Arachnid (2001)

Plot Outline: A group of scientists and their military guards travel to a remote island to find the source of a new virus which has killed numerous people. When they arrive on the island they come face-to-face with a giant spider.

The Review: To say it's timid is quite an understatement and there is probably more bite in tiny money spiders than there is in this monster flick. For the first half of the film, they don't even come across the spider. There is a lot of talking, trekking through the jungle and then they meet some killer centipede and bugs which bury inside your skin and then burst out (ala Alien). Way to kill off a good half of the running time before getting to the film's main purpose. When we do come to the spider, it doesn't look that bad but tends to differ in quality as the shots change from mechanical spiders to CGI and even some stop-motion if I believe. But the spider doesn't actually do much barring kill a few of the people in some lame death scenes There is some blood but this mainly comes in the bug scene as previously mentioned (arguably the best death of the film and the spider was nowhere to be seen!). Actually there was quite a big cast to boost up the body count too. These are just the usual bunch of clichéd characters including the character with a hidden past, obligatory geeky scientist guy, stereotypical native guides, the male hero who wields a gun and what would a film be without a token black guy! The only thing missing is a slimy villain which is a surprise turn of events for a genre film like this - you know, someone who comes along and then suddenly turns bad during the film before being devoured by the *insert monster here.*

Final Verdict: Arachnid may look cool thanks to the cover box but don't let it fool you into thinking it's any good. Tacky and cheap, the only bite in this thing is the amount it'll gorge from your wallet.

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