Earth vs. the Spider

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.

Keeping in mind that this is not a 20 million special effects block- buster but rather a TV movie, or to be precise, a straight to Showtime movie, I would like to say that this movie is not bad at all. A young security guard, obsessed with comic books and super heroes and the like, secretly injects himself with a top secret (and highly unstable) new drug, hoping that it will give him the incredible powers of a spider and thus make him into a loved superhero. Well he does garner the powers he craves, super strength and super agility, but at a ghastly price. He develops grotesque deformities, kinda like Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly" (1986), and also a terrible hunger that can only be sated by a particular dish, one that struggles. This movie, like earlier stated compares easily to "The Fly", the tragic young man loses his love due to becoming a monster, and he also was a lonely, mousy kinda guy, like Jeff Goldblum was. But, unlike "The Fly", this movie was not shown in theatres nationwide, nor did it have a booming budget. You can tell, however, than Dan Ackroyd is having a blast hamming it up as a nervous cop in a bad marriage, who hunts the monster as it kills and kills. Let's be honest, folks, Ackroyd doesn't need the money. This movie has a 50's camp feel to it and as a matter of fact, it's a remake of a 50's movie by the same name. So hey, if you are lucky enough to have Showtime on your cable, check this flick out. Final judgement....it's a remake of a 50's camp classic, modernized with gory special effects. You'll love it. You have my word.

A geek gets bitten by a modified spider and develops superhuman powers . Hey wasn`t there a recent blockbuster based on the same premise ? Yes there was and you can`t help thinking that the producers of EARTH VS THE SPIDER are going out of their way to deconstruct everything flawed about Peter Parker . " People like nice guys " says Stephanie the hot chick neighbour of anti -hero Quentin , no they don`t Stephanie and being a nurse you should know this better than anyone . People - Especially hot chick nurses - like anti-heroes , they like people who clean up the streets of sex offenders and other slime , I mean crime is at an all time high and what`s Peter Parker doing about it ? He`s chasing after a man in a green costume ! He`s far to concerned about his cholesterol levels and newspaper deadlines to care about Joe Public

As you can guess EARTH VS THE SPIDER owes more to Stan Lee than it does to the B movie that shares its name . Of course it has none of the massive budget of the recent Sam Raimi blockbuster , in fact the production values of this film are rather weak with cobwebs that look like used chewing gum and mixed standards of make up , but for entertainment value I probably enjoyed this more than the not too dissimilar THE FLY

I didn`t like THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED , but I liked EARTH VS THE SPIDER and I loved SHE CREATURE and I hope someone makes a few more " Creature Features "

What is the fetish with movies like this? Is gaining a super-power always a pre-cursor to becoming evil? Maybe that's why I liked Darkman so much. With the abilities that Peyton got, he used them for good, even if it was in a vigilante way. I really wanted to enjoy this movie, and was encouraged by the fact that initially, Quentin used his powers for good.

Of course, it took all of 45 minutes for him to go bad and go on a killing spree. Did somebody think that was original? Aside from the fact that it was a blatant knock off of Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly" remake, though much less gory.

The acting was of the "not bad" variety, but Dan Aykroyd is wasted in a role that tries to have depth, but fails (chalk it up to comic book writing? I dunno).

I did get a huge kick out of the store owner using the Hasbro "Darth Maul Lightsaber" (of which I have on right next to me here) as his last line of defense. A total hoot! Classic!

I would be remiss if I didn't say the movie does a decent make-up. Pretty creepy.

Sadly, the ending falls flat and comes way to abruptly, and is also cliche, and confusing to boot. Did he want to kill her, or not? I leave that for you to decide.

** out of four.