{jatabs type="content" position="top" height="auto" skipAnim="true" mouseType="click" animType="animFade"}
[tab title="Movie Review"]
The creepy crawlies get deep B-movie fried in director Mike Mendez’s Big Ass Spider! - a flick as non-nuanced as it is devotion to the whole party schlock atmosphere of the drive-in movies of yesteryear. While it sports a better polish than most tongue-in-cheek flicks found on the Syfy channel, one should not go in to the 80 minute monster flick expecting any seriousness. None will be found. This is wild, wild stuff as one small-time pest exterminator is called upon to save the world from, you guessed it, a big ass spider.
Alex (Greg Grunberg) is a local exterminator in search of a date. He’s a decent man who always takes care of the elderly and their rodent removal needs – regardless of their unwarranted passes at him. He just can’t seem to land a kind – and age appropriate – woman worthy of him to date. He’s also obsessed with spiders. While he downplays his obsession, Alex knows his stuff and when a brown recluse bite sends him to the hospital – his whole world is turned upside down.
Why? Because an unwanted spider has taken up residence in the hospital and it is growing at an alarming rate. When the army arrives – lead by the familiar chops of Ray Wise as Major Braxton Tanner – and the spider ramps up its attacks, the whole world discovers just what the army is trying to keep secret – the military is experimenting with insects. The spider soon outgrows the hospital and takes his violent spree to Los Angeles with Alex, security guard Jose (Lombardo Boyar), and Lieutenant Karly Brant (Clare Kramer) in hot pursuit.
With comic beats and slight shades of King Kong, Mendez’s cheesy film recalls the glory days of the matinee and keeps the movie fast-paced and fun. The characters are likeable and the dialogue is crackling. There’s nothing slowing this Big Ass Spider! down. Sure, everything is drawn together in a predictable fashion and – given the territory – the characters are a tad on the thin side but that’s more in the fashion of the B-movie spirit than it is a fault of the film.
Grunberg plays the tone just right as the somewhat lonely exterminator and the other actors follow suite. His interplay between Boyar – the two are essentially partners, with Jose being the sidekick – isn’t exactly fresh or inspired but it does work in keeping the events, especially when the spider starts eating people, light and airy. Los Angeles is destroyed – at least parts of it are – and the world holds its breath as Mendez’s Big Ass Spider! crawls its way into B-movie fandom.
Make no itsy bitsy beef about it, Big Ass Spider! is one hell of an old fashioned good time.[/tab]
[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and gore.
Runtime: 80 mins
Director: Mike Mendez
Writer: Gregory Gieras
Cast: Lin Shaye, Greg Grunberg, Ray Wise
Genre: Comedy | Sci-fi
Tagline: Big Ass Spider!
Memorable Movie Quote: "Let's do it for the kids!"
Distributor: Epic Pictures Releasing
Official Site: https://www.facebook.com/BigAssSpider
Release Date: October 18, 2013 (limited)
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: January 7, 2014
Synopsis: When a giant alien spider escapes from a military lab and rampages across the city of Los Angeles, it is up to one clever exterminator and his security guard sidekick to kill the creature before the entire city is destroyed. "Big Ass Spider", (aka "Mega Spider").[/tab]
[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
|
||||||||||||||||||
Blu-ray Details:
Available on Blu-ray - January 7, 2014
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: None
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1; English: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
Discs: 25GB Blu-ray Disc; aSingle disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: Region A
This is the first feature released by Epic Pictures Group and they deliver their debut 1080p MPEG-4 AVC blu-ray with pretty stellar results. Filmed with the Red MX camera, detail is perfect in nearly every shot, with even medium shots delivering every pore, wrinkle, or hair with exact sharpness. While it may show how low-budget the film is, it also lends to the winking nature. I never noticed any banding, crush, or noise, but in low lit scenes the blacks take on a more muted look. A 5.1 Dolby True-HD track pits you right in the middle of the action as well with surrounds providing ample ambiance whether its musical cues in the “scary” parts or in the midst of an action sequence with plenty of LFE activity. An optional 2.0 track is available.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- A commentary track titled “Stars Greg Grunberg and Lombardo Boyar Tell Director Mike Mendez How They Really Feel About Him” hilariously kicks things off. The three obviously had a fantastic time recording the track and deliver some side-splitting production stories.
Special Features:
The included extras may not be overwhelming, but are just as fun as the movie. Up first is “Interviews with the Cast” which runs a quick 83 seconds featuring Grunberg, Boyar, and Kramer. Next is the “SXSW Featurette” shows us the premiere of the film in Austin with Mendez and Boyar in tow. The theatrical trailer, an international trailer, and a TV spot round things out.
- Interviews with the Cast (2 min)
- SXSW Featurette (5 min)[/tab]
[tab title="Trailer"]
[/tab]
{/jatabs}
