खूनी मकडी

This movie features bad special effects in some areas, and pretty good ones in others. The idea had a lot more potential than the script delivered. Not an edge of your seat movie, and several things did not hold together; don't waste your money. On the other hand, if it comes on the late show or you have a free movie rental coupon, it's worth a look.

I was watching a cheesy horror flick (can't remember which one) at my grandparents house one day, and this movie happened to be showing right after it. I figured, 'What the hell? I'll give it a shot.' It didn't make my top ten list of cheesy horror flicks. I liked it. But I'm warning you right now, this one gets really gross. As in bugs crawling under your skin, literally, gross. Definitely not for the faint of heart. And leaves you with a not so happily ever after ending. If you like gore, you'll like this. If you're arachnaphobic, you'll hate it. For those of you who say all of these movies are alike, you'll be happy to know that this one is a little different. The title is more accurate than I thought. Though the story does concentrate mainly on the creature that the word 'arachnid' brings to mind, the spider, it is not limited to it. It includes other species of arachnids. And as an added bonus, there is a cute guy in it, who takes his shirt off for us. And for the guys, there is a girl in a bra. There is some comedy relief in small doses. I would recommend at least giving this movie a shot. There are worse movies out there that actually made it to the big screen.

Expedition to a remote island find themselves stranded after a plane crash, and at the mercy of an army of voracious, giant spiders. Pilot (Alex Reid) has taken the job to search for her missing brother, whose naval jet was last reported in the vicinity of the island, while mercenary (Chris Potter) and his crew (Bear and Lightfoot) tries to remain professional in spite of the chaos.

Quirky spider specialist (Isyanov) causes endless grief, as he disappears at every given opportunity, searching for specimens with which to experiment; his final experiment finds him cocooned in a tightly woven spider-web. Thereafter the film is a roller-coaster, and it's mostly downhill, very quickly. Survivors take refuge in a dilapidated WWII shelter while the giant spiders terrorise them like demons on stilts, something akin to "War of the Worlds". Naturally, Reid discovers the fate of her naval pilot brother, and while the couple reunite with the indestructible Bear (Allen), their survival remains tenuous.

Horrid special effects and tense action sequences provides the glue that binds this formula picture together. Some light wit and a relaxed performance by Potter offer glimmers of hope, and the film is nothing if at least watchable, although the awkward English translation (most of the characters are obviously of Latin origin, so why pretend to be North Americans?) and absence of any 'name' actors (Potter is by no means a household name) might distance the average viewer.

I don't mind admitting that spiders freak me out and the idea of flesh burrowing parasites....well, they make my skin crawl. So it's not surprising that big bug creature features are amongst my favourite horror movies; they can unsettle me without even trying.

Arachnid, produced by Brian Yuzna and directed by Jack Sholder (who helmed the fun flick The Hidden and the abysmal Nightmare on Elm Street 2) is a 'by-the-numbers' effort which, despite being extremely predictable, entertains with its impressive (and often yucky) effects by Steve Johnson.

When a UFO explodes over some South Pacific islands, a deadly creature is let loose which causes havoc amongst the natives. A team of scientists are sent to investigate and are soon fighting for their lives against a mutant monster that is part alien and part spider.

Chock full of clichés, Sholder's low budget bug-fest isn't going to win any awards for originality and doesn't make a lot of sense, but with its attractive spunky heroine Mercer (Alex Reid), busty doctor (Neus Asensi) and its (sometimes, quite literally) eye-popping gore, I found it to be a reasonably entertaining monster movie.

Arachnid is a pretty good movie which follows the similar sci-fi mutated monster style of film in the tradition of Critters, Anaconda, etc. We have a group of humans who are trying to survive against a species of alien spider, which is done up by better than average special effects. The group of humans are interesting, consisting of a female pilot, a spider researcher, two medical people, some soldiers, and some island natives. It's like Survivor with spiders! Much of the film consists of build up, with a bit of gore dropped in every so often. Unless you are terrified of spiders, this film won't scare you at all.

I can't say enough of things about Alex Reid, who plays Mercer, the lead female heroine. She is incredibly attractive and sexy. Most of the film she is dressed a la Tomb Raider style, if not less. I believe this is the only film she has done so far but hopefully, we can see more in the future. Forget the spiders, watch the film for her!

I recommend this film not only for Alex Reid but because the special effects are decent, and it always fun to see who will survive against the monster.