Arac Attack – Angriff der achtbeinigen Monster

A nice silly reference to old monster movies. You can't help but smile with them and with this film. The spiders respond to human calls ("Hey, Spidey!"), spit and make mewing noises after biting into a stuffed deer trophy. The whole film is permeated with great exaggeration, deliberate B-movie stylization and its parodic mood is illustrated by the exuberant "Elfman" music and a few small references to classic horror B-movies. And that one scene with the TV on, with the footage from Them! during a Monster-Movie Marathon is such a nice little reminder from the director that fans of the old B-movie sci-fi films will find it a treat :) (06.08.2004)

A perfect combination of the poetics of "1950s" monster movies with the stupid aesthetics of German-American co-productions. Though it doesn't always work, Eight Legged Freaks artfully combines homage with parody, capturing the audience’s heart with perfect characters, a lethal dose of clichés and, most importantly, grinning spiders that are a joy to behold, especially when the special effects artists gave them a nice "look." Emmerich and Devlin didn't make a lot of money from it but I want to thank them for the desire to release this into the world. (09.10.2007)

It wasn't bad, but as a horror movie (which it shouldn't have been) it wasn't scary enough and as a comedy it wasn't funny enough. But overall, I found it "not stupid enough". Still, it's watchable and pretty cool entertainment, but I was expecting something a little different, maybe a little more wacky. (07.10.2002)

It tries to be an homage or parody of the old monster movies, but it's not a horror movie, it's not a comedy, and it's not even a proper B-movie. It's really a shame not to use such a rich potential, especially when the creators don't even try to do so, apart from a few exceptions. (04.02.2005)

Nach Arachnophobia (1990) und Kingdom of the Spiders (1977) ist dieses Stück der beste Spinnenfilm. Eight Legged Freaks ist ein humorvoller Film, der als erfrischende Hommage an alle B-Movie Monsterfilme funktioniert, die hauptsächlich in den 50er bis 70er Jahren entstanden sind. Er enthält ihre klassischste Handlung, papierene naive Charaktere, absolute Leichtigkeit, viele übergroße, haarige Kreaturen (von Heuschrecken und Springspinnen bis hin zu Skorpionen oder Taranteln), einen effektvollen Höhepunkt und ein glückliches Ende. Vom Anfang bis zum Abspann läuft alles reibungslos, es kann sich auf angenehme schauspielerische Leistungen (vor allem Arquette und die junge Scarlett) stützen und selbst das CGI kann den Zuschauer nicht beleidigen. Kurz gesagt, ein entspannter Film für jedes Wetter. (18.09.2011)

Ich HASSE SPINNEN. Wirklich, ich kann diese achtbeinigen Viecher weder sehen noch hören (einschließlich Spiderman). Hier haben sie mich aber nicht gestört, weil Arac Attack – Angriff der achtbeinigen Monster nicht furchterregend ist. Der ganze Film ist nicht ganz so ernst gemeint, es geht um Action, um mehr oder weniger gelungene digitale Effekte… Was ich angenehm fand… Eine anspruchslose Unterhaltung mit sympathischen Schauspieler*innen und dem guten Ottman. (25.04.2010)

I don't know why, but I kind of like this wacky craziness. Had the filmmakers decided to make a deadly serious action horror film with this premise, it would have been a guaranteed uninteresting piece of crap. Eight Legged Freaks is able to lean fully on its comedic side, which makes almost all of the action scenes and the shots of the giant spiders entertaining and the film as a whole a slightly above average horror comedy. In addition, the casting of David Arquette, as with the other actors, was a hit. The spiders themselves look a bit ridiculous at times, but on the other hand, maybe that was the director's intention, and it actually works very well in several moments. And the scene of the spider's nest full of cocoons is awesome! (30.09.2011)

Thanks to watching the movie "Arachnid Terror" again, I realized not only that I simply adore these B-movies, but also why I've always liked Scarlett Johansson. It's a shame that she has become such a huge star lately. Somehow, she doesn't fit in well in her recent movies. "Arachnid Terror" works as a B-movie, though, it's just a pity that there isn't a bit more humor. Then it would be absolutely excellent. (10.02.2014)