A gang of spiders escapes from spider-camp (a nuthead's private collection) and fresh from a toxic waste meal in the river the by now gigantic spiders goes nutzoid and attacks a little small town. Foxy trailer-park sheriff Kari Wuhrer (Anaconda) orders everyone to arm themselves with whatever they got and take refuge in the mall while David Arquette (Scream) climb up an antenna to call for help.

New Zealand director Ellory Elkayem (They Nest) obviously love the old '50s B-movies (Them, Tarantula etc) from which he has drawn his inspiration but his love doesn't really come across on screen. He tries too hard to be funny, bringing in too many comic characters chewing scenery from each other, and forgets everything else. And it's not very funny. It's just loads and loads of expensive CG spiders of all sizes. Some of them are quite cool, especially the big hairy ones, but mostly they're just ridiculous and not too convincing. Though the battling chase between the gigantic spiders and a couple of kids on green motorcycles is pretty cool. There's also a dozen of killed ostriches, a couple of mashed cats and dogs (not for real, folks, not for real), lots of references to genre classics, a sheriff with a chainsaw and a paranoid disc-jokey who simply refuse to believe that the spiders aren't invaders from space. It's all very slick and colorful, but I found it to be boring and unengaging too often. Heroine Kari Wuhrer plays like Ashley Judd's second-rate twin sister while the giggly and sometimes funny David Arquette may be the most unlikely machoman ever in a monster flick. Interesting note, though, that he looks like an idiot with his trademark moustache but when he halfway through the film shaves it off he suddenly looks like an actual movie star. In any case, Eight Legged Freaks is designed for maximum lightweighted entertainment and although it's not a waste of time, it has its moments, it's not even half as entertaining as the filmmakers believe it is.