Bloodtype Online

    When a teenage couple stumble over a giant spider while searching for the girl’s missing father they try and warn the town.  Of course none of the adults will believe them.  It isn’t until their science teacher asks the police to search for the girl’s missing father that they stumble over the spider.  The creature is easily done in by the poison the searchers spray on it, or was it?  Sure enough the noise from a happening rock and roll band playing awakens the spider, which has been moved to the local High School to be studied.  Now the local authorities have to figure out a way to kill the creature before it destroys the town! 

    I’m a big fan of the older “B” sci-fi horror movies from the 50s.  Earth vs. the Spider is an excellent example of what makes these movies such a blast to watch.  The movie was made for the drive-in audience, which was at the time primarily a youth market.  So of course our main characters are high school kids who aren’t believed when they try and warn the adults.  The plot also keeps putting our hero and heroine in harms way, no matter how illogical and contrived the plot is.  You even the have character that goes for help that ends up spider chow!  Yeah the plot is silly and predictable, but that is half the fun of watching a movie like this.  I guess I could talk about the cast, but why bother?  The humans in this movie are there to run away from the spider yelling and screaming, until one of them figures out an overly complicated way to kill it.   

    The star of the movie is the spider and the effects used to create it.  Director and effects guy Bert I. Gordon pulls out all of his normal tricks to make this movie.  You have a tarantula walking on model buildings and miniature sets.  Occasionally the cast interacts with a large hairy leg that smacks at them, but that is limited.  I’m sure this was due to budget and time constraints.  But the shots actually work and attention is paid to scale so that the effects fit into the scenes with the actors.  Plus there is a charm to these movies that I really get a kick out of and that the big budget CGI fests of today lack.   

    I’m a fan of the giant bug movies from the 50s and the goofy effects, acting, and plot that come with them.  So I really got a kick out of this movie and recommend that fans of this sort of flick check it out. 

Rating - ***

- John “El Juan” Shatzer