In the Spider's Web (2007 TV Movie) User Reviews

Silly, but Very Entertaining Adventure

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 3 June 2008]

In India, the backpackers American friends Gina (Emma Catherwood), John (Cian Barry), Stacy (Lisa Livingstone), Geraldine (Jane Perry) and Phil (Michael Smiley) hike in the woods with their guide Brian (Mike Rogers). When Geraldine is bitten by a poisonous spider, the group decides to seek an American doctor that lives in the jungle in a tribe. Dr. Lecorpus (Lance Henriksen) treats the girl and while Gina, John and Phil return to the village in the civilization, Brian and Stacy stay with the native. They decide to visit a temple in the forest while waiting for the recovering of Stacey; however, they find a dark secret about the evil Dr. Lecorpus.

"In the Spider's Web" is a silly, but very entertaining adventure. It is funny to see the short clothes that Gina wears in the jungle, very adequate for a place with vegetation, mosquitoes, bugs and spiders; or to discover that spider's web is combustible, and a torch provokes fire with explosion; or that a person should shout in a cave while chased by men armed with daggers. But in the end, this movie was better than I expected and I liked it. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Aranhas Assassinas" ("Assassin Spiders")

OK Spider film

[rc_whipps · 5/10 · 11 October 2007]

This film was OK for a film of its type if you do not expect to much. The Film has some good CGI of the Spiders and they look OK. Lance is a good choice for the doctor so he can do his made man thing again and is a good star name for the film. The rest of the cast are good for mostly young teen actors. The locations are good some island some ware but it looks good and makes a change from a lab or boring warehouse that you normally get in these kind of films. The Direction was OK if a bit slow moving. The sound is also good for Small movie and really helped the film along. The film is good for a small just don't expect to much from a small TV movie.

Average effort for a spider movie.

[toocoolforschoolholly · 4/10 · 27 August 2007]

I watched this movie on the Sci-Fi channel last night, as I was channel surfing. The movie started without explaining much: the characters, why they were there, where exactly they at, etc. To me, that usually means I'm in for a bad movie experience. I was half right.

There were moments in this movie where it pained me to watch, not out of fright of the spiders, but just fright from the horrible acting. There was almost no emotion during moments where there should have been strong emotion. The doctor, however, did an okay job. I won't bash him.

In a spider movie, I am looking for good graphics, or at least real spiders. This movie had a mixture. There were close-ups of real spiders that were pretty creepy; even though the spiders all kind of looked the same. Then there were also the spiders falling from the ceiling that looked so fake I almost laughed out loud. But then they would shoot to a real spider again, thus redeeming themselves for the moment.

-SPOILER- The movie wouldn't have been that bad for me, honestly, even with the bad acting and bad spider graphics, if they had not added the "plot twist." To top off the spiders killing the villagers and the tourists, the doctor of the tribe had to be part of a black market organ stealing scheme. He used the venom of the spiders to paralyze the victims then cut them open and steal their organs, the venom also kept the organs fresh longer. I about peed myself when I found out what the whole movie was all about.

I may have bashed this movie, but I'm also just picky. It's worth watching when it's free on television. It's not a complete waste of time, just don't rent it.

Lancy Hensy Spider ...

[Coventry · 2/10 · 12 January 2024]

Every year around Halloween, my kids decorate our front yard and postal box with enormous cobwebs. I just want to say the woolen webs and ridiculous fake plastic spiders they use look a lot more realistic and frightening than the special effects used in this movie.

Spiders are scary creatures to many people, but truly good spider horror movies are rare. My expectations for "In the Spider's Web" were not set very high, but since it was released in the "Maneater" series, I was at least hoping for a fun and undemanding creature feature. Other titles under this label were gory and entertaining (like "Croc", "Eye of the Beast", "The Hive", "The Sea Beast", ...) and that's all I wanted from this one as well. Alas, the only suitable words to describe "In the Spider's Web" are dumb, tame, boring, and unmemorable.

