L'Antre de L'Araignée

Initially I had hopes for "In the Spider's Web" because the DVD cover looked so promising. A dark place with a person hanging down, suspended by webbing and wrapped up like a cocoon. Underneath the helpless person is a number of skulls and at the front of the DVD cover is a fairly cool-looking big spider.

I love monster movies, unfortunately there are just too many bad ones out there. "In the Spider's Web", however, fall into the not-so-great category of creature features. The movie means well enough, but it just have a story that is hard to believe and buy into, and that makes the movie all the more difficult to digest.

The acting in the movie wasn't bad, mind you, the actors just struggled with a weak storyline and plot. I hadn't expected Lance Henriksen on the cast list here, so it was a nice surprise to see that.

What really made the movie not work for me, was the spiders. In some scenes they made use of real spiders, which was really cool. Then in other scenes they used poorly animated CGI spiders, and often repeated the same scene. But wait, it gets better, in many scenes they were using plastic toy spiders hanging down from above in strings. And it was so painstakingly obvious that it was toys, as they weren't moving about at all. That was just too hilarious and it had me shaking me head in disbelief.

I enjoy spider movies, however there are not all that many of them that have turned out to be super great. And now having seen "In the Spider's Web", I can honestly say it will be bagged, tagged and shelved in my DVD collection, most likely never to be played again.

In the Spider's Web (2007)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A group of American friends are backpacking through a jungle in India when one of them are bitten by a spider. They rush her to a village where an American doctor (Lance Henriksen) tries to save her but it turns out that the doc might have more devilish plans. Soon the Americans are dying one by one due to what appears to be a spider cult as well as the strange brother of the doctor who just happens to be wearing a bag over his face. Wonder what's wrong with him? This made-for-TV flick isn't the worst creature feature out there but at the same time it's pretty poor on so many levels. I will at least give the filmmakers credit for at least trying to mix up various genres but in the end all of the story lines are a mess and one can't help but become bored and frustrated with the film before we even hit the half-way mark. I think the biggest problem are the characters. I found each and everyone of them to be extremely annoying as each of them just seemed to be trying to be the dumbest of the bunch. There's one who demands going into a creepy lair where the spiders are and yet she seems shocked when she discovers that there are spiders in this cave. Hearing her scream every few seconds just got on my nerves and I'd be willing to bet that many will be hitting their mute buttons. Another problem is an incredibly bad, flirtatious thing going on between a couple of the characters. Things aren't any better with mad scientist Henrikson who I had a hard time understanding in several of the scenes. I'm not sure if it was just poor recording or the actors voice but at times I couldn't understand a word he was saying. Perhaps the actor was doing this on purpose so we wouldn't have to hear poor dialogue? Either way, the actor is easily just cashing a paycheck and delivering very little energy. None of the other actors really stand out either but you somewhat expect that from a film like this. The special effects aren't too bad and the majority of the CGI spiders look OK, if nothing overly great. Fans of the genre might want to check this out if they desire to see every film of its type but others should just save time and stay clear.

Every year around Halloween, my kids decorate our front yard and postal box with enormous cobwebs. I just want to say the woolen webs and ridiculous fake plastic spiders they use look a lot more realistic and frightening than the special effects used in this movie.

Spiders are scary creatures to many people, but truly good spider horror movies are rare. My expectations for "In the Spider's Web" were not set very high, but since it was released in the "Maneater" series, I was at least hoping for a fun and undemanding creature feature. Other titles under this label were gory and entertaining (like "Croc", "Eye of the Beast", "The Hive", "The Sea Beast", ...) and that's all I wanted from this one as well. Alas, the only suitable words to describe "In the Spider's Web" are dumb, tame, boring, and unmemorable.

Lance Henriksen is the type of actor who adapts himself to the film he's starring in. If the script is good, Henriksen can easily give a great performance. If the script is lousy, like the case here, Lance is also visibly uninterested. He stars as a supposedly genius doctor/scientist, specialized in spider venoms and living amongst a secluded tribe deep in the Indian jungle. When members of an expedition seek his help because one of them got bitten by a dangerous spider, it quickly becomes obvious Doctor Lance isn't very kosher.

It's the type of bad B-movie where nothing makes any sense. Characters that are presumed dead reappear out of the blue, the police are beyond incompetent, the supposed heroes are people you couldn't care less about, etc. The special effects are pathetic. Authentic big spiders crawl over the ground, but as soon as the fake specimen attack people, or capture and roll them in their webs, it's pure amateurism. Nothing to recommend here, it's not even bad enough to watch in a fun-with-friends kind of way.

In the Spider's Web is another example of late of a movie that I was not expecting much from, but got better than expected. There are some creepy close-ups, a good attempt at a sense of atmosphere, decent scenery and a good concept that apart from a lot of silliness actually does engage at least. Where In the Spider's Web is let down is in the rather fake-looking effects, some very cheesy scripting, clichéd and very underwritten characters, one too many moments where one has to suspend disbelief and acting that doesn't convey much emotion and when tried feels forced. And sadly, while a nice presence Lance Henrikseen is no exception.

All in all, has its moments but to me In the Spider's Web is not a good movie let alone great. 4/10 Bethany Cox

I have a guilty pleasure for terrible, but fun horror films. This doesn't fit that as well as some films, but it was pretty enjoyable. There was tones of cheesy lines, ridiculous deaths, a totally not suspicious spider shaped cave. Is this film good? No. Will you have fun? Probably!

The spider cultists are amazingly bad, with spider web bags over their heads. But don't worry they some how donate organs to the locals. The spider venom juicing organs not thought about at all. It's all good. It's like a big operation with more than one group involved.

I'm sure it's a perfectly legit business. Oh and the cultist have matching nails too. It's glorious.