Eight Legged Freaks (2002)

In a small Arizona town, a barrel of toxic waste falls off a truck and into a river. Spiders have ingested the toxin and they begin to grow in size and soon are terrorizing the townspeople. Directed by Ellory Elkayem, this amusing horror comedy is an affectionate tribute to those 1950s creature features like TARANTULA, THE DEADLY MANTIS, THEM etc. The actors are in on the joke and there's always a wink in the dialogue, at one point David Arquette screams "Get back, you eight legged freaks!". Elkayem manages to both parody the genre but still give us some genuine thrills and jumps. The film was anticipated to be a big hit with a sequel planned but the film underperformed so that never happened. If you're a fan of those 1950s giant insect movies, you should enjoy the film's riff but if those films are beneath you then you can safely skip this. With Scarlett Johansson, Kari Wuhrer, Doug E. Doug, Scott Terra and Eileen Ryan.