Earth vs. the Spider | |
---|---|
DVD Cover Art
|
|
Directed by | Scott Ziehl |
Produced by | Lou Arkoff Samuel Z. Arkoff |
Story by | Mark 'Crash' McCreery Cary Solomon Chuck Konzelman |
Starring |
Dan Aykroyd Amelia Heinle Devon Gummersall Christopher Cousins Mario Roccuzzo John Cho Theresa Russell |
Music by | David Reynolds |
Cinematography | Thomas L. Callaway |
Production
company |
Creature Features Productions LLC
|
Distributed by | Columbia TriStar Home Video |
Release date
|
|
Running time
|
90 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Earth vs. the Spider is a 2001 science fiction horror television film directed by Scott Ziehl. It is the first of a series of films made for Cinemax paying tribute to the films of American International Pictures. The films in this tribute series reused the titles of old American International Pictures films, but are not remakes of the earlier films. The film centers on a shy, obsessive comic book fan who injects himself with an experimental serum derived from spiders, which gives him minor super powers. As time progresses, more horrific changes occur, slowly transforming into a grotesque human spider.
Quentin Kemmer (Devon Gummersall) is a shy security guard and obsessive comic book fan who dreams of becoming a superhero like his favorite comic book character The Arachnid Avenger, and going out with his next-door neighbor Stephanie Lewis (Amelia Heinle). When his partner is killed during a botched robbery at the research laboratory where he works, Quentin is fired and he injects himself with an experimental serum derived from spiders. The next day he is wracked with a severely high fever and spends most of the day unconscious. After he recovers he discovers that he has developed increased strength.
Later that night, Stephanie is attacked and almost raped by a stalker until Quentin intervenes and kills the man, leaving before Stephanie can see him. Quentin later returns to his apartment and finds Stephanie being interviewed by Detective Frank Grillo (Dan Aykroyd) in hopes of identifying her savior. At first Quentin is thrilled that he is finally able to live his dream of becoming a superhero. However, as the days go by he begins to develop more spider-like abilities including being able to shoot webs from his abdomen, and his body becoming more spider-like. Later, Quentin is overwhelmed with an insatiable hunger but is unable to eat solid food. Arriving at a local store in an effort to find something to satisfy his hunger, he happens upon a man attempting to rape a young woman and attacks him, severely injuring the man. Expecting the woman to be grateful, he is surprised when she yells at him in anger as the man was her boyfriend. When she attempts to call the police Quentin encases her in webbing, Police Officer Williams (Christopher Cousins) arrives on the scene and attempts to free the woman but is attacked by Quentin.