Spider City - Stadt der Spinnen

Okay, if you like trash, this might be the movie for you. The 3D is AWFULLY converted and makes your eyes bleed without any visible depth... The acting is horrible. Christa Campbell cannot move her face because of all the botox, and Patrick Muldoon has seen better days and there is a sense of desperation radiating from him during the whole movie. And no, it does not have to do with his role. The story is on SyFy Channel level, the FX are slightly better than usual in a production like this one... If you have to see every monster movie on the market, than give it a try, but you have been warned. Don't expect "Eight Legged Freaks" from outer space as the movie takes itself so seriously, that there is not the slightest sense of humor in this production. At least not wanted one. The second star is only for the decent special effects... What a waste of money...

As a person who always had a love for monster movies, and spiders in particular, then it was a thrill to stumble across this movie. Initially I had feared that it would have been much worse than it actually turned out to be, as the genre of monster movies tend to turn out to be campy, goofy and usually have horrible effects that are just downright painful to watch.

This 2013 "Spiders" movie, however, did come to prove my initial fears wrong. Especially because the spiders in the movie were actually quite nicely animated and looked realistic enough. Well, as realistic as you can go when dealing with a 6 foot arachnid. The creature designs were nice and held lots of good details, and it was greatly helped along the way by the good CGI. One thing did bother me though, and it was the sounds they opted to put on the spiders. Growling, screeching and hissing, come on now, seriously? It just gave the spiders a cartoon-like quality that didn't really help them along in any way as for being menacing or monstrous.

About the storyline, well it is fairly straight forward textbook scripting here; a top secret non-American experiment that took place it outer space crashes down on Earth - in New York, of course - and with it came the mutated arachnids that grow at an accelerated pace, becoming a threat to all of New York in record time. And it is up to a small handful of people to put a stop to this outer worldly threat before it is too late.

Bam. Bam. Bam. Straight out of the Hollywood 'how-to-make-a-monster-movie' manuscript. Campy story? Check. Unlikely heroes? Check. Grotesque monsters created by the hands of science? Check. Super predictable? Check. Everything you need here for a basic monster movie is present.

As for the people in the movie, well then it was fairly ordinary performances here, with mostly no outstanding performances, aside from possibly Patrick Muldoon. People did good enough jobs with their roles and characters, but there was just an general sensation of lack of enthusiasm lurking behind some performances.

Despite not adding anything new or jaw-dropping to the genre, then "Spiders" does provide good entertainment, because it is a fast-paced movie that lets you see the spiders a lot and in good detail. "Spiders" is a no-brainer; the type of movie that just lets you disconnect your brain and just ride along for the fun and entertainment. If you enjoy monster movies, then "Spiders" is well worth a watch.

I liked this movie. Not a lot of new ground here. There have been almost as many spider movies as shark movies. The spin here is that the spiders are a hybrid with some kind of alien. Even though some of the acting is poor and the story is thin what makes this movie stand out are the monster effects. The Queen Spider is especially well done and menacing. I was really surprised by how good she came out. There are a few points when the CGI freezes, but that wasn't too long.

This is a pleasant surprise.

Problems With Spiders:

-Not enough spiders. -The spiders don't kill enough stupid actors. -Christa Campbell's botoxed and sadly altered faced makes her look like Michael Jackson near the end. -Not enough spiders. -When every actor flubbed a line (and they all did at some point, some more than others) it seemed like the director just waved them on to continue. -Seeing the same forty or so extras in nearly every crowd scene (watch for the red hoodie). -Not enough goddammed spiders!

I could go on, but it's hot in my apartment right now. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Parts of a Soviet space station containing spiders crash to New York, which then go on to grow into gigantic beasts. For a just divorced couple it becomes a battle to save their daughter, their relationship and the city. This is slightly better than your typical Sci Fi or Asylum creature feature, but that's not exactly saying much! Much CGI here, not the worst I've seen but still pretty cheap looking. As the spiders grow they become less scary & more silly. Acting is pretty wooden, the guy playing the Russian doctor keeps letting his natural English accent seep out. I watched this in 2D so unable to comment on the 3D. It's all very predictable & instantly forgettable.