Themes: When Animals Attack, Race Against Time, Stranded
Main Cast: Alex Reid, Chris Potter, Pepe Sancho, Neus Asensi, Ravil Isyanov
Release Year: 2001
Country: ES
Run Time: 93 minutes
Plot
A plucky pilot searching for a missing relative gets bugged by a island controlled by giant spiders in this horror opus. Mercer (Alex Reid) is a pretty but all-business female pilot whose brother is a novice flyer. When a small plane he's flying crashes on a small island in the South Pacific, Mercer immediately assembles a crew and sets out on a rescue mission to find her brother. Joining Mercer in the search for her brother are Valentine (Chris Potter), a mercenary handy with a gun; Dr. Leon (Pepe Sancho), a tough-talking physician; Capri (Ravil Isyanov), a scientist investigating a strange disease that's been traced back to the island; and Susana (Neus Asensi), a good friend who is bright and resourceful. When Mercer and her associates arrive on the island, they believe they're ready for anything, but they're not prepared for what they find -- a breed of huge and deadly spiders, who are ready and willing to defend their territory and begin picking off Mercer's crew one by one. While shot in Mexico by a Spanish production company, Arachnid was co-produced by American producer Brian Yunza (through his multi-national Fantastic Factory production house), and helmed by American director Jack Shoulder. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
We've smelled this cheese before. A throwback to the big bug movies of the 1950s, Arachnid does for spiders what Them! did for ants in 1954. And it's not much. Arachnid has such B-movie horror conventions as mechanical spiders (puppets) that can only move forward and back -- the big critters always have to back away into their lairs, which is pretty funny in these days of computer generated miracles -- and it's peopled so routinely by central casting formula-characters that you can practically predict the order the secondary characters are going to be devoured. The plot is Alien meets Anaconda, and we only mention Alien because the heroic protagonist is a woman (and Alex Reid does a fine job in the thankless role, but Sigourney Weaver she's not). But you know what? There's a certain brainless charm to it all that will amuse those looking for nothing more than a few cool maulings and no amount of intellectual challenge. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
Cast
Alex Reid
Chris Potter
Pepe Sancho
Neus Asensi
Ravil Isyanov
Roqueford Allen
Credit
Jack Sholder - Director, Brian Yuzna - Producer, Julio Fernández - Producer, Mark Sevi - Screenwriter
