In the Spider's Web

Released to TV in 2007 and directed by Terry Winsor, "In the Spider's Web" stars Lance Henriksen as a dubious American doctor in the jungles of Northern India who seems to like arachnids a little too much. A group of American backpackers and their guide are forced to seek him out when one of their members is bit by a poisonous spider. Arachnid horror ensues.

This cartoony TV-horror flick has several things in its favor: Authentic jungle locations, plentiful spiders of various kinds (both real and CGI), Lance Henriksen and a winsome enough female lead (Emma Catherwood). The sets are good too, including the cave sets, although the ubiquitous webbing looks decidedly fake. As far as the authentic jungle locations go, the hikers are all obviously sweating in the sweltering forest heat. Yet it's obvious by the appearance of the Natives that this isn't Northern India, but rather 1200 miles around the corner in Thailand. There's only like one person who looks of Indian origin, which I suppose isn't a biggie for a TV flick.

Unfortunately, the story lacks drive despite the jungle action and ominous score (which is good, by the way). Moreover, I never cared about the characters; and Catherwood's cuteness only goes so far (she's actually a little thin for my tastes, but she's decent and definitely cute). There's a big reveal in the final act, but I predicted it at the half hour mark.

So there's a lot of good in this comic booky spider-horror movie, but it's brought down by its half-baked storytelling. The script needed serious work to flesh out its potential, but the producers didn't care enough to blow the money. They basically said, "That's good enough; let's shoot!" No, it wasn't.

The film runs 88 minutes and was shot in Krabi, Thailand. The screenplay was written by Gary Dauberman.

GRADE: C-

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.

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.

Take a pretty run-of-the-mill film, add Lance Henriksen in - at least - a prominent role and it instantly elevates it to at least 'watchable' status. In case you hadn't guessed by the title, 'In the Spider's Web' is about a team of, er, I don't know what they were doing, but it doesn't matter, let's say they're scientists, or something. Anyway, a diverse team of spider-fodder are mooching around a north Indian jungle when one of them gets bitten by a spider. They take her to a nearby village where they soon discover that the creepy-crawlies aren't the only thing they have to worry about.

There are a few establishing shot here and there to denote that at least the production went to a real life jungle to get some of the footage. Otherwise, they seem to save a lot of money by putting a few plant pots around a sound stage and let the audience do their best to believe that the actors are really deep in a jungle. Apart from that, the special effects aren't that bad. The spiders are - for the most part - real (with the possible exception of the arachnid 'crowd scenes') and the worst effects in the film were when a couple of characters fell down a long drop and you could almost see the green screen behind them.

If you're already not a fan of spiders (who is?) then you'll find some of the scenes quite creepy and did I mention Lance Henriksen is in it? Sometimes he's good and sometimes he's bad. In this film he has long nails on one hand and a brother who walks around wearing a sack on his head making him look like a cross between the elephant man and an 'engineer' from the 'Alien/Prometheus' franchise. I'll let you guess if Henriksen's motives are pure here - either way, he steals every scene.

It's hardly a classic, but it's a decent enough little watch if you're in the mood for some sort of cheesy B-movie and/or you're a fan of Lance Henriksen which crosses 'Arachnophobia' with 'Temple of Doom.'

Trekking into the Indian rain-forest, a group of backpackers exploring the area are forced to stay in a remote tribe of spider worshippers using the creatures for an organ-smuggling ring and must find a way of getting away from the creatures alive.

This was quite an enjoyable is slightly flawed creature feature. Among the better qualities featured here is the rather creepy atmosphere this one builds up of being around spiders, which plays into the most rational fear of being around the creatures. Being around the creatures here is terrifying, as there's a ton made about their poisonous nature here, and it's more than simply hinted at here as their continuous appearance that requires saving, his secretive brother draped in a cobweb hood and nearly everything covered in cobwebs is a nearly continuous assault about the creatures and there's a wonderful atmosphere derived from this section. The cave scenes here are just really chilling, as the first one of the explorers looking inside the different outcroppings covered in webbing before getting lost in the disorienting design and then overwhelmed completely by the thousands of creatures, while the scene of the inspector stumbling around there is quite chilling. Even more impressive, though, is the entire final half is just highly chilling and suspenseful as there's no shortage of action and suspense here that's just relentless and exciting. The action here is great, from the tribal ceremony getting interrupted and forcing them underground into the tunnels and caves requiring a series of frantic stalking throughout as they try to remain hidden from the tribe while avoiding the spiders, getting trapped in the different webbing throughout and finally meeting the helpful officer inside as they guide each other through the darkened, web-covered tunnels here. As well, there's a lot of suspense here as there's the tense hiding out during the chasing but also the tense scene of having to maneuver themselves around the ledge of a web-covered wall above a bottom-less pit crawling with spiders to get to safety and an even creepier scene later of having to cross another chasm using a bridge made of webbing even though the whole party can't cross at once. These two factors here make this one so good here that it gets a ton of good-will just from this section, and with the build-up in the first half gives this one so much to like. Along with a fantastic final twist, these here are enough to hold off the few flaws. The main issue here is the fact that there's little actual action in the first half with this one really selling the atmosphere of being in the village rather than having any kind of action displayed, and it can make for a somewhat bland start here. The only other small problem here is the fact that the tribe's actions are way too scattered in the final half, showing the tribe chasing them in the caves then back into the organ-harvesting angle without capturing them merely to keep the plot line involved and decidedly giving off the inclusion of its rushed nature into the story. Otherwise, it's quite a fun and admittedly creepy creature feature.

Rated R: Violence, Brief Nudity and Language.