Eight Legged Freaks
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: July 17, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
13
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Chicago ReaderTed Shen
A cunning and hilarious update of the giant-insect movies of the 1950s. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
This is postmodern folk art, a tricky transaction in which the work isn't just a story, it's a genre survey, a homage, a meditation, a parody and, oh yeah, while it's at it, still a pretty good story. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Has laughs, thrills, wit and scary monsters, and is one of those goofy movies like "Critters" that kids itself and gets away with it. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The cheesier it got, the more I liked it. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Eight Legged Freaks is a B-movie-and-proud-of-it thrill ride, probably the best of its kind since "Tremors." It does just what a good creature feature is supposed to do: It entertains with laughs, gasps, gooey spectacle and a bemused sense of fun. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The movie's combination of unabashedly fun carnage, cool special effects, and tongue-in-cheek dialogue keeps the ball rolling (albeit at reduced speed), until the last of the titular terrors has bit the dust. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeReilly Capps
Doesn't try to be anything it's not. It's happy being a funny, shoot-'em-up, run-for-your-life, green-guts monster movie. And as green-guts monster movies go, it's a beaut. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleJonathan Curiel
Has a smart mix of things going for it, including a self-effacing sense of humor. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyHazel-Dawn Dumpert
It's the filmmakers' post-camp comprehension of what made old-time B movies good-bad that makes Eight Legged Freaks a perfectly entertaining summer diversion. Read full review
70
New Times (L.A.)Gregory Weinkauf
This thing's all in fun. It's just a perfect movie for people who like to shout at the screen, so have at it.
70
Los Angeles TimesGene Seymour
So why does Eight Legged Freaks make one laugh out loud even though there is nothing revolutionary about its approach to the giant bug genre? -- the movie is so unapologetic in its crassness that it disarms even the fussiest connoisseur of throwaway disaster flicks. Read full review
63
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Indeed, for all its jokiness, this isn't the film for anyone who suffers from even the mildest fear of ugly, scuttling, jumping creatures with spindly, furry legs that have a habit of hiding in your shoes. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Starts like a house afire and then suffers an imagination burnout. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
If you go to Eight Legged Freaks expecting anything but a campy, cheesy romp, then you have wandered into the wrong theater. This movie is for those who like smart (often self-referential) humor and cheap thrills. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Even at its most enjoyable, Eight Legged Freaks is disappointing -- it grazes your funny bone instead of tickling it like crazy. Read full review
60
VarietyDennis Harvey
This update of 1950s drive-in sci-fiers finds the right balance between icky, funny and scary, with sheer energy compensating for a script that could have used more parodic panache. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not credited)
Silly, good-natured and thoroughly unpretentious, this giant-spider movie has nothing more on its mind than providing the kind of brainless thrills once delivered by movies like Tarantula (1955), Earth vs. the Spider (1958) and The Giant Spider Invasion (1975). Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The people behind Eight Legged Freaks were absolutely correct not to make it too loopy or too dark. But they ought to have made it too something. Real fun is never this tame. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
An occasionally charming mix of campy fun and dodgy computer-generated effects. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
So if you're in the mood for a scary flick, the kind where people can't resist going into the huge hole in the wall where the family Pekinese just disappeared to the sounds of being masticated, this is the one. Read full review
50
Film ThreatEric Campos
This movie stunk so much you’d think that there were barking spiders in the theater. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Like many of the worst pop-referential parodies of the post-''Scream'' era, this one stalls on laughs once the big joke has been established. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
I can't say I was scared, but I wasn't bored. By way of full disclosure, Warner Bros. provided free popcorn at the screening. I gobbled up every greasy morsel.
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Neither particularly funny nor especially scary. But it's so cheerfully silly, you may just have fun with it anyway. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
Isn't tough to take as long as you've paid a matinee price. Read full review
50
SalonCharles Taylor
Winds up a lot closer to the movies it's taking off from than it cares to admit: cheap, unimaginative and predictable. It's the horror movie equivalent of one of those "Saturday Night Live" sketches that drags on interminably, though nobody in it seems to have any idea of just what the joke is. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Awkward, obvious and sporadically -- very sporadically -- amusing. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The few isolated funny moments, particularly a witty visual gag involving a pop-up tent with legs, provide only a short break from the screen-flooding onslaught of CGI creatures and screaming extras. Read full review
30
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Amid numerous identical skirmishes with leapfrogging arachnids, trace elements of black comedy and intentional camp are discernible but utterly extraneous. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The actual movie is the cinematic equivalent of cheap Chinese egg rolls: all flour and cabbage shreds, maybe half a nibble of pork. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Limps along, spinning not a silken web but an extremely derivative, tattered one not likely to snare anybody's interest. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Action freaks may enjoy the chasing and chomping, but there's no hint of human interest or moviemaking imagination. Read full review
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