Eight Legged Freaks Film Review

This time, we’re taking a look at the giant monster throwback film Eight Legged Freaks and along the way we’ll ask, why was there a time where David Arquette was a leading man in Hollywood, why don’t more citizens have guns in rural Arizona, is this movie nightmare fuel or just plain parody and how can improvising lead to a pretty decent movie title? Let’s dive in….

Cast & Crew

* Directed by Ellory Elkayem: The New Zealand born director was chosen by the producers to adapt a full-length version of a short film he had directed titled Larger than Life which centered around a giant man eating spider. He has since directed several direct-to-video films including a sequel to the comedy Without a Paddle.

* Starring David Arquette as Chris McCormick: Arquette had developed a reputation for playing goofy comedic characters following appearances on Friends as well as the character Dewey in the Scream

* Kari Wuhrer as Samantha Parker: Wuhrer’s big break came on the MTV show Remote Control and had appeared in films like Thinner and Anaconda

* Scarlett Johansson as Ashley Parker: While she’s now known as one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood, Johansson had humble beginnings but would later break through the following year with performances in Lost in Translation and The Girl with the Pearl Earring

* Also Starring:

* Scott Terra as Mike Parker

* Doug E. Doug as Harlan Griffith

* Rick Overton as Pete Willis

* Leon Rippy as Wade

* Jay Arlen Jones as Leon

* Eileen Ryan as Gladys

* Riley Smith as Randy

* Matt Czuchry as Bret

A Brief History of Giant Monster Films

Beginning with the Godzilla films, the popularity of giant monster (usually giant insect) films exploded in the United States. The Godzilla films were originally created as a warning for the unknown effects of radiation following the numerous atomic tests conducted in the Pacific during the late 1940’s and 1950’s. There were also concerns as the United States and the Soviet Union entered the Cold War and nuclear destruction was at the forefront of the world’s population. This international strife made a rich ground for Hollywood to mine as films like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Them, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Attack of the Crab Monsters and The Blob all become drive thru cinema fodder for the decade of the 1950’s.

These films are basic to say the least. Similar to how studio’s would make westerns in the 30’s and 40’s, the plots of these films usually involved some sort of radiation or chemical leak that affects local wildlife and transforms it into a giant monster that wreaks havoc on a small town, kills some of the local populace until the military arrives to kill the creature or some smart scientist who happens to be nearby finds a way to destroy the creature or the film would substitute giant local wildlife for a giant alien and the rest of the plot would remain the same. Obviously, this formula became dated and soon after the 50’s were over, these films quickly fell out of the style and television was quickly becoming the new desired media in Hollywood.

The giant monster or kaiju genre has experienced a resurgence in recent years following films like Pacific Rim (which we have recently covered on Force Fed Sci-Fi) as well as Godzilla and its subsequent sequels such as Godzilla: King of the Monsters (which we covered in 2019) and Godzilla vs Kong (which will be covered in a future Bite Sized ep...