Lance Henriksen is the type of actor who adapts himself to the film he's starring in. If the script is good, Henriksen can easily give a great performance. If the script is lousy, like the case here, Lance is also visibly uninterested. He stars as a supposedly genius doctor/scientist, specialized in spider venoms and living amongst a secluded tribe deep in the Indian jungle. When members of an expedition seek his help because one of them got bitten by a dangerous spider, it quickly becomes obvious Doctor Lance isn't very kosher.

It's the type of bad B-movie where nothing makes any sense. Characters that are presumed dead reappear out of the blue, the police are beyond incompetent, the supposed heroes are people you couldn't care less about, etc. The special effects are pathetic. Authentic big spiders crawl over the ground, but as soon as the fake specimen attack people, or capture and roll them in their webs, it's pure amateurism. Nothing to recommend here, it's not even bad enough to watch in a fun-with-friends kind of way.

It ain't bad

[gray1937-1 · 4/10 · 3 April 2008]

It's not bad. There is a real plot, poisoning people to harvest their organs for the black market. Strangely, they never catch the *real* bad guys; the ones with the chopper and automatic weapons who are buying and hauling off the body parts. But there are other bad guys and bad things (spiders), who, the guys and a few of the spiders, get their comeuppance. We even have the "cavelry" riding to the rescue near the end.

There are a couple of foxy young women, albeit a bit soiled. They get in some amount of trouble, but without much screaming and other nonsensical silliness. Some, but not a lot. The initially irascible blond turns out to be more than a bit of a heroine.

There is a reasonable amount of tension. And there is a limited amount of gross stupidity on the part of the characters used to further the tension. The writers are clever enough to produce tension by having the bad guys do evil things, rather than having the good guys do stupid ones.

I might have rated this flick a five or six, but I just have this thing about spiders -- yecch!

Nice jungle locations, gazillions of spiders & Lance Henriksen, but un-compelling story

[Wuchakk · 4/10 · 14 July 2017]

Released to TV in 2007 and directed by Terry Winsor, "In the Spider's Web" stars Lance Henriksen as a dubious American doctor in the jungles of Northern India who seems to like arachnids a little too much. A group of American backpackers and their guide are forced to seek him out when one of their members is bit by a poisonous spider. Arachnid horror ensues.

This cartoony TV-horror flick has several things in its favor: Authentic jungle locations, plentiful spiders of various kinds (both real and CGI), Lance Henriksen and a winsome enough female lead (Emma Catherwood). The sets are good too, including the cave sets, although the ubiquitous webbing looks decidedly fake. As far as the authentic jungle locations go, the hikers are all obviously sweating in the sweltering forest heat. Yet it's obvious by the appearance of the Natives that this isn't Northern India, but rather 1200 miles around the corner in Thailand. There's only like one person who looks of Indian origin, which I suppose isn't a biggie for a TV flick.

Unfortunately, the story lacks drive despite the jungle action and ominous score (which is good, by the way). Moreover, I never cared about the characters; and Catherwood's cuteness only goes so far (she's actually a little thin for my tastes, but she's decent and definitely cute). There's a big reveal in the final act, but I predicted it at the half hour mark.

So there's a lot of good in this comic booky spider-horror movie, but it's brought down by its half-baked storytelling. The script needed serious work to flesh out its potential, but the producers didn't care enough to blow the money. They basically said, "That's good enough; let's shoot!" No, it wasn't.

The film runs 88 minutes and was shot in Krabi, Thailand. The screenplay was written by Gary Dauberman.

GRADE: C-

Nothing great but has its moments

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 5 July 2012]

In the Spider's Web is another example of late of a movie that I was not expecting much from, but got better than expected. There are some creepy close-ups, a good attempt at a sense of atmosphere, decent scenery and a good concept that apart from a lot of silliness actually does engage at least. Where In the Spider's Web is let down is in the rather fake-looking effects, some very cheesy scripting, clichéd and very underwritten characters, one too many moments where one has to suspend disbelief and acting that doesn't convey much emotion and when tried feels forced. And sadly, while a nice presence Lance Henrikseen is no exception.

All in all, has its moments but to me In the Spider's Web is not a good movie let alone great. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Is it worth getting trapped in this web? Well....

