Something very hungry's about to hatch! Spiders (Gary Jones, 2000)

During the early years of DVD a British company namned Hollywood DVD squeezed out cheap movies on the new shiny disc. Some stuff was actually really good (for example, they releases a whole slew of Nico Mastorakis stuff in excellent quality) and some was just really bad. I guess they was one of the first companies who released really cheap DVD's, directly for the bargain bins. This of course changed my life and made me discover even more fun films I didn't know about, for example a Spiders, Spiders 2, Crocodile, Crocodile 2, Octopus and of course... Octopus 2! 

It's of course the lovely Nu Image who's behind them, and they're still going strong - often with bigger budgets and bigger stars, but still true to their main goal: to deliver silly monster films. They've just produced something called Spiders 3D, directed by one of my favorite DTV directors, Tibor Takács. I'm waiting for the blu-ray now, so maybe I'll review it next week. But back to this trio of double features. I sense a plan here. They hired a competent, more famous genre director to direct the first movie and then fast as hell produce a sloppier sequel with a crappier script and a very rushed production schedule. Gary Jones directed Spiders, Tobe Hooper directed Crocodile and John Eyres did Octopus! Good people, good storytellers. 

But back to Spiders. From the opening credit sign to the fun final, it's very clear that this is lovingly tribute to the old sci-fi and monster movies of the 50's and 70's. It has the basic concept of something far more naive, older, but with gore and slime and the political paranoia of something made later on. And it works excellent. It's a cheap movie, the underground base our heroic journalists is running around in is just (it looks like that anyway) hospital corridors with some make-up on, a basment and stuff like that. The set-dresser must have been a very creative person, using nothing to create... something. 

Instead they've spent all the money on some very gruesome and cool effects. First of all, they have several AWESOME animatronics, a small spider and then a big mother. It looks great - maybe not realistic, but who cares! There's bloody stabbings when the spider stings her victims, a cool scene when a big spider is crawling out from the head of a victim and so on. It's very spectacular stuff - but then it's also K.N.B. Effects Group who's behind the pratical effects! The visual effects isn't bad either, especially in a cheap monster movie made direct for DVD. Some of it looks a bit cheesy, but it works very good just because the whole movie aims to be a bit corny, goofy... you know the words. 

Just when you think the movie is over, with being yet another Alien-rip off (monster kills people in dark corridors), the story literary breaks free and we're getting a big spider on the loose in full daylight, crashing cars and stomping on people. Just like the good old days. Gary Jones and his team had a blast when they made this film, it's very clear! 

This is fun, fun, fun stuff. It was a time when it was mandatory to shit on these DTV productions, but we're all beyond that now. Watch it again and I'm sure you will get the point better now!

Comments

[Alex Bakshaev]

Man, I used to own the Hollywood DVD Creature Feature boxset with the six films you mention + a dodgy bigfoot movie.
There's a special place in my heart for Hooper's Crocodile. I mean, it's not a classic but in my young years I must have watched it all the way through at least 5-6 times. Hate the characters, love the effects

[Fred Anderson]

Alex, cool! I love these films. The first parts are all very competent, the sequels is a bit more shabby... but that's alright by me :) Which Bigfoot movie could it have been?

[Alex Bakshaev]

The bigfoot movie was not a NU image production, it looked like something from mid-80's, I didn't watch it all the way through

[Alex Bakshaev]

Octopus-2 was truly shabby, Crocodile-2 had some good action moments, and Spiders-2 also had some minor cool moments

[Megatron]

"This of course changed my life and made me discover even more fun films I didn't know about, for example a Spiders, Spiders 2, Crocodile, Crocodile 2, Octopus and of course... Octopus 2!"

Well....this sounds like a great weekend!

Of course haven´t seen any of them.

"They've just produced something called Spiders 3D, directed by one of my favorite DTV directors, Tibor Takács."

He is pretty talented.

"But back to Spiders. From the opening credit sign to the fun final, it's very clear that this is lovingly tribute to the old sci-fi and monster movies of the 50's and 70's. It has the basic concept of something far more naive, older, but with gore and slime and the political paranoia of something made later on."

Well...there was political paranoia in some genre films of the 50`s and 70´s....like The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Dawn of the Dead(1978), Shivers (1975)etc.

"Instead they've spent all the money on some very gruesome and cool effects. First of all, they have several AWESOME animatronics, a small spider and then a big mother. It looks great - maybe not realistic, but who cares!"

Yeah...I don´t think people should watch these films looking for socialrealism.

"This is fun, fun, fun stuff. It was a time when it was mandatory to shit on these DTV productions, but we're all beyond that now. Watch it again and I'm sure you will get the point better now!"

I´m hoping this will change though......DTV seems to be making money for the studios, otherwise I don´t think they will be produced.

Good review and thanks.