TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Sandcooler You've got to hand it to a guy like Bill Rebane. I mean, you can laugh at his movies all you want (or be incredibly bored by them), but the man made a living as a filmmaker with virtually no money or talent in filmmaking. The guy was a brilliant salesman. This horrible movie was a huge box office hit, it was among the fifty most successful movies of 1975. Impressive for a director with no major studio backing who shot all his features in Wisconsin rather than Hollywood.The movie itself is nearly unwatchable, but it's a great time document of how easy it used to be to find a cinema release for your movies. This is not worse than whatever you used to find at the bottom shelf at a video store, but paying good money to see this on a big screen? That's a whole different animal. Particularly because you have to wait a really long time to actually see the huge spider (which is clearly a Volkswagen with legs) the trailer promised you. Up until then you see a bunch of people that you never want to see again talk and talk and talk. By the time that thing actually shows up, you're already too numb from the tedium to even laugh at it.Bill Rebane's movies can best be enjoyed when you know all the background to them. Rebane has a charming mom&pop style of filmmaking, mom (Barbara Rebane) is even credited as the assistant director. One of his daughters 'plays' one of the huge spider's legs. He sure writes great parts for women. It's made by a cast and crew that genuinely seems to be trying to their best, it's one of those movies that seemed way more thrilling to make than it is to watch. But you can't blame Rebane, he certainly did the best he could. He made a giant spider movie with 250.000 dollars, spent a lot of time with family and friends, actually sold the thing to theatres and somehow people still talk about it more than forty years later. That alone should earn him a place in film history.

TheLittleSongbird Judging from what has been said from other commentators I was expecting one of the worst movies ever made. Make no mistake The Giant Spider Invasion is a bad movie- very bad in fact, the 2.7 rating is about right for it- but not atrocious and a long way from one of the worst movies ever made. Barbara Hale and Steve Brodie are decent, there is some unintentional entertainment value and a couple of the attacks are appropriately gruesome. To say that The Giant Spider Invasion is poorly made though is an understatement, often what is seen is close to incoherent. The spider is not a convincing threat at all, more goofy than menacing and the cheap puppet-like design is no help. The music sounds stock and inappropriate, when you can hear the dialogue you are kind of glad actually that the sound is poor and the story is thinly plotted, completely lacking in atmosphere and predictable. Apart from Barbara Hale and Steve Brodie, the acting is so terrible- especially from Alan Hale- that it's not worth any comments. All in all, not as atrocious as heard and expected but very bad. 3/10 Bethany Cox

graduatedan Spiders as big as Volkswagens come to Earth and wreak havoc in a small town in this cheesy but rather enjoyable flick. The arachnids are up to no good, as is usually the case, and before long they're munching on the locals. The town's sheriff, played by Allan Hale Jr. enlists the aid of a scientist(Barbara Hale)in order to get to the bottom of all the eight legged nastiness. Unlike some B films, The Giant Spider Invasion doesn't try to hide its low budget heritage and, in this case, that works to the films' advantage. The pacing is good, the acting is restrained and the cinematography is effective more often than not. Like many other films of its type, The Giant Spider Invasion relies on your willingness to squint a bit at the watery special effects and uneven story. If you can do that, you'll have a good time.

bensonmum2 Realistically, I can see the same problems in The Giant Spider Invasion as most anyone else. But what I see in the movie that some people appear to be missing is a whole lot of fun. A VW Beatle doubling as a giant spider, spider puppets jumping out of dresser drawers, Wisconsin rednecks with buckets of diamonds, Alan Hale Jr's take on being a sheriff, Barbara Hale and Steve Brodie spouting some incredibly ridiculous scientific nonsense, mutilated cattle, pantsuits, and a farmer wearing a girdle – what's not to like? Some people (and I'm often guilty of this) take movies too seriously. I mean if you have fun with it and find yourself entertained, what more do you really expect from a movie? Call it a guilty pleasure of mine or a sentimental remembrance of my youth, but I'm rating this one a 6/10.Alan Hale, Jr. really cracks me up in The Giant Spider Invasion. For starters, the first line he utters is to call someone "Little Buddy". How original? Next, his character is never at a loss for a bad joke. Whether it's a concerned citizen on the phone, cutting up with a bartender, or discussing the grave situation his town faces, he's full of lame one-liners. Where else are you going to hear someone say, "I used to take physics, but I find prunes do a better job for me" to a NASA scientist? Finally, and as I alluded to earlier, I like Hale's take on being a sheriff. The Giant Spider Invasion would have you believe that sheriffs in Middle-of-Nowhere, Wisconsin, spend their days either sitting at their desks or eating in a local diner regardless of the carnage and destruction going on around them. Hale seems particular suited for the job!