Big Ass Arachnophobia
It is just a normal day for Alex Mathis (Greg Grunberg - End of the World), an exterminator, having being called to Mrs. Jefferson's (Lin Shaye - Next Stop Murder) to deal with some vermin, yet again. But it leads to a spider bite and a trip to hospital where a morgue worker claims to have been bitten by a giant spider. It seems that an alien spider has escaped from a military lab and it is becoming one big ass spider, roaming down town Los Angeles. Whilst the military find themselves incapable of dealing with this mutant bug other than wanting drop a bomb on it, Alex and a security guard set about destroying it before it or the military destroys the city.
Let's be honest "Big Ass Spider!" has one of those titles which makes you think this is going to be another really daft creature feature horror movie and the synopsis does little to make you think other wise. Yet I have to admit that "Big Ass Spider!" was more entertaining than I had expected, okay I can't get to the point where I will tell you that it is a good movie but the team behind it have been creative and done a nice job when it comes to the special effects and the horror humour. On that subject let me just say that Greg Grunberg is a funny guy but the team behind this movie got it right because Grunberg is one of those comedians whose style can end up getting annoying unless there is some thing to break it up and there is plenty to break it up in "Big Ass Spider!".
But "Big Ass Spider!" works really because of the creative team who have done a nice job of delivering the effects of, well a big ass spider, and bringing plenty of the horror which naturally arises from arachnophobia. As such when you see a large spider descend on a thread behind a guy it kind of unsettles you. But then you get the creative side when it comes to the horror of what the spider does, which I am not going to tell you but it grabs your attention. In fact there is definitely a gory violent side to "Big Ass Spider!" which combined with some half decent special effects makes this a movie which actually keeps hold of your attention, not some thing I usually find myself saying when I review creature features.
What this all boils down to is that "Big Ass Spider!" isn't anything new when it comes to creature features but it is entertaining thanks to the humour, the gore and the special effects team who have done a much better job when it comes to this giant arachnid than you usually find in creature feature movies.
