man spider.
This movie is based on the 1958 classic, but it gets lost somewhere
between then and now. All of the main characters, especially Dan
Aykroyd’s Dragnet cop character and the hop-soc like Stephanie, have a
1950ish feel to them. However, the rest of the characters and
surroundings, including many references to modern day junk, bring the
movie up to date. I felt like I was watching a movie about a few people
transported from the past to the present day. The movie also had a very
comic book feel to it, which is ok since the movie runs off of Quentin’s
wishes of wanting to be a superhero. The main reason why I wanted to
review this movie was due to the special effects created by Stan Winston.
This guy is a master of fx. However, the fx in this movie are rather
minimal. There is one scene that could have been damn cool, but the cgi
ruined it. Once Quentin morphs into the creature, the make-up effects are
indeed very cool and eerie looking. There is also a b-plot concerning
Dragnet and his whore wife, which totally board me. What made this movie
terribly odd for me was that Stephanie closely resembles my good
friend’s daughter, but older. If you like spider movies, you may find
this one mildly appealing. Otherwise, you may find this one to be a
clunker. –Denis Sheehan
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