Greg Grunberg is usually the go to guy to play your empathetic average Joe turned hero, and director Mike Mendez’s horror comedy, Grunberg is at his best. Playing under appreciated exterminator Alex Mathis, he’s prone to taking his job very seriously and provided with little to no rewards for his hard work. After a spider bite lands him in the hospital, little does he or anyone know that a vicious venomous spider has hijacked a corpse and has now broken loose.
Packing a terrible bite, an appetite for humans, and growing in size by the hour, Alex decides to seek out and destroy the spider, unaware that the military are intent on seizing control and stopping the gradually growing spider before it’s too late. “Big Ass Spider!” is a film that pulls no punches in its premise, offering the very thing its title touts. Alex and a hospital security guard Jose venture out in to the city to figure out the spider’s hiding spot and plans to breed, while it violently preys on locals and the homeless.
While the film’s tone is mainly dark comedy, director Mendez is also never afraid to display gore and violence, featuring a gruesome face melting scene. There’s also a pretty excellent massacre in a public park where the large spider begins mowing down, eating, and impaling passersby with its webbing. “Big Ass Spider!” is obviously low in the budget, but director Mike Mendez composes such a fun and exciting monster feature that its short comings don’t hinder the entertainment value at all. Grunberg can salvage almost anything he’s in, and lends a real charisma to an already excellent horror comedy, while Lombardo Boyar is a great supporting player who also manages to deliver a variety of laugh out loud moments of his own.
Director Mike Mendez has a knack for creating a monster horror comedy that pulls no punches about its concept, but succeeds in being laugh out loud funny, action packed, and creepy all at the same time.
The DVD features a five minute look at the SXSW premiere for “Big Ass Spider!” interviewing movie goers, and garners clips from the screening. There’s a minute and a half compilation of interviews from cast members, and three trailers for the film.
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