Big Ass Spider (2013)

(out of 5)



 Big Ass Spider (2013)
director:  Mike Mendez
starring:  Greg Grunberg, Ray Wise, Lin Shaye, Clare Kramer, Lombardo Boyar, Patrick Bauchau, Lloyd Kaufman
Tagline:  Ten Stories Tall And Very Hungry
Format:  Blu-Ray Personal Collection

     What can I say?  Totally blown away.  Mike Mendez is an important figure in the horror community at this point in my humble opinion and this film just cemented all that for me.  I've known the man was solid from Killers on and have loved everything Mendez has put on screen.  This one for me just takes it to the next level.  Watched this with my two boys ages 8 and 10 who laughed and wanted to rewind several parts which of course I let them.  They were hiding behind blankets during moments and others literally throwing themselves against the couch in stitches.  When your able to share your passion of good horror films with your children it really makes a father's day. 

    We start out actually towards the end of the story in the movie showing some carnage and our protagonist Alex (Greg Grunberg) in the midst.  People are burning, there are holes in buildings, debris is scattered all over the roads.
Then flashback to days earlier when good old Alex was just your cooky neighborhood exterminator trapping rats and mice for old ladies and feeling very frustrated with his work.  Lin Shaye a favorite actress of mine makes an appearance as one of his customers, good casting choice there.  Anywho Alex ends up in the ER after being bit by a spider and of course it just so happens that a military body wound up at the very same hospital.  Which of course goes on government lockdown after it is discovered that the body is in the hospital and that a rather large spider has been seen in the building.  Skipping over so stuff here so as not to spoil the whole movie but we have some good quality kills in this little movie starting in the hospital.  The gore fx were very impressive to me for cgi.  I usually hate any gore effect being done with cgi but nope not in this case.  We have a great face melt scene and I also have to say that the spider fx throughout the film were top notch.  For me it's like a SyFy style movie except good acting, writing, direction, editing, and the fx don't look like they were done in a high school computer class project.
     
    Greg Grunberg totally made this movie so funny just with the way he carried himself and spoke.  Really want to check this guy out in other stuff because I really enjoyed his antics in this one.  He worked so well with his supporting cast Clare Kramer and Lombardo Boyar especially who played a blonde military lieutenant whom Alex falls in love with and a security guard whom he teams up with to kill the spider.  Lloyd Kaufman made a quick appearance as one of the many spider victims and Ray Wise another favorite of mine plays Major Braxton.  Every actor in the film did such a great job.  This movie had scares, laughs, action, everything but shedding a tear.  I cannot express how much of a breath of fresh air this movie is for the sub-genre of giant monster movies.  Reminded me at moments of "of course" Arachnaphobia with the comical exterminator against well in this case one giant spider and there was also a scene that very much reminded me of Aliens when the marine squad first enters the buildings on LV426.

      I highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good monster movie.  The spider gets bigger and bigger as the movie goes on and never really stops creating havoc.  Even throws and destroys Alex's truck and Alex is very upset by his truck getting destroyed, and his friend Jose the security guard is upset that he lost his sun glasses haha.  So go dive in and don't take everything so seriously and I highly doubt you will be disappointed. Big Ass Spider is Big Ass Fun!