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 18 April 2012]

Initially I had hopes for "In the Spider's Web" because the DVD cover looked so promising. A dark place with a person hanging down, suspended by webbing and wrapped up like a cocoon. Underneath the helpless person is a number of skulls and at the front of the DVD cover is a fairly cool-looking big spider.

I love monster movies, unfortunately there are just too many bad ones out there. "In the Spider's Web", however, fall into the not-so-great category of creature features. The movie means well enough, but it just have a story that is hard to believe and buy into, and that makes the movie all the more difficult to digest.

The acting in the movie wasn't bad, mind you, the actors just struggled with a weak storyline and plot. I hadn't expected Lance Henriksen on the cast list here, so it was a nice surprise to see that.

What really made the movie not work for me, was the spiders. In some scenes they made use of real spiders, which was really cool. Then in other scenes they used poorly animated CGI spiders, and often repeated the same scene. But wait, it gets better, in many scenes they were using plastic toy spiders hanging down from above in strings. And it was so painstakingly obvious that it was toys, as they weren't moving about at all. That was just too hilarious and it had me shaking me head in disbelief.

I enjoy spider movies, however there are not all that many of them that have turned out to be super great. And now having seen "In the Spider's Web", I can honestly say it will be bagged, tagged and shelved in my DVD collection, most likely never to be played again.

One for the bargain bin

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 5 August 2016]

Without a doubt one of the dumbest horror films to have been released in recent years, IN THE SPIDER'S WEB is a bad movie through-and-through. Blighted by a low budget and talentless cast, an appalling director and a story that apparently runs out around 30 minutes in, this is a good example of the kind of Z-movie that gets made for television in the modern era. Although it was supposedly shot in Thailand, you couldn't tell because this is an unconvincing, set-bound jungle extravaganza all the way. What little story exists concerns some backpacking tourists falling foul of a local madman. There's some mixed-up stuff in here about tribal rituals and organ donation but to be honest by the time this stuff comes about you couldn't care less. It's all so unbelievable and every character so unappealing that the only thing you'll be doing is watching for the film to end.

As with most Z-grade flicks like this, they manage to pull in one popular and recognisable actor, typically a Hollywood star back in the day, who's now down on his luck doing anything for a dollar. Lance Henriksen is the actor here, looking old and tired, saddled with a Halloween horror hand for no discernible reason and playing the brother of a web-masked weirdo who enjoys slicing up visiting tourists (well, who wouldn't?). The eventual unmasking of this wacko is one of a couple of decent horrible moments, the other being the bit where a girl is besieged by eight-legged insects. Suffice to say, the effects are appalling bad, ranging from cardboard and rubber spiders to awful CGI animations, whereas the spider webs look like bits of cast-off rag.

Stupidity is the order of the day, along with minor titillation as the leading character spends a lot of time dressed in Lara Croft-style shorts and top. Low lights include the characters using a spider's web as a rope bridge (?) and bad acting by almost the entire cast. Aside from Henriksen, the only halfway decent performance comes from Sohrab Ardeshir, who does quite well in a comic relief turn as an intrepid police sergeant. Otherwise, IN THE SPIDER'S WEB is bargain bin stuff, a godawful attempt at a horror flick that stalls from the very beginning. This one stinks!

Really Bad Nature Film

[Michael_Elliott · 29 October 2010]

