In the Spider's Web (2007)

This is How Movies Should Be Made

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Released to TV in 2007 and directed by Terry Winsor, "In the Spider's Web" stars Lance Henriksen as a dubious American doctor in the jungles of Northern India who seems to like arachnids a little too much. A group of American backpackers and their guide are forced to seek him out when one of their members is bit by a poisonous spider. Arachnid horror ensues.This cartoony TV-horror flick has several things in its favor: Authentic jungle locations, plentiful spiders of various kinds (both real and CGI), Lance Henriksen and a winsome enough female lead (Emma Catherwood). The sets are good too, including the cave sets, although the ubiquitous webbing looks decidedly fake. As far as the authentic jungle locations go, the hikers are all obviously sweating in the sweltering forest heat. Yet it's obvious by the appearance of the Natives that this isn't Northern India, but rather 1200 miles around the corner in Thailand. There's only like one person who looks of Indian origin, which I suppose isn't a biggie for a TV flick.Unfortunately, the story lacks drive despite the jungle action and ominous score (which is good, by the way). Moreover, I never cared about the characters; and Catherwood's cuteness only goes so far (she's actually a little thin for my tastes, but she's decent and definitely cute). There's a big reveal in the final act, but I predicted it at the half hour mark.So there's a lot of good in this comic booky spider-horror movie, but it's brought down by its half-baked storytelling. The script needed serious work to flesh out its potential, but the producers didn't care enough to blow the money. They basically said, "That's good enough; let's shoot!" No, it wasn't.The film runs 88 minutes and was shot in Krabi, Thailand. The screenplay was written by Gary Dauberman.GRADE: C-

Without a doubt one of the dumbest horror films to have been released in recent years, IN THE SPIDER'S WEB is a bad movie through-and-through. Blighted by a low budget and talentless cast, an appalling director and a story that apparently runs out around 30 minutes in, this is a good example of the kind of Z-movie that gets made for television in the modern era. Although it was supposedly shot in Thailand, you couldn't tell because this is an unconvincing, set-bound jungle extravaganza all the way. What little story exists concerns some backpacking tourists falling foul of a local madman. There's some mixed-up stuff in here about tribal rituals and organ donation but to be honest by the time this stuff comes about you couldn't care less. It's all so unbelievable and every character so unappealing that the only thing you'll be doing is watching for the film to end.As with most Z-grade flicks like this, they manage to pull in one popular and recognisable actor, typically a Hollywood star back in the day, who's now down on his luck doing anything for a dollar. Lance Henriksen is the actor here, looking old and tired, saddled with a Halloween horror hand for no discernible reason and playing the brother of a web-masked weirdo who enjoys slicing up visiting tourists (well, who wouldn't?). The eventual unmasking of this wacko is one of a couple of decent horrible moments, the other being the bit where a girl is besieged by eight-legged insects. Suffice to say, the effects are appalling bad, ranging from cardboard and rubber spiders to awful CGI animations, whereas the spider webs look like bits of cast-off rag.Stupidity is the order of the day, along with minor titillation as the leading character spends a lot of time dressed in Lara Croft-style shorts and top. Low lights include the characters using a spider's web as a rope bridge (?) and bad acting by almost the entire cast. Aside from Henriksen, the only halfway decent performance comes from Sohrab Ardeshir, who does quite well in a comic relief turn as an intrepid police sergeant. Otherwise, IN THE SPIDER'S WEB is bargain bin stuff, a godawful attempt at a horror flick that stalls from the very beginning. This one stinks!

I watched this movie on the Sci-Fi channel last night, as I was channel surfing. The movie started without explaining much: the characters, why they were there, where exactly they at, etc. To me, that usually means I'm in for a bad movie experience. I was half right.There were moments in this movie where it pained me to watch, not out of fright of the spiders, but just fright from the horrible acting. There was almost no emotion during moments where there should have been strong emotion. The doctor, however, did an okay job. I won't bash him.In a spider movie, I am looking for good graphics, or at least real spiders. This movie had a mixture. There were close-ups of real spiders that were pretty creepy; even though the spiders all kind of looked the same. Then there were also the spiders falling from the ceiling that looked so fake I almost laughed out loud. But then they would shoot to a real spider again, thus redeeming themselves for the moment.-SPOILER- The movie wouldn't have been that bad for me, honestly, even with the bad acting and bad spider graphics, if they had not added the "plot twist." To top off the spiders killing the villagers and the tourists, the doctor of the tribe had to be part of a black market organ stealing scheme. He used the venom of the spiders to paralyze the victims then cut them open and steal their organs, the venom also kept the organs fresh longer. I about peed myself when I found out what the whole movie was all about.I may have bashed this movie, but I'm also just picky. It's worth watching when it's free on television. It's not a complete waste of time, just don't rent it.

This is possibly the best TV sci-Fi/horror movie i have ever seen. The essence of the classic spider movies (kingdom of the spiders, arachnophobia e.t.c to name a few) is inside this creepy and chilling tale about a village thats attacked by the arachnids and a sinister doctor who has more than the usual liking to these eight legged killers. I saw this on Sky two the other night. Scared the hell out of me and gave me a case of the squirms. The spiders are real and mostly shown in close up detail just to make your skin crawl and they were terrifying. I screamed a couple of times when they did attack. Checked my bed several times to make sure none were in my room. Yes i know that sounds silly but this film does that to you. You see so many close-ups of spiders that you start to feel the paranoia that the characters face and you eyes start to play tricks on you. Another good thing about this film is that the spiders do descend from the ceiling or roof and drop on their victims. If the view of a big hairy and deadly tarantula doesn't scare you, then you must have steel for blood and be warned there are lots of spiders in this, and i mean lots. Crawling on walls, webs and even humans, its an arachnophobics nightmare. Towards the end some of the spiders become CGI and that does slightly kill the mood but then you come face to face with a real one and the fear returns.Lance Henriksen is good for the role of the Doctor as the other cast work well together with the spiders, making you believe in the terror that they are facing. The director work this clever web of horror round you and instills the real fear that the characters have faced and some have not lived from.All in all a good skin crawling horror movie that i'd love to see again and hope that someone releases it on DVD.