Spinnen des Todes

Quentin Kemmer (Devon Gummersall) is a shy and coward security guard and a passionate collector of comic books, who lives in a junkie building and has a crush on his next-door neighbor, the nurse student Stephanie Lewis (Amelia Heinle). However, he is too shy to declare his love for or invite her for a date. He works in a laboratory, which is studying and trying to develop a secret genetic weapon using the power and skills of the spiders. When the laboratory is robbed and his partner and great friend is killed with other persons by the criminals, Quentin feels under pressure with the situation and decides to inject himself the experimental vaccine. In the beginning, his strength and abilities increase and he feels like an arachnid superhero from his magazines. However, a couple of days later, he begins to transform himself into a giant spider-man hybrid, capable of throwing webs through his abdomen, developing claws in his mouth and prevailing the instincts and a non-stop hunger of the spiders over his will. Meanwhile, Quentin eliminates many persons, and Detective Jack Grillo (Dan Aykroyd) investigates the series of mysterious deaths in the neighborhood.

"Spider Vs. Earth" is a surprisingly good B-movie that recalls the horror and sci-fi stories of the 50's, inclusive with a noirish environment. The plot is good, with the exception of the unnecessary participation of Theresa Russell, in the role of an adultery and drunken wife. The slow transformation of Quentin into a spider slightly recalls the dramatic situation of "The Fly". My true and honest opinion is that the IMDb User Rating is totally unfair with this film. I bought the VHS and I do not regret. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Maldição da Aranha" ("The Curse of the Spider")

Note: On 09 May 2023, I saw this film again.

Crossing Marvel's Spiderman with David Cronenberg's The Fly, Earth vs. The Spider sees meek comic book fan Quentin Kemmer (Devon Gummersall) injecting himself with a top secret serum developed from spiders, hoping to become a superhero. Imbued with super strength and the ability to shoot webs from his abdomen, he tackles murderers and thugs, but things go awry for Quentin when the spider's genes begin to take over, his body mutating and his hunger driving him to kill.

What starts off as web-slinging comic-book fun gradually develops into a tragic horror, as Quentin's transformation into a bug-eyed freak ultimately leads him to attack the apple of his eye, girl next door Stephanie (Amelia Heinle). Detective Inspector Jack Grillo (Dan Aykroyd) is hot on his trail, but will he be able to stop the Kemmerspider before it drains Stephanie of her bodily fluids? Made for TV, the film lacks the overall quality of a big screen flick, but solid performances, nuanced direction that achieves a pulp magazine atmosphere, and effective use of music make this more than passable fare for the duration. It's definitely worth hanging in there for the moment when Quentin goes full arachnid, with impressive FX by the always reliable Stan Winston Studio.

I had to outbid several bidders on e-bay to get the VHS of this, as it seems to be getting a cult following or something. So it came and I watched, and it was completely interesting and never had a boring moment. It's kind of a low-rent SPIDERMAN, without the generally positive outlook of Spidey, kind of what might happen should the spider abilities include a hideous transformation and thirst for live prey. There are some suspicious coincidences between the 2 flicks. This one's dated 2001, and Spiderman is 2002, but who knows what the buzz was around Hollywood prior to the releases. So in this one, remake of the 50's version in title only, we have a hero/villain combination with pathos, and Dan Ackroyd in a good bit as a character actor, something he's been doing well since Driving Miss Daisy, as he's gotten too heavy to be a leading man any longer. If you like B-flicks, this is worth the time and you won't be disappointed. It's typical B-flick build and has the slow reveal of the hideous man/spider monster, which is well worth the wait, in the usual grand Stan Winston fashion (or his assistants perhaps). If you cannot stand B-flicks of this genre, then don't bother, you'll hate it and be mad at yourself for spending the time.

A title like Earth vs. the Spider is way too pretentious for a film of middling scale like this. What we have here is nothing more or less than a rip-off of the Fly. It feels shallow, pointless, maybe occasionally freaky, but hardly exciting. On top of that it has a majorly disappointing finale.

Quentin Kemmer is a security guard at a major biochemistry firm. He is a nice guy, and all he really wants out of life is a chance to be a hero. One afternoon there is a break in to the firm. Six people are killed, including his parter, and he blames himself for not being tough enough to prevent it. It a moment of hesitation he injects himself with the firm's latest top secret formula mixed from spider DNA. The next day he is a lot stronger, happier, and even gets a chance to be the hero he wants. As the days progress however, he gets hungrier, more deformed and dangerous to the point that he must stop himself before the beast within him gets loose.

The film is most involving when it explores the relationship between Quentin, and his lady friend next door, who he is shy of asking out. The entire film could've been based around this one thing and it would've been fine. However, another part of the plot concerns the investigation of Dan Akroyd's character which ends up amounting to nothing. What is more frustrating however is the total sloppiness of the climax. Like the film in its entirety, the last scene is random, rushed and insulting to the viewer. There is much to be explained when Earth vs. the Spider ends. The question is whether the story has gotten you involved enough to care, unfortunately no.

Neighbourhood vs. the Spider would be a more appropriate name. It is a small scale, not very effective creature feature, too short, and far too derivative. Monster fans will be disappointed I think.

It took four writers to come up with the story, which turns out to be a cheap, stupid ripoff of "Spiderman" and "The Fly." Nothing much in the plot is interesting or makes much sense. The special effects are pretty cheesy (maybe deliberately so), and there's little in the way of quality acting...Dan Ackroyd and Teresa Russell are wasted in such shallowly written roles. Watch David Cronenberg's "The Fly" or wait until the new Sam Raimi-directed "Spiderman" movie hits theatres to see how this material should REALLY be handled! My rating * 1/2 stars.