I thought all spiders were aliens from outer space.

A stealth plane hits a UFO and crashes on a remote island. The pilot parachutes down to the island and finds the crashed UFO. The alien from the UFO is killed by a giant spider which then kills the pilot.

One year later, reports of deaths among island natives, caused by unidentified insect bites, sparks an investigation by a group of scientists. They hire a pilot, Loren Mercer (Alex Reid). She happens to be the sister of the pilot from the stealth that disappeared the previous year. She has been searching for her brother for the last six months. The research party consists of Lev Valentine (Chris Potter), Dr. Samuel Leon (Jose Sancho), Susana (Neus Asensi), Henry Capri (Ravil Isyanov), an entomologist, Bear (Rocqueford Allen), Reyes (Luis Lorenzo Crespo) and several natives. Engine trouble causes the plane they are on to crash. They make their way to the village on foot. On the way, ticks burrow into Reyes. They move under his skin. When they reach the village they find it deserted. Reyes, still sick from the ticks starts to cough up blood, and ticks. To end his suffering, Bear shoots him.

Later that night a native is bitten by a mutated insect. By morning he is dead. Valentine decides they need to leave the island as soon as possible. The group plans on heading for the shore while Bear heads to a high point on the island to try to get a signal and help. Henry, refusing to leave, wanders off on his own before anyone knows he is gone. The rest of the group finds the remains of Mercer’s brother. Then they find Henry. He is still alive. He is being used by the spider to house its eggs.

“Arachnid” was released in 2001 and was directed by Jack Sholder. This movie was absolutely creepy. You didn’t know what was coming at you or when. Or what it was going to do to you once it got you. When your insect is an alien, there is no end to the stuff you can dream up.

As far as the critics are concerned a lot of them didn’t like it. One said he watched it with his friends and they were all drunk. No wonder he couldn’t understand what people were saying. As for the special effects, I’ve heard some good things and I’ve heard some bad things. One critic said the CGI stuff was bad and another critic said there was absolutely no CGI in the movie at all. I’ve decided that none of these people know what they’re talking about.

Let me put it plainly; the movie is about an alien spider that is trying to incorporate its genetic material into the different life forms on the island so it can survive. That’s what spiders do, eat, spin webs, and make little spiders. The problem with this spider is that it is from outer space so it is trying to adapt by using other creatures as hosts. Ergo, weird ticks and other insects that look a little like a spider from another planet. Now the alien spider is trying to lay its eggs in people. Very bad news for people.

This is a fun, silly, dopey movie. Lots of gross, lots of blood and lots of action. It’s a giant bug movie so I couldn’t care less about dialogue. The acting was fine, the special effects were, well, actually pretty good. The movie may have been a little over the top, but that was part of the fun. I enjoyed the hell out of it. And there was a creep factor that made me squirm just a little.

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