Spiders 2 - Le retour des araignées géantes

I had read about this film in Fangoria, so I was really looking forward to seeing it and my local video store had it for rent, so I figured why not check it out. I was severely disappointed. Judging from the trailer the film had a lot going for it and I knew going into it that it was a low budget film, so I was willing to cut it some slack and even then it has real problems; the major one being the film was too ambitious for its budget and having had a better budget probably could have better than Eight Legged Freaks.

Im not going to be as rough as some reviewers are on this film, but I wouldnt recommend it. Its major fault was the SFX, which considering the title are the cornerstone of a movie like this and considering the low budget, it did some some good effects, but for every good SFX shot, there was 2 bad ones. The film had a great atmosphere in the claustrophic confines of a ship and spiders running loose but never managed to create any tension or a feeling of claustrophobia. Also why they made computer generated shots of stuff like a wrecked ship or even the cargo ship itself is beyond me, because thats some of the stuff that really looked fake esp. when they had long lingering shots. The interiors sets were believable probably because they actually filmed it on an old ship. I was really expecting some good gore in this film and it even failed on that level, the spider attacks were just consisted of their fangs impaling their victims. The major fault of the film though, which many had pointed out, was the script and even for a film like this you expect something other than ,"Spiders are Carninvores, you know that?". No kidding you mean flies and insects are vegetable matter? Are people stupid enough to believe that a cut on the neck of the lead actor that required stitches would need as much medical attention as it got in the movie? The acting was passable but still left something to be desired.

The bottom line is that this film isnt really worth your time or money and its a shame, because with a better script and more money it could have been at least entertaining sci-fi splatter film.

This movie starts out good, almost like a suspense/mystery more than a horror movie. Richard Moll is great as the demented ship doctor. After the first half of the movie it starts to go downhill somewhat. The story gets predictable and the spider special effects are not too great. The majority of the CGI effects look fake and outdated, and some of the spiders are obviously tarantulas in miniature environments. But, a fairly decent sequel offering which is better than most...

The biggest problem with this movie is its simplistic dialogue. One example is when the made scientist gloats "Spiders are carnivores. Did you know that?" It makes one wonder if the writers added that for the 3-year-olds who may be watching. It also lacks creativity and fails to create any suspense or scares. The actors also fail to generate any sense of urgency. Lines such as, "This is creepy" are spoken in the same tone you might use to say "We need milk." If the characters on screen are not afraid of their situation, why should the audience be scared? The spiders themselves never seem very real. There is no sense of scale or consistency. (One spider chasing the heroine seems to change size constantly--almost as if the animator couldn't get it quite right) They have a trumpeting roar that sounds suspiciously like an elephant and which detracts from any realism they may have had. (When was the last time you heard a spider say anything?) If you can see it for free, give it a try. But don't waste your money on this film.

There's a movie channel in LA called 'B' Mania. You can see some of the worst 'fun' movies on it. They wouldn't dare show this one. I expected Richard Moll to lapse in his 'Bull' character at any moment. The CGI is bad, the acting is bad, the movie is bad. Period.

Most of the people who've seen and slated Spiders 2 have obviously never seen Spiders 1, as the sequel is practically Citizen Kane in comparison. Most of the actors do a passable job (including Richard Moll - an actor I actually recognised, the last thing you expect from a film like this), and the director even throws in some halfhearted camera tricks - brilliantly stupid shots include the heroine diving through a bit of flimsy webbing in slo-mo as if it were a plate glass window.

However, any and all attempts to build up suspense totally disintegrate when the SFX are brought into play (some of the CG shots near the end are laugh-out-loud hilarious), and, unforgivably, it also suffers from Boring Spider Deaths. It also has absolutely no connection to the original, though I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad thing.

Still impossible to recommend as a good film, then, but it's definitely a cut above the original (if not quite as funny).