Arachnid (film)

Arachnid
Directed by Jack Sholder
Written by Mark Sevi
Starring Alex Reid
Chris Potter
Rocqueford Allen
Robert Vicencio
José Sancho
Music by Francesc Gener
Cinematography Carlos González
Edited by Jaume Vilalta
Distributed by Lions Gate Films
Release date
 June 29, 2001
Running time
 95 minutes
Country Spain
Language English
Budget $570,000 (estimated)
Box office $1,123,000

Arachnid is a 2001 horror film directed by Jack Sholder. In this film, giant killer spiders menace survivors of a plane crash. The film stars Alex Reid, Chris Potter, Rocqueford Allen, Robert Vicencio and José Sancho.

Plot

A plane crashes on an island, and the pilot comes across a giant spider, which kills both him and an alien. One year later, Mercer (Alex Reid), the sister of the pilot, accompanies Valentine (Chris Potter) to the same island to locate her brother. On the way to a native village to examine several natives who are dying of spider bites, ticks burrow into Reyes (Luis Lorenzo Crespo). Upon reaching the village, they discover that the village has moved on. Reyes begins to cough up the ticks and Bear (Rocqueford Allen) decides to shoot him to end his suffering.

That night, Mercer wanders off and is attacked by a mutated spider, but is saved by a native, who ends up getting bitten and dying the next morning. The group moves on, and are attacked by a giant spider, which kills Henry (an "arachnologist") and Samuel (the group's doctor). A smaller spider attacks Bear, and another native is killed. Valentine, Mercer and Susana (Neus Asensi), Samuel's assistant, hole up in a military bunker. While Mercer keeps watching, the spiders attack and force the survivors into a closet. Susana panics when she sees the spider is gone and is killed when she tries to escape. Mercer and Valentine escape through a bomb tunnel into the forest, where Valentine slips into unconsciousness from a bite he sustained.

In the morning, Valentine awakes to discover that Bear and "Toe Boy" (Robert Vicencio) are the only surviving natives. The four head into the cave, where they find the spider in a cocoon. Mercer attempts to cut the cocoon down so Bear can shoot it, but it wakes up before she can cut it down and Bear is killed. The spider sets chase after Mercer and she ends up wrapped in its silk, which she uses to pull the spider from the ceiling and it falls onto a stalagmite, killing it. As Mercer, Valentine and Toe Boy leave, another spider watches them from an overhead cliff.

Cast

Release

This film had a limited release. For its low budget, it did well at the box office, scoring $1.123 million. It opened #9 opening weekend. On its second weekend, it fell to #26, and went downhill from there. It made 81% of its gross on its opening weekend.

Reception

This film received mixed to negative reviews, mainly negative. One reviewer said "This film was so bad, I went to the doctor to get my eyeballs cleaned." However, some people have shown some kindness towards the movie. Movie actor Richard Dreyfuss claims to have seen it at a local theater, saying in one of his blogs "It was better than expected, by far."

During his interview for the documentary, "Behind the Curtain Part II" (2012), director Jack Sholder, had this to say about this film:

I basically did it for the money and it was a stupid script . . . I got to live in Barcelona for six months and, you know, they paid me well. Everything was good except I had to go to work everyday and shoot a dumb script. I haven't seen that one since, you know, I made it. And some people say 'Oh well, it's actually better than you think', but I basically tell people to avoid that one".[1]

References

  1. ↑ Jack Sholder, "Behind the Curtain Part II" (2012)
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