The Giant Spider

I can see the attempt to make this a 50's style film, but it doesn't work. Now I have seen movies of the 1950's including the nature on the rampage ones. This isn't that. There are many jokes throughout poking fun at 50's life, and that joke wears thin really quickly. The movie, simply, is too self aware to be a real throwback. Maybe I'm being too critical of the film but...it's a good attempt but just doesn't work. Stop trying too hard.

I've been following Christopher R. Mihm's film career for a couple of years now, and The Giant Spider is easily the best, most accomplished film he's made. Mihm has made a career of mounting reverent homages to 50's horror/sci-fi films, and the polish of each of his films (this is his eighth!) grows with each film. The pacing, acting, special effects, directing, and technical achievement of The Giant Spider is pretty darn impressive for an independent film-maker - some stand out elements for me: The "spider" simply puts all other film beasties to shame - compare it directly with 1955's "Tarantula" and you can see how much better this one is filmed and presented. The puppetry is AMAZING! The close-up of the spider's face is really, really first rate. And the theme song has been stuck in my head for days! Love, love, love it. A film that made me laugh out loud several times (not AT it, WITH it), and left me with a great big smile. Perfect film for fans of the genre.

The is the 8th movie made my Christopher R. Mihm, all of which pay loving homage to those wonderful B 'monster' movies of the 1950's. Well, except one which is really a murder mystery. If you love watching Them or Robot Monster, seeing actors like John Agar and Richard Carlson on the screen, being amazed at the world of 50's style special effects (only better I think), you can't help but love Mr. Mihm's movies. The Giant Spider is his best one yet! There is drama, humor, action, love and thrills to satisfy all. It is obvious that everyone involved with the making of this movies truly loves what they are doing. Be prepared to laugh out loud, to cringe in 'fear', and to just enjoy a little over an hour of fun!!!!! This is a must see!

Christopher R. Mihm's THE GIANT SPIDER is another of his purposefully cheeezey, intentionally hokey, terminally low-budget, 1950's sci-fi homage / parody films. As such, it's almost as stellar as his THE MONSTER OF PHANTOM LAKE.

The characters -military, scientist eggheads, reporters, etc.- are funny, the story is suitably silly, and the titular, superimposed tarantula is a hairy horror, especially its close-up "face", which is a nice nod to the awesome arachnid in THE BLACK SCORPION! Toss in the catchy, opening theme song and this is great Saturday night entertainment. Recommended for all of the other Mihm-iacs out there!

P.S.- Also contains some stupendous stock footage during the final conflict!...

As a fan of 50's and 60's B movies, I found this movie extremely entertaining. The characters and plot were well written for the genre. The giant spider itself was awesome--maybe even 'too good' compared to the giant bug movies from the time period the movie conveyed. If you're a fan of black and white horror/science fiction movies, you will find this movie well worth the time. I'm looking up the others written by Mr. Mihms to give them a viewing as well.