VERMIN. THE PLAGUE: Spider Invasion

2023-11-13 10:34:06

Although some adore these fascinating creatures with four pairs of legs, arachnophobia, or the irrational fear of spiders, is one of the most common phobias. This starting point has served numerous stories taken to film throughout its history, since 1955 with Tarantuladirected by Jack Arnold, one of the essential films of the B-series horror and science fiction genre. This “monster movie” was pioneering and terrified viewers thanks to the realism of its images, achieved with the filming of authentic spiders in shots combined with the appearance of the actors. Curiously, the leading actress, the tarantula, repeated in The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).

The invasion of the giant spiders

In 1975, it premiered The invasion of the giant spiders, also from series B. Showing off this label, it had the stellar appearance of a mechanical spider made with an iron structure and metal mesh covered in black velvet, 9 meters high, other medium-sized arachnids handled by puppeteers and real tarantulas completing the cast. Directed by Bill Rebanedespite its quality, raised more than 20 million dollars in the United States.

Another essential title on this list is Arachnophobia (1990), directed by Frank Marshall and starring Jeff Daniels, Harley Jane Kozak, John Goodman and Julian Sands, produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg. Filmed primarily in the Canaima National Park in Venezuela, it featured around 400 real spiders and more than forty animatronic arachnids created by special effects artist Chris Walas.

Already in 2001, Spanish production arrived Arachnidframed in Filmax’s Fantastic Factory label, directed by Jack Sholder and starring Canadian actor Chris Potter and Spaniards Pepe Sancho and Neus Asensi. Filmed in Mexico with a budget of $500,000, it featured different types of animatronics developed by special effects and makeup specialist Steve Johnson.

And a year later the comedy was added Arac Attackof Ellory Elkayemwith David Arquette and Scarlett Johansson, better special effects and displaying a great variety of arachnids.

To this selection, to which other more recent titles could be added, we must add one soon to be released that is overwhelming the public in each of its screenings. Special Jury Prize in the past Sitges Festival, Vermin: The PlagueFrench’s first film Sébastien Vanicekis a new horror bet that places the protagonists in a local crisis with the invasion of spiders that multiply to the point of leaving the population in permanent quarantine.

He also participated out of competition in the Venice Critics Week and in the Fantastic Fest, where it won Best Horror Film and Best Director. In the recent San Sebastian Fantasy and Horror Film Week was the opening film (in a fun showing with large stuffed spiders falling from the upper part of the Main Theater in which I had a really bad time) and these days it can be “enjoyed” within the framework of the Canary Islands Fantastic Film Festival City of La Laguna Calavera Islandbefore its release in three months in Spanish cinemas, on February 2.

In the film, real spiders were again used for all its scenes, “the only way“, according to its producers, “to create a true spider nightmare”. The director decided to take the action to a territory that he knows first-hand, the suburbs, offering a genre film with an important social point of view: a «horror natural» in which spiders serve as allegory. Kaleb (Theo Christine), the main character is one of those people who have no fear of spiders, he loves exotic animals, but he will accidentally let a poisonous spider escape that will turn his building into a death trap. ‘Vermin. The Plague’, not suitable for arachnophobes, can be seen this Monday and Wednesday at the Skull Island Festival.