The small town of Prosperity Arizona has a little bug problem. After a drum of toxic waste lands in a small creek, things start to get a little strange, the crickets in said creek are fed to exotic spiders at a local spider shop things get a little stranger. When the spiders mutate into super-size versions of themselves and begin to feed on the local town folk things really begin to get strange.

A homage to the classic B-horror films of the 50's, like Them, Eight Legged Freaks is a mildly amusing creature feature, that at times as much as you want to dislike it, it will make you chuckle and gasp. The plot is the standard toxic waste meets nature deal and mayhem ensues to the fullest. As the spiders invade Prosperity, it's up to the local sheriff and a returning town homeboy to put up a fight against the eight legged invaders.

The cast stars David Arquette as Chris McCormick and Kari Wuhrer as Samantha Parker, the town sheriff. I have liked Kari Wuhrer since her days on MTV's Remote Control, but I found her scorching as a MILF clad in blue jeans in this film. Also Samantha's ample-chested teenage daughter, Ashley, is played by a young Scarlett Johansson. Tom Noonan, the uber-creepy actor from Manhunter and the X Files to name a few, plays the owner of the spider farm and friend to Samantha's brainy young son Mike. There is also some pretty good comedy relief in the form of Deputy Rick and a conspiracy minded radio DJ named Harlan played by Doug E. Doug.

The spiders are a mix of CGI and a few puppets here and there. The CGI goes from good to bad depending on the size of the spiders to how many are in a scene, the fewer the better, the more the worse. One bad point to the spiders is that they all seem to hop and never crawl. Some people like shambling zombies, I like crawling spiders. Also the spiders, like gremlins and critters, tend to make little noises and antics that give them a sometimes comical nature.

Eight Legged Freaks is a pretty fun little flick and a must for anyone who has a fear of all things creepy and crawly, but ya may wanna watch it with the lights on.

4/10

This was a fun film to watch. No scares at all but that doesn't seem to be a hindrance here. It's very entertaining and even comical in some parts. It would be a good first horror film for younger kids getting introduced to the genre.

The cast was well picked and I thought they excelled. I too am a big fan of Kari Wuhrer. She had a great spread in either Maxim or Stuff magazine about two years ago. Even David Arquette was not his usual repulsive self. I often find that the best way to avoid the torture of having to watch an Arquette film is to choke myself just right so as to render myself unconsious. But with this flick I had no desire to even lift my hands to my throat.

Overall, a nice homage to the old time creature feature flicks.

6 out of 10 shotgun totin', centerfold worthy, small town sheriffs