In the Spider's Web (2007)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A group of American friends are backpacking through a jungle in India when one of them are bitten by a spider. They rush her to a village where an American doctor (Lance Henriksen) tries to save her but it turns out that the doc might have more devilish plans. Soon the Americans are dying one by one due to what appears to be a spider cult as well as the strange brother of the doctor who just happens to be wearing a bag over his face. Wonder what's wrong with him? This made-for-TV flick isn't the worst creature feature out there but at the same time it's pretty poor on so many levels. I will at least give the filmmakers credit for at least trying to mix up various genres but in the end all of the story lines are a mess and one can't help but become bored and frustrated with the film before we even hit the half-way mark. I think the biggest problem are the characters. I found each and everyone of them to be extremely annoying as each of them just seemed to be trying to be the dumbest of the bunch. There's one who demands going into a creepy lair where the spiders are and yet she seems shocked when she discovers that there are spiders in this cave. Hearing her scream every few seconds just got on my nerves and I'd be willing to bet that many will be hitting their mute buttons. Another problem is an incredibly bad, flirtatious thing going on between a couple of the characters. Things aren't any better with mad scientist Henrikson who I had a hard time understanding in several of the scenes. I'm not sure if it was just poor recording or the actors voice but at times I couldn't understand a word he was saying. Perhaps the actor was doing this on purpose so we wouldn't have to hear poor dialogue? Either way, the actor is easily just cashing a paycheck and delivering very little energy. None of the other actors really stand out either but you somewhat expect that from a film like this. The special effects aren't too bad and the majority of the CGI spiders look OK, if nothing overly great. Fans of the genre might want to check this out if they desire to see every film of its type but others should just save time and stay clear.

Another poor 'Creature Feature'.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 19 February 2010]

In the Spider's Web is set somewhere in India where several friends are on holiday in a huge forest, Brian (Mike Rogers) claims little is known of the region except lots of Spider's live there. After one of the friends Geraldine (Jane Perry) is bitten by a poisonous Spider while sleeping the rest of the party decide to take her to the nearest village for help where they find Dr. Lecorpus (lance Henriksen) who happens to be a bit of an expert on Spider's, he does all he can to save Geraldine although the other's feel they need outside help so decide to split up with Brian & Stacy (Lisa Livingstone) staying behind at the village while the rest head for the nearest town. However it soon becomes apparent that Dr. Lecorpus' intentions are far from well meaning & as a disgraced surgeon harvests human organs to sell on the black market using the special properties of Spider venom...

Directed by Terry Winsor this is yet another 'Creature Feature' that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel before hitting DVD shelves as part of the Maneater series of films which includes some terrible stuff & I am sad to say In the Spider's Web pretty much continues the trend. To be fair the makers of In the Spider's Web have tried to mix a few genres together here with elements of creature feature with the Spider's themselves, mad scientist horror with Henriksen harvesting human organs for profit & adventure with daring escapes across huge ravines using bridges made of Spider's webs but it still doesn't add up to anything that significant or good. A lot of the plot is underdeveloped (how do they harvest the Spider venom, what's the story behind the guy with a bag over his head & why do the tribe worship Spider's or even help Dr. Lecorpus?), the character's are poor, the dialogue is poor & it's fairly forgettable. At just over 80 odd minutes at least it's not too long & it does move along at a fair pace but I really can't say I enjoyed watching it to any great degree.

There isn't even any gore to take your mind off the the bad script, there's a bit of fake blood but nothing else worth mentioning. The Spider's themselves are depicted using real Spider's which look good for obvious reason, fake rubber ones which look daft as they dangle on string & don't move at all & the CGI computer graphics ones which are awful & just look bad as they move along. Also it's worth noting just how none sticky the Spider's webs are in this, the three at the end walk across that web bridge but never get stuck once & everyone else just walks through or over the stuff & yet it never sticks to anything which is odd because even normal sized ones you find in your garden shed are sticky if you touch them let alone supposedly thousands woven together.

Obviously shot on a low budget this had some filming in Thailand although some of the jungle scenes are plainly studio bound as you can hear that distinctive sound stage echo. The acting is pretty bad all round & Henriksen deserves to be in better than this, he doesn't even get a decent death scene.

In the Spider's Web is another bad Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' that is as forgettable as most of the other's, lots of time spent following people walking around a cave but little else to be honest.

come into my cave said the tarantulas to the humans.

