Today's list prompt is "Mother Nature Strikes Back." Yesterday's movie was pretty heavy and I know most this month will be, so I decided to go with something more light hearted. I also went with something I think is overrated. It's not scary, but Eight Legged Freaks is a goofy horror-comedy (heavy on the comedy, light on horror) that's a lot of fun.
Also, though it's not one of my challenge flicks I watched Bones last night.
Plot
Residents of a dying mining town are terrorized by spiders enlarged by a chemical spill. It's up to returning mining engineer Chris and the sheriff Sam to save the townsfolk from the eight legged freaks!
Review
I'm going to go ahead and get the negatives out of the way. There are too many current (at the time) pop culture references in this (notably Spider-Man, which could be forgiven, and The Sixth Sense). The spiders kind of talk in high pitched voices and it makes scenes silly. This was probably done to make the movie less scary and accessible to a wider audience. Honestly I get that and think the movie is great as is. That being said, take this away and I'd argue that movie would actually be scary if you change this.
I love David Arquette. He's not the greatest actor in the world, but most of his characters feel like likable losers or every men. I feel Chris is the latter. He's a good guy trying to save his town and his father's legacy. He has funny lines and even believes the kid. Kari Wuhrer is a great as the single mom, small town sheriff. There are some great comedic supporting characters. Doug E. Doug plays conspiracy theory radio host Harlan. Leon Rippy is the super sleezy mayor, Wade (who's the reason chemicals were being shipped into town). Finally Rick Overtun plays lovable loser Deputy Pete Willis. A young Scarlett Johanson also appears as Sam's teen daughter, Ashley. Maybe she developed her love for black widows while filming this one...
The movie has some awesome action scenes. There's a scene with spiders chasing dirt back ridings through the desert. The spiders initial attack of the town as a whole has some great kills. Finally the mall fight scene is pretty dope. If you want a fun, not too scary creature flick, check this one out. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
In Your Game
While it's possible I overlooked them I found there is a distinct lake of giant spider stats in What Shadows Hide/We Die Young/Bloody Appalachia. I am assuming Greasers & Ghouls will include some. I did find Giant Spiders and Ice Spiders in SURVIVE THIS!! Fantasy Gamemaster's Guide. Giant Spiders also appear in Dark Places & Demogorgons. Because of this I'm not going to make giant spider stats. However, based on facts said by one of the kids in the movie I've included a couple of traits that can be added to future stats:
- Sensitive Olfactory Glands: Spiders have hyper developed olfactory glands. This makes the extra susceptible to gas based attacks (disadvantage on saving throws and checks related to them). If sprayed in the face by something with a strong odor (like cologne or spray disinfectant) the spider loses its next turn.
- Tremorsense: Spiders detect prey via vibrations in ground or their webs and can automatically pinpoint the location of anything that is in contact with the ground or webs within 30 feet.
______________
First Time View: 2
Total Watched (Including Non-Challenge Horror Movies): 5
No comments:
Post a Comment