Sunday, April 1, 2012

Camel Spiders

Well this is a Roger Corman flick, so watch where you step.  Jack Nicholson once said that Roger would sometimes accidently make a good film.  Well here there is a certain grim determination to avoid making such a mistake. 

The movie is based on a well passed set of pictures showing huge camel spiders and claims that they were even bigger and attacking troops in the mid east.  They are certainly ugly monsters sort of a cross between a spider and a scorpion.  Well take a look yourself.....



So in this movie there are huge camel spiders big enough to drag soldiers away.  Some tiny ones get into a corpse sent back to the USA and in no time it is camel spider massacre time.  So we some stupid students, some soldiers, some cops, random corpses, young girl, and some corporate suits all flailing away at trying to survive.  It follows every single cliche of this genre of film so there's no use describing the plot anymore.  The special effects are mostly CGI and mostly bad with the spiders having that odd floating feel as they walk across the landscape.  Oh and just as a scientific note I don't believe camel spiders spin webs as shown in this film, but I could be wrong.  So overall if you like giant insect films this is basically harmlessly bad.  Something you' watch on Syfy in the afternoon on a rainy Saturday.


3 comments:

  1. All the guns in it are airsoft with CGI muzzle flashes, too. And pretty low quality airsoft with no rear sights, at that (the title character is the only one with a rear sight, yet he's given a 10" barreled MK18/CQBR type weapon that's only used by Special Operations Forces like SEALs and Delta Force). My DBoys M4/M203 that I bought for $60 as a backyard gun is more convincing. Most of the Soldiers in the opening aren't wearing anything that even remotely resembles body armor (one guy has a cheap, COTS load-bearing vest but that's it), the UCP-like pattern on their BDUs (yes, BDUs, not the currently-issued ACUs) is one of the worst knock-offs I've ever seen, and none of them even bother aiming when they're supposed to be shooting. And UH-1 Huey gunships in Afghanistan? I don't think Hueys armed in that fashion have been used since Vietnam.

    Overall, it's the usual Sy-Fy Saturday garbage. This channel hasn't had a good "original" movie since Code Red: The Rubicon Conspiracy. On the upside, I will give it credit for a plot that's interesting and based on something that's actually been reported in the field. I feel the film could have been much better if it had a higher budget for better props and actual blank-adapted movie guns, or at least some higher-end Classic Army airsoft replicas.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The best part is the spiders sound effect is from Half-Life. I hope Valve got paid.

    ReplyDelete