Larger Than Life

This short story film was the "inspiration" for "Eight-Legged Freaks," and I can see why! It is an amazing little 13-minute film that will keep riveted to your TV set for the complete short ride.

This New Zealand film done by Ellory Elkayem is beautifully-filmed in black-and-white and is masterful at building up suspense in such a short time. I spent half the movie with my mouth gaping at what I was seeing.

The story couldn't be simpler: toxic waste produces a spider who gets bigger and bigger with each camera shot. Unfortunately for some poor woman living alone at home, the spider's growth spurt takes place in her residence and she witnesses this transformation.

Calling an exterminator doesn't help because the insect kills that skeptic in no time! Then it's either her or the insect to see who will survive. Rebecca Hobbs did a nice job in the lead role.

I just loved the direction and photography in here. The music also was perfect for the film. This was a great start for an unknown and young director. I enjoyed "Eight-Legged Freaks" and it was on that DVD where I saw this film.

I would like to see Elkayem go on and make more of these black-and-white type sci-fi homages to the '50s films. So far, this short film is probably the best thing he's done.

A woman moves into her new house that she find out that she shares with a couple of creepy crawlies, but these aren't your normal spiders as they are huge. This is because of some chemical substance that has been washed into the suburbs drains. She decides to get a bug exterminator to rid these pests, but it suddenly falls back onto her to finish the job or she might be their next victim.

This particular short by Ellory Elkayem went on to help to spawn the feature length film '8 Legged Freaks' (2003). Just like his feature length production and this movie short, it's basically homage and owes a lot to the 1950's age of paranoia and B-grade Sci-fi flicks that flooded that era. It runs for about just under 15 minutes and Elkayem has ingeniously put together an enticing story that becomes good fun. I even go to say I enjoyed it more than the bigger production. This piece didn't entirely just play for laughs and I thought it worked better that way. Most of the time it was highly taut, suspenseful and the director keeps things running smoothly. They worked in the small slabs of humour rather well, by making certain aspects that are naturally funny, than actually trying to be so. Without the stupidity and goofiness of the feature length. The effects range from rubbery to computer generated, but it definitely isn't distracting, but adds a nice charm to it all. But hey at least its not overcooked with its effects, but it generates an uneasy feel, especially if you can't stand spiders. A mostly upbeat tempo within the score makes it move along and adds more to the atmosphere. That being shot in black and white contributed a lot too. The few performances are subtly good, but they aren't really given too much to do as the script reasonably sparse, with the main concentration on the mood it creates and gripping action pieces.

'Larger than Life' is a refreshing, brisk and well-executed short that might get under your skin.

'Larger than Life' is one of the special features on the Australian edition of the 'Eight Legged Freaks' DVD. This short film, directed by NZ filmmaker Ellory Elkayem, inspired the feature 'Eight Legged Freaks' (also directed by Elkayem).

'Larger than Life' is a tribute to the type of cheezy Z-grade horror films that Ed Wood would have made. Filmed in black & white, Elkayem's film concerns a young woman caught up in the specificities of everyday domestic life: cleaning the bath, using a malfunctioning gas stove, calling the exterminator because of the not-so-usual-proliferation-of-larger-than-life-arachnoids! Cue the dramatic orchestrated music and corny spider sound effects and you have classic cheese horror that ironically recalls early exploitation horror flicks without being overly postmodern - or is that postmortem? It's hard to tell the difference these days...

'Larger than Life' is a great short that ranks alongside fellow NZ-filmmaker Alison Maclean's dark, menacing black & white short 'Kitchen Sink' (1989).

Included on the DVD of "Eight Legged Freaks" is director Ellory Elkayem's short film, "Larger Than Life." Filmed in black-and-white, the short is even more of a homage to classic big bug flicks then the feature is. When strange chemicals leak out of a sinister factory, normal spiders are exposed and gradually grow bigger. This is a problem for single woman Jo, alone in the house with giant arachnoids. The clueless exterminator isn't much help and soon she has to defend herself from the eight-legged invasion.

"Larger Than Life" functions more like a straight horror film. The tone is still light and jokey. The exterminator doesn't notice the giant spider on his back and the "Or Is It?" ending is winkingly silly. However, some scenes attempt to build suspense. The spider corners the girl in the shower, "Psycho"-strings playing on the soundtrack. An escape is cut short by a shot of webbing. Opposed to "Eight Legged Freaks" CGI, the spider here is mostly a puppet. Actors struggling with a real object, even if it's an obvious puppet, still prove more squirm-inducing. There's not a lot to the short and it's less charming then Elkayem's feature. Still, there's enough obvious strength and love of the material on display that it's not surprising the director would get the jobs he did.

i saw this movie once, and it was good fun.

now that i know the director is the one that directed 8 legged freaks, i'm absolutely amazed!

i hope the latter makes money, though it doesn't seem to be yet.

too bad for dean devlin and the gang.