An inappropriate title adorns this weak rehash of 1986's THE FLY, with all of Cronenberg's chills and explicit gruesomeness watered down to a television movie level. Sadly, for fans looking for some giant creature action, the only thrills this movie offers are of the low-budget variety, and such thrills as they are come few and far between. Instead, this amateurishly-scripted nonsense treads the length of its storyline with too much talk and not enough action, and a rushed, anti-climatic ending which offers none of the destruction I had initially hoped for. More of a whimper than a bang. The film itself is part of a series of five movies called 'Creature Features', which - with the help of Stan Winston, Colleen Camp, Lou Arkoff and others - have been created as homages to the sci-fi/horror movies of the 1950s. I only hope that the other instalments are closer to the real thing than this disappointment.
Not that the film is totally bad; indeed there are a few redeeming qualities here and there, but the combination of a veteran actor (Dan Aykroyd) and a veteran effects man (Stan Winston) should have at least made a good film. My mistake. Dan Aykroyd does star as world-weary cop Jack Grillo, but his character is underdeveloped and performance-wise he simply goes through the motions in his own downtrodden way. Don't get me wrong, I love Aykroyd and his work, but this is definitely one of his lesser performances. The bulk of the screen time goes to fresh-faced newcomer Devon Gummersall but he's no Al Hedison or Jeff Goldblum; you never really sympathise with his plight, which is proof of this. The fact that the situation arises because Gummersall wants to be a superhero like in his comics also smacks of dumbing down (previous versions of the tale used science gone wrong as a basis for the horror to follow).
One genuinely good performance comes from female lead and Denise Richards lookalike Amelia Heinle, as the neighbour with a heart of gold who wants to help our lead out; her quiet, laid back character is a nice change from the screaming blonde heroines usually seen in modern horror fare. Theresa Russell also makes a small appearance playing an unlikable and slightly crazy character. The few deaths that the film offers are mostly off screen with nothing in the way of gore; the transformation effects are suitably icky but I was hoping for a little more realism from the Stan Winston Studio instead of just ripping off THE FLY. It doesn't help that 90% of the film takes place in a hallway and apartment room either. Sorely lacking in both action and intelligence, EARTH VS THE SPIDER is a disappointing film in which the various ingredients - tragedy, superhero worship and bodily deformation - never really gel.
Not that the film is totally bad; indeed there are a few redeeming qualities here and there, but the combination of a veteran actor (Dan Aykroyd) and a veteran effects man (Stan Winston) should have at least made a good film. My mistake. Dan Aykroyd does star as world-weary cop Jack Grillo, but his character is underdeveloped and performance-wise he simply goes through the motions in his own downtrodden way. Don't get me wrong, I love Aykroyd and his work, but this is definitely one of his lesser performances. The bulk of the screen time goes to fresh-faced newcomer Devon Gummersall but he's no Al Hedison or Jeff Goldblum; you never really sympathise with his plight, which is proof of this. The fact that the situation arises because Gummersall wants to be a superhero like in his comics also smacks of dumbing down (previous versions of the tale used science gone wrong as a basis for the horror to follow).
One genuinely good performance comes from female lead and Denise Richards lookalike Amelia Heinle, as the neighbour with a heart of gold who wants to help our lead out; her quiet, laid back character is a nice change from the screaming blonde heroines usually seen in modern horror fare. Theresa Russell also makes a small appearance playing an unlikable and slightly crazy character. The few deaths that the film offers are mostly off screen with nothing in the way of gore; the transformation effects are suitably icky but I was hoping for a little more realism from the Stan Winston Studio instead of just ripping off THE FLY. It doesn't help that 90% of the film takes place in a hallway and apartment room either. Sorely lacking in both action and intelligence, EARTH VS THE SPIDER is a disappointing film in which the various ingredients - tragedy, superhero worship and bodily deformation - never really gel.