Product Details

• Actors: Rob Monkiewicz, Irene Joseph, David Bunce, Bevin McGraw, Alexxus Young
• Directors: Brett Piper
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: MTI Home Video
• DVD Release Date: August 5, 2003
• Run Time: 82 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00009YXB4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,513 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Arachnia" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Professor of paleontology dr jonathan mugford & a small crew of students on their way to an arizona dig survives a plane crash caused by a meteor shower only to make a mean discovery of their own - mammoth spiders! the same meteorite shower has scared up an ancient breed of over-sized insects! Studio: Mti Productions Release Date: 11/30/2004 Run time: 82 minutes Rating: R

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good B-movie Fun, September 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Arachnia (DVD)

This is not a great movie, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do, which is capture some of the fun of a B-movie from the '50s and '60s. Thare are two passable performances, but mostly horrible acting. What makes the movie are Brett Piper's stop-motion spiders. If you get the DVD, I recommend only waching it with the commentary track on. It drowns out the bad, boring dialogue and the terrible acting and you learn a little about low-budget filmmaking.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars We Don't Have Drive-In Theaters Anymore, October 21, 2006

By 

The JuRK (Our Vast, Cultural Desert) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arachnia (DVD)

But, if we did, ARACHNIA would be the second or third movie on the screen.

Yes, it's pretty terrible. The stop-motion animation of the spiders was oddly refreshing in an age of CGI-crazy SFX.

I wish the movie had had more of a sense of humor about it. Not some lame SCARY MOVIE stuff, just some straight-faced winking like the bad drive-in horror movies I grew up on (such as PIRAHNA and the king daddy drive-in classic, HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP). They weren't great movies by any means but they delivered good times: cheap scares, rubber monsters, nudity.

I've got to be honest: two of the three stars are for Alexxus Young, the "sci-fi diva" who has her own website. She looks great naked and I commend her for surviving a plane crash into mutant spider land and immediately wanting to strip and bathe. That's the kind of B-movie heroine that makes me stick around for the worst of movies.

I also liked the female lead, a beautiful African American girl who takes charge and completely avoids all stereotypes.

This is a bad movie but it would've been fun on a drive-in screen.
But we don't have drive-in theaters anymore.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Arachnia Spins A Web Worth Getting Caught In, June 26, 2006

By 

Kenneth V. Cockrel (Detroit, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arachnia (DVD)

In my hometown, there's a little greasy spoon which specializes in burgers.

The burgers are nothing spectacular. They're about the size of White Castle burgers and you can get four of em for a little less than two bucks. They're fast, they're cheap and most people would probably call em godawful.

But here's the thing. They taste great and me and a whole lot of folks keep going back because, when you get one, you know exactly what you're going to get.

"Arachnia" reminds me a lot of those burgers. It's fast, cheap, and you know exactly what to expect from it. That's why it's surprisingly good. Maybe it's just the fact that I recently caught this film on latenight cable and, as a result, came to it with vastly lowered expectations. Nevertheless, I was shocked at how much this film DOESN'T suck.

Granted the special effects(and I use that term loosely here) are strictly of the 1950s horror film variety, the hokey script offers nothing you likely haven't seen before in dozens of giant bug movies, and the acting just barely rises above that of a better than average high school play.

But if you're a fan of Ray Harryhausen-style stop motion animation, seeing it used in a 21st century film, can't help but tickle the nostalgia bone and frankly comes off as kind of sweet. And the script is enjoyable precisely because it IS so damn predictable. And the acting, though high school level is nowhere near godawful.

There are too big reasons to see this film, the first is Rob Monkiewicz as the film's hero, a pilot for hire with a heart of gold. Other reviewers here have pointed out that Monkiewicz comes off as a little too smart for this movie, almost like a law school student slumming for some extra cash to pay off those huge student loans. It's a valid argument but this actually works in his character's favor by painting a portrait of a smart guy who maybe made some bad choices and is now just trying to keep his bills paid.

The second reason is Irene Joseph as a no nonsense personal assistant who actually turns out to be the sharpest AND toughest character in the film. Joseph, incidentally, is African-American but the film's script and her performance wisely eschew any of the hackneyed, over the top "sista girl" mannerisms and slang that are seen all too often in African-American characters in movies of far bigger budgets.


While the total budget of this film probably wouldn't even buy a day's worth of catering on Peter Jackson's "King Kong" it's always impressive when a director makes movie work even on a shoe string. While I don't think I've seen any of Brett Piper's films prior to this one, I'm now interested in checking more of his stuff out.

Arachnia is far from a classic. In fact, I don't even know if I can recommend buying it to any fan operating on a tight budget. But if you've got a little extra dough burning a hole in your wallet you could do far worse.