This is a fun horror movie for the cliche filled genre. The film opens with a spoof of "AM Coast to Coast." The town of Prosperity is broke. The local mayor and emu entrepreneur (Leon Rippy) has allowed the abandoned mines under his town to be used as a toxic waste dump. When one of the proverbial poorly packaged drums of waste spills, this results in huge spiders who attack the local community in leaps and bounds.David Arquette and love interest Kari Wuhrer lead the attack against the spiders. This is a young Scarlett Johansson film as she plays the teen daughter. It reminded me of Jennifer Aniston in "Leprechaun" or Sandra Bullock in a Roger Corman film. They all start at the bottom. Scott Terra plays a young Harry Potter looking kid that no one believes.The spider special effects was fairly decent. My one criticism is that spiders of different species do not band together and hunt in packs. They would eat each other. Humor, action, and cartoonish horror. The spider noises and sound track go counter to a true horror film.Parental Guide: No f-bombs, sex, or nudity. Some PG-13 words and minor sex talk/situations.

A runaway barrel of toxic waste lands in a rural body of water, contaminating the local crickets that are used as food for the residents of a nearby spider farm. Naturally, the 200 or so exotic arachnids grow to mammoth proportions and attack the terrified townspeople en masse. A former resident, Chris McCormick (David Arquette, the "Scream" series), has returned home, just in time to help Sheriff Samantha Parker (Kari Wuhrer, "Anaconda"), the romantic idol of his life, and various other citizens combat the eight legged monsters."Eight Legged Freaks" turned out about as good as one could hope for, given that it's treading rather familiar ground. But it does do its job, which is both spoofing and paying homage to its influences, namely 1950s "giant creepy-crawly" cinema such as "Tarantula" and "Them!" (The latter is briefly shown playing on TV.) While it's not in the same league as "Tremors", it still serves up an agreeable dose of PG-13 rated horror along with comedy. Also offering up echoes of "Gremlins" and "Aliens", it makes its fearsome CGI beasts pretty funny themselves by giving them cartoonish vocalizations (supplied by the legendary voice-over artist Frank Welker). Yes, the beasts are digitally rendered most of the time, but some of the animation is pretty decent.Co-writer and debuting director Ellory Elkayem gives his movie great pace and great energy, and keeps things interesting by offing quite a few of the more expendable characters. Pets are also fair game.The typically amusing Arquette dials down his particular brand of goofy eccentricity a bit in order to play a more conventional sort of hero, and he does an alright job. Wuhrer kicks lots of spider ass, and looks damn fine doing it; she has to be one of the sexiest ever small town sheriffs seen in film. Scott Terra ("Daredevil") is Wuhrers' egghead son, the character whom we know will grasp the situation early on, and Scarlett Johansson ("Don Jon") is her somewhat sassy teenage daughter. Doug E. Doug ("Cool Runnings") has his moments as a paranoid local radio DJ. Comedian Rick Overton ("Groundhog Day") is a hoot as Wuhrers' fumbling, Barney Fyfe-style deputy, Eileen Ryan ("Feast") is endearing as Arquette's aunt, and the great character actor Leon Rippy ('Deadwood') is effectively slimy as the crooked mayor / entrepreneur. Tom Noonan ("Manhunter") appears unbilled as the spider farm owner / operator."Eight Legged Freaks" will be too overly silly and juvenile for some tastes, but it's quite endearing overall, and impossible to dislike.Seven out of 10.

Venomous spiders get exposed to a noxious chemical that causes them to grow to monumental proportions.What separates this film from some of the lowest-budget science fiction films out there is the cast. The effects are not really any better than the films shown on SyFy, but the talent in the cast brings this up a notch from crud to minor cult classic. The inclusion of Scarlett Johansson right before she got big helps, too.Having David Arquette as the leading man is an interesting choice. Arquette is fun, quirky and does a great job as comic relief. We rarely see him carry a movie. But, to be honest, he did a fairly good job here. The cover tries to play up his goofiness, but he is actually very much the "straight guy" here.

It's been a while since I've seen this movie I'll admit it. But I have fond memories of watching this when I was a child. I actually wish they would make funny films like this. I suppose they do on Syfy and channels like that, though this had much better quality in comparison to something from T.V. I can remember certain scenes pretty well, one of the best was when the female spider stabbed someone with a poker and began feasting on their blood while the webbed up person was still squirming. It was so appallingly creepy and yet extremely effective in the quality of the effects. It did well in generating emotional response. I loved how they ended up in a mall and started killing all the spiders too. I definitely need to check this film out again soon. Overall if your looking for Citizen Kane, this isn't it, but if your looking for a lot of fun with creepy special effects and fun characters who act over the top against giant arachnids. This is definitely a must watch. I would also say this film has that early 2000's quality as it was made in 2002. I don't know but films are fun to watch to get an idea of the time they were done in, which to me at least, is enjoyable as you think about what that time was like.8 out of 10 and only because the two missing stars add to the quality of this being a fun film that should wear any imperfections with pride.One more thing, forgot that ScarJo was in this, this should absolutely be considered one of her best films ever!!! ;)