[sharkattack1978 · 8/10 · 18 July 2007]

This is possibly the best TV sci-Fi/horror movie i have ever seen. The essence of the classic spider movies (kingdom of the spiders, arachnophobia e.t.c to name a few) is inside this creepy and chilling tale about a village thats attacked by the arachnids and a sinister doctor who has more than the usual liking to these eight legged killers. I saw this on Sky two the other night. Scared the hell out of me and gave me a case of the squirms. The spiders are real and mostly shown in close up detail just to make your skin crawl and they were terrifying. I screamed a couple of times when they did attack. Checked my bed several times to make sure none were in my room. Yes i know that sounds silly but this film does that to you. You see so many close-ups of spiders that you start to feel the paranoia that the characters face and you eyes start to play tricks on you. Another good thing about this film is that the spiders do descend from the ceiling or roof and drop on their victims. If the view of a big hairy and deadly tarantula doesn't scare you, then you must have steel for blood and be warned there are lots of spiders in this, and i mean lots. Crawling on walls, webs and even humans, its an arachnophobics nightmare. Towards the end some of the spiders become CGI and that does slightly kill the mood but then you come face to face with a real one and the fear returns.

Lance Henriksen is good for the role of the Doctor as the other cast work well together with the spiders, making you believe in the terror that they are facing. The director work this clever web of horror round you and instills the real fear that the characters have faced and some have not lived from.

All in all a good skin crawling horror movie that i'd love to see again and hope that someone releases it on DVD.

Absolutely Terrible, But Fun!

[icocleric · 6/10 · 6 March 2022]

I have a guilty pleasure for terrible, but fun horror films. This doesn't fit that as well as some films, but it was pretty enjoyable. There was tones of cheesy lines, ridiculous deaths, a totally not suspicious spider shaped cave. Is this film good? No. Will you have fun? Probably!

The spider cultists are amazingly bad, with spider web bags over their heads. But don't worry they some how donate organs to the locals. The spider venom juicing organs not thought about at all. It's all good. It's like a big operation with more than one group involved.

I'm sure it's a perfectly legit business. Oh and the cultist have matching nails too. It's glorious.

VIEWS ON FILM review of In the Spider's Web

[burlesonjesse5 · 5/10 · 14 March 2023]

A bunch of backpackers and a tour guide, go hiking in India only to run into a weirdo quack and his tribe who have a love for all things fanged and venom-ed. That's the layout gist of 2007's In the Spider's Web.

So yeah, I have a fear of spiders. So why did I decide to watch a flick about them? Well to enhance that fear cause that's what I do. In "Web", there are arachnids that are the real thing and ones that are CGI. They are the best thing going for this otherwise scatterbrained, convolution of a movie.

Anyway, In the Spider's Web takes the spider genre and mixes it with a little Indiana Jones, the occult, and something Eli Roth would have made with a lower budget. The characters scream like all get-out, they rib each other instead of actually acting in peril, and the great Lance Henriksen (who is underused) is creepy cool as surgeon and eight-legged fancy man, Dr. Lecorpus. "In a web of evil, they never saw it coming". Uh, yeah.

Now could "Web" have been better as fodder for horror thrillers that tap into your deepest phobias? You betcha. The film is choppily edited and storyboard-ed without all the proper nuts and bolts provided. I mean scenes go on for too long, you never know how the personas got from point A to point B, and the spiders themselves are sort of wishy-washy with their biting intentions. And does In the Spider's Web give you a clear idea of what it's about from an aim standpoint? Not really. You think it has to do with creepy-crawlies and supernatural mumbo jumbo but in the end it actually borrows from 1978's Coma, you know the pic in which human organs are sold on the black-market to the highest bidder? Wha?? "Web" flat-footed.

Better than it should be

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 9/10 · 9 October 2015]

Trekking into the Indian rain-forest, a group of backpackers exploring the area are forced to stay in a remote tribe of spider worshippers using the creatures for an organ-smuggling ring and must find a way of getting away from the creatures alive.

