Brilliant and touching

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

If you're looking for a low budget movie that makes up for it by inserting original ideas, twisted premises, social/political commentary, well... this is not the movie you're looking for.This movie follows all the clichés of a man made monster movie: bad guys make monster by mistake, try to keep it a secret and deal with for a while, until it's out there and out of control, underdog/loser has some skill that's needed and saves the day in the end, there's a comic relief sidekick (very stereotypical) and there's a love interest along the way. There's really nothing original in the plot, and there's no message/point to be made that we haven't seen a million times before. However, for what it is, it does keep you entertained, and it does have the charm of a low budget movie, and some of the jokes work, I did get a few laughs. It's a non-pretentious, straightforward, bit-of-fun movie. Don't expect too much of it, but if you're in the mood for some mindless light entertainment for a couple of hours, I'd say you'll enjoy it. I did...

(32%) Yet another self aware modern-day spin on 1950's giant creature horror movies that thanks to much cheaper visual effects are constantly being churned out these days. This it must be said is one of the better examples. The cast is likable, there's very little in terms of filler, and you get the feeling that they at least tried to make an enjoyable product here and not just a quick money spinner that only offers its fun/silly title and nothing really more besides. It's a short sit at just under 1 hour 20 mins which is plenty, there's lots of spider based carnage, a fun cameo, and really if you expected more from this than what you actually get then you're a fool.

"Big Ass Spider" is a reasonably entertaining B-Movie that neither takes itself too seriously nor insults your intelligence (except with your permission). If you like this kind of comedy/horror/monster movie at all, you'll enjoy yourself here. It's not Shakespeare; then again, that's not what it said on the box. And you opened it anyway.You could compare it to a Syfy original; it's in that genre. But it's better than all than about three of them, and that's including "Sharknado." Not like BAS is genius, but Syfy movies are… not good. It does what a B is supposed to do: entertain, divert, scare a little, clown around. Decent job. A perfect NetFlix weeknight movie; even Saturday night, if you're not doing anything.

Big Ass Spider/Mega Spider could have gone either way. It could have been cheap, terribly written and acted and amateurish or it could have been entertaining and likable with a sense that it knows what it wants to be and who it's aimed at. Thankfully while it does have a fair share of flaws Big Ass Spider/Mega Spider belongs in the latter category. The locations are splendidly colourful and atmospheric and the movie is well shot and reasonably edited as well as efficiently and confidently directed. The spider however is a little inconsistent, never terrible but never exceptional at the same time, at points it's menacing and well-designed and at other points it's rather goofy-looking and over-proportioned for an intentionally huge spider. It does at least have a personality and is well used. The music has the right amount of groove and eeriness without feeling out of place and the movie is better than expected in terms of writing. A lot of the supporting cast have very little to do but the writing for Alex and Jose is brilliant, from the hilarious snappy banter to the endearing tongue-in-cheek humour, if there was a choice who fared a little better than the other it would be Jose. The story admittedly does next to nothing new with the concept it has and it is very stretched out in places but it avoids being too campy and it takes an earnest approach without taking it too seriously, considering the concept that is difficult to pull off and the movie makes a decent crack at it. It's never scary but there are some inventive and suspenseful attacks that stops Big Ass Spider/Mega Spider from being too much of one tone, and as acknowledged early on in the review the movie does know who its audience is and what tone it's trying to take, never trying to take on too many ideas or be too simplistic. The characters are a mixed bag, Alex and Jose carry the movie wonderfully and are likable but a lot of the rest of the characters are one-dimensional and annoying. Likewise with the cast, with the best being the likable if goofy Greg Grunberg and the often hysterical Lombardo Boyer. Lin Shaye is amusing if occasionally wooden and Ray Wise is also good. Clare Kramer is laughably bad however with her change from cold to damsel far too sudden while the rest of the cast do nothing with their already thinly-sketched characters and that's including the underused Patrick Bauchau. The ending takes ridiculous to a whole new level as well. In conclusion, not great but still a lot of fun. Oh and the intro is wonderful. 6/10 Bethany Cox