Director: Micah Gallo
Year: 2019
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Moving to a clients’ new house, a single mother and her children attempt to care for a crippled antique collector who has acquired a valuable object from a mysterious tribe of spider worshippers, and when a curse unleashes a monstrous spider must try to get them out alive.
Review:
Overall, there’s quite a lot to like here. One of the strongest elements in this one is the ingenious manner of mixing together new elements into a creature feature. The fact that we get a special connection to the spider creatures and the supernatural antics which tie everything together makes for some unique times here. This is due to the fact that the main jungle tribe at the center of everything and the mystical egg he acquires given plenty of leeway into the start of the curse from their interactions over the properties of the egg and how it all connects to the legend told about the history of the tribes’ beliefs being accepted far easier than normal with the collection of antiques around them to help sell the idea, this is unique and rather refreshing.
That goes hand-in-hand with the atmosphere in the house which makes for a solid creature feature. The old house, with its dark corridors, rattling windows and cobwebbed spaces, offers the kind of setting that can fuel the creepiness factor just as much as the creatures themselves whether it’s the legs standing unseen in the distance or hearing the scuttling sounds through the walls which are insanely chilling. The main spiders being practical allows for a strong attachment to them during the sequences of their shedding and molting into far larger beings in fantastic sequences, and with the chase scenes cropping the creature in close sparks scenes that are pure nightmare fuel including the stalking of the daughter in the attic or the attack in the bathroom. That also leads into the final chases through the house, which are tense, eerie and quite fun, managing to hold this one up.
There are a few minor flaws to be had here. The main factor to be had here is the wholly underwhelming pacing that keeps the monsters off-screen for long periods of time in order to deal with uninteresting outer problems. Despite building tons of character, there’s no use for the subplot about her troubled personal life and tragic backstory especially when this drama-centered storyline has no bearing on the final outcome. All it does is keep these spiders off-screen with the resulting outcome being that they end up with very little activity as we’re presented with plenty of buildup regarding a troubled cliche family that she can’t control or her personal problems with the accident. On top of that is the abundance of the overused trope of blatant musical stings and cues for when something’s going to strike which is used for real attacks and jump scares which is quite annoying. These here are the main problems with this one.
Overview: ***.5/5
A generally solid and enjoyable effort that’s somewhat more serious-minded than it should’ve been, there’s a lot to like here while still having enough flaws to bring it back somewhat. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of these kinds of features or curious about this one, while those looking for a generally more creature feature effort should heed caution with it.
Comments
Post a Comment