This was quite an enjoyable is slightly flawed creature feature. Among the better qualities featured here is the rather creepy atmosphere this one builds up of being around spiders, which plays into the most rational fear of being around the creatures. Being around the creatures here is terrifying, as there's a ton made about their poisonous nature here, and it's more than simply hinted at here as their continuous appearance that requires saving, his secretive brother draped in a cobweb hood and nearly everything covered in cobwebs is a nearly continuous assault about the creatures and there's a wonderful atmosphere derived from this section. The cave scenes here are just really chilling, as the first one of the explorers looking inside the different outcroppings covered in webbing before getting lost in the disorienting design and then overwhelmed completely by the thousands of creatures, while the scene of the inspector stumbling around there is quite chilling. Even more impressive, though, is the entire final half is just highly chilling and suspenseful as there's no shortage of action and suspense here that's just relentless and exciting. The action here is great, from the tribal ceremony getting interrupted and forcing them underground into the tunnels and caves requiring a series of frantic stalking throughout as they try to remain hidden from the tribe while avoiding the spiders, getting trapped in the different webbing throughout and finally meeting the helpful officer inside as they guide each other through the darkened, web-covered tunnels here. As well, there's a lot of suspense here as there's the tense hiding out during the chasing but also the tense scene of having to maneuver themselves around the ledge of a web-covered wall above a bottom-less pit crawling with spiders to get to safety and an even creepier scene later of having to cross another chasm using a bridge made of webbing even though the whole party can't cross at once. These two factors here make this one so good here that it gets a ton of good-will just from this section, and with the build-up in the first half gives this one so much to like. Along with a fantastic final twist, these here are enough to hold off the few flaws. The main issue here is the fact that there's little actual action in the first half with this one really selling the atmosphere of being in the village rather than having any kind of action displayed, and it can make for a somewhat bland start here. The only other small problem here is the fact that the tribe's actions are way too scattered in the final half, showing the tribe chasing them in the caves then back into the organ-harvesting angle without capturing them merely to keep the plot line involved and decidedly giving off the inclusion of its rushed nature into the story. Otherwise, it's quite a fun and admittedly creepy creature feature.

Rated R: Violence, Brief Nudity and Language.

Total rubbish, but still kind of fun

[Woodyanders · 6/10 · 28 September 2021]

A team of back packers walking around the jungle in India run afoul of an evil spider-worshipping cult.

Director Terry Winsor relates the enjoyably dippy premise at a brisk pace as well as generates a reasonable amount of tension and creepy atmosphere. Token big genre name Lance Henriksen delivers a pleasingly lively and quirky performance as a mad doctor while Sohrab Ardeshir contributes an amusing turn as an eager local cop. However, this film alas suffers from annoying young characters who whine, argue, and get on each other's (and the viewer's) nerves as well as do all sorts of dumb things that put them in great danger. The cruddy CGI effects also leave a lot to be desired, but do add a certain tacky charm to the schlocky proceedings. An acceptable piece of low-budget horror junk.

Lance saves it (again)

[bowmanblue · 7/10 · 14 November 2023]

Take a pretty run-of-the-mill film, add Lance Henriksen in - at least - a prominent role and it instantly elevates it to at least 'watchable' status. In case you hadn't guessed by the title, 'In the Spider's Web' is about a team of, er, I don't know what they were doing, but it doesn't matter, let's say they're scientists, or something. Anyway, a diverse team of spider-fodder are mooching around a north Indian jungle when one of them gets bitten by a spider. They take her to a nearby village where they soon discover that the creepy-crawlies aren't the only thing they have to worry about.

There are a few establishing shot here and there to denote that at least the production went to a real life jungle to get some of the footage. Otherwise, they seem to save a lot of money by putting a few plant pots around a sound stage and let the audience do their best to believe that the actors are really deep in a jungle. Apart from that, the special effects aren't that bad. The spiders are - for the most part - real (with the possible exception of the arachnid 'crowd scenes') and the worst effects in the film were when a couple of characters fell down a long drop and you could almost see the green screen behind them.

If you're already not a fan of spiders (who is?) then you'll find some of the scenes quite creepy and did I mention Lance Henriksen is in it? Sometimes he's good and sometimes he's bad. In this film he has long nails on one hand and a brother who walks around wearing a sack on his head making him look like a cross between the elephant man and an 'engineer' from the 'Alien/Prometheus' franchise. I'll let you guess if Henriksen's motives are pure here - either way, he steals every scene.

It's hardly a classic, but it's a decent enough little watch if you're in the mood for some sort of cheesy B-movie and/or you're a fan of Lance Henriksen which crosses 'Arachnophobia' with 'Temple of Doom.'