Arachnid (2001)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

"Arachnid" may not be a great film and in fact it starts off pretty rocky but it gets better as it progresses and what it does right makes it worth a viewing. The story follows a rescue group traveling to a remote island where the inhabitants have been dying mysteriously. Once on the island, the crew discover that it is populated by strange creatures which appear to be hybrids between spiders and other native forms of life. The creatures are not spiders at all though, the whole incident has been caused by an alien ship crashing onto the island. The accident has released a rapidly evolving strain of spider-like aliens and they are quickly picking off the human population. Before they know it, this rescue mission has become a fight for survival.When I say the movie starts off rough, I mean really rough. Most of the effects used to create the creatures are practical, which is a very good thing but at the beginning, we see the alien ship and it is created used some computer effects that are not good at all. It's unfortunate because not only does the scene where the ship crashes look amateurish but it doesn't add anything to the story. There's no real mystery about what is happening on the island, you know right from the beginning that it's alien spiders. There's a minor sub plot where the crew's pilot Mercer (Alex Reid) is looking for her brother, which we know is the pilot that first encounters the arachnid creatures but it's more of a tossup between "is he dead or mutated into a horrible spider monster" than anything. Either way you know she's not going to see her brother again. The beginning of the movie is also plagued with terrible dialog and some wooden acting. Once again, if you get past the first 30 minutes or so, it mostly goes away. Maybe I just got used to it, but either way I didn't notice it so much and the movie does get significantly better over time.The biggest strength of the movie is the variety of creatures and the special effects. Because the arachnid alien creature is trying to adapt to the environment, it's got a variety of spawns that are pretty cool to see. There are some oversized spiders, some snake-spider hybrids, creepy tick-like creatures that burrow under your skin and let's not forget the boss monster itself. These creatures are all created using stop motion, elaborate puppets or cleverly shot miniatures and they're all pretty impressive and very cool to see. You'll likely be disappointed that there isn't a sequel where we get to see additional creatures actually. That's not to say that the special effects are perfect. The budget does show, particularly during the beginning and during scenes where we can see the main arachnid alien crawling around on walls and such. It looks just fine but the speed at which its limbs move isn't quite right. If you ever look at insects move, they have a really unsettling jittery way of moving their limbs. It almost looks like your eye is too slow to capture the movements and all you see are random snippets (kind of like watching people move to a strobe light) and the movements of the main spider just doesn't look as good as it would have if these movements had been done using modern special effects.Another positive are the characters in the movie. Well, I should say select characters. Several members of the crew sent on the island consist of natives that don't speak English and are basically given no dialog or characterization whatsoever. You can bet these guys are just spider food. The main characters though, they're competent when it comes to the situations they're stuck in and interesting enough that you do want to see them make it out alive. It makes a big difference in the scary moments.I also want to discuss one bit in the movie that was really clever. So you know how in every horror movie, the group has to split up so they can cover more ground/get eaten when they become isolated? Well this movie does that but instead of the second group just getting killed off, they actually re-join the survivors of the spider attacks towards the end of the film. That means you get that tension of the group getting smaller and smaller as the bodies pile up, only to get a boost of potential victims towards the end. If you are an aspiring film-maker I strongly recommend you check this movie out to see the little touches it did well.For all the praise I'm giving the movie, I have to admit it really isn't that great overall. It feels like the film needed to go through one more proof read to tighten up some of the loose ends and move this from a "better than expected" movie to a "hidden gem". It isn't great but if you see this one at the video store for a dollar or you spot an ol' VHS copy at a garage sale, it's worth a look. Just forgive that terrible intro and you're in for some fun. (Theatrical version on DVD, October 25, 2013)

Sort of a middling "critter feature" seen on the Sci Fi channel. The basic plot idea is fairly interesting, but lacks quite a bit in execution. The acting is pretty good, particularly for this genre, but the critters are pretty bad, looking like closeups of small mechanical (or CGI) spiders made to look large. I particularly liked Chris Potter as Valentine and Ravil Isyanov as Henry Capri. The women were OK, in particular Alex Reid as Mercer, but neither were pretty enough nor hot enough to pull their weight in this kind of flick.The movie starts with some kind of semi-transparent alien craft intersecting a stealth fighter and both crashing. The Navy pilot ejects and parachutes into a jungle environment where he watches the alien pilot get offed by a large pincered critter, then suffers the same fate. Maybe this is where the arachnids pick up their alien DNA, but since they are already large, maybe not.Months later a group of doctors, with Valentine and friends as bodyguards, set off to the fair island -- where the natives are dying so some loathsome disease induced by venom -- in a plane piloted by Mercer (the stealth pilot's sister searching for her brother). Apparently some magnetic interference (never further explained) causes the plane's electronics (and their satellite radio/phone) to go bonkers. Don't expect any cavalry. The natives, by the way, are much more like South American Indians than South Pacific whatevers. They are too small to be Polynesians, and too light skinned to be anything else. Well, it's Science Fiction...After the running and screaming, losing characters right and left to the critters evil machinations, the hero (Valentine), the chick (Mercer) and one of the "natives" off the mama spider and presumably escape the island -- I guess, but how? The plane is still down and the electronics still out. The production ran out of film? Ran out of money? What?

A plane driven by a pilot(Alex Reid) and transporting ex-marines(Chris Potter, Luis Lorenzo), a scientist(Ravil Isyanov) and doctors(Jose Sancho, Neus Asensi) crashes on a tropical island that contains a lethal carnivorous alien spider. The mission of the medics to find a formula to heal ills and the pilot to look for her brother disappeared when his jet was downed. They're accidentally lost and the eight-legged spider causes wreak havoc terrorizing and destroying the crew . Lethal alien spider meets up local natives and crew and spontaneously catch them and begins to consume people. The spider rapidly multiplies and the protagonists confronting with it .This chiller with middling budget packs thrills, chills, some good action and few funny moments. It's a hybrid of monster movies from the 50s such as 'Tarantula' and modern American production such as 'Depredator'. The thrilling screenplay is a bit yawn-inspiring but nifty special effects will keep you from dozing off, its author is Steve Johnson, he's a nice creature effects designer, a perfect craftsman who made effects in 'Spiderman II' , 'Species II' , ' Blade II' , and ' War of worlds ' , among others. On the whole this is a suspenseful and tense thriller especially at the amazing ending tableau when Chris Potter and Alex Reid have to tackle the gigantic spider at the lair in the final. The tale is well produced by Brian Yuzna and Julio Fernandez, owners of Fantastic Factory productions, a successful terror movies company. The motion picture is professionally directed by Jack Sholder with rather too much camera movement and there are also lots of low-angle shots of people hanging around waiting to get bitten by the carnivorous spider. Although nothing which haven't been seen before, this is not the picture to watch if you are scared of spiders , however the movie is quite entertaining. Utterly arachnophobia people must flee this film.Other movies about those bugs are the following : ¨Tarantula(1955)¨ by Jack Arnold with John Agar; ¨Tarantula: the deadly cargo(1977)¨ with Claude Akins; ¨Kingdom of spiders(77)¨ by John Budd Cardos with William Shatner and ¨Arachnophobia(1990)¨ by Frank Marshall with John Goodman.

"Arachnid" isn't that bad of a creature feature.**SPOILERS**Lauren Mercer, (Alex Reid) a pilot, agrees to lead an expedition by Dr. Samuel Leon, (Jose Sancho) his assistant Susana, (Nues Asensi) spider specialist Henry Capri, (Ravil Issyanov) and guide Lev Valentine, (Chris Potter) into a small Pacific Island to determine the cause of a deadly epidemic. Crash-landing on the island, they decide to do some exploring, where one member is bitten by a strange spider and begins to be eaten from the inside out. Coming upon a native village for help, they find it decimated and nearly destroyed. The attacks have not stopped, it seems, and it maybe a mutated species of spider found by Henry that is causing the attacks. When the suspicions are proved true, they try to get off the island alive.The Good News: Sure, it's predictable, derivative, and has some pretty cheesy effects, but fans of these movies have come to expect that sort of thing to one degree or another. The giant spider is actually rather good and suitably menacing, especially it's overall design. When it's dripping acid and wrapping people up in steel-strength cocoons it is genuinely creepy. It's just different enough from the normal look that it's memorable, yet sticks close enough that it's still a recognizable shape. The FX team should be praised for the fact that they chose to go with an animatronics-based model rather than CGI. Also, there's a couple nice gory set-pieces spread throughout. There's a character sprayed with acid sap in the face and several mangled carcasses strewn around, yet the majority of violence on-screen is against the spiders. They're pretty badly injured throughout, making for some surprising gore. The highlight, though, is a particularly nasty attack by some meddlesome ticks, which burrow under the skin and then bloodily erupt following some obviously unhealthy white vomiting. It's a strong image that thankfully saves the film. The attack on the outpost near the end features some nice action sequences and a couple of shocks. With an air of cheese surrounding it, this isn't that bad of creature feature.The Bad News: This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it still has a couple of things wrong with it. Every cliché inherent in the genre is present in this film, and nary an attempt is made to try something a little different. It's really distracting when things can be drawn out that way. The cheese in here is both a blessing and a curse. It's fine for those who enjoy it, but it's also damaging for those who aren't into it. The beginning is also a bit of a mess as it's hard to figure things out, and nothing is really made all that clear until a little while in, which means that we have to backtrack to find out what happened and why as well as what's going on currently. But these are mostly minor gripes that are easily remedied.The Final Verdict: While not exactly the best spider movie of all time, it's decent enough to put a little fear into those who hate them. The spider isn't that bad looking, it's got a couple of good moments, and the film won't exactly rot your brain. Just turn off and enjoy.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language