Arachnicide aka Spiders is a 2014 Italian action horror film directed and edited by Paolo Bertola (Virtually Dead; The Witch of Malbacco). It is also known as L9 Commando.
The movie stars Riccardo Serventi Longhi, Crisula Stafida, Gabriel Cash, Filippo Galati and Marco Conte.
Official synopsis:
“After years of experimenting, a researcher succeeds in creating an incubator that accelerates plant and animal growth. This technology is controlled by a powerful criminal organisation and is being used to accelerate the growth of plants needed for the manufacture of narcotics and illegal drugs. To destroy the laboratories they operate, the United Nations put together an elite team of operatives.
The L9 Commando is a task force composed of six of the best soldiers from different Special Forces Units. After successfully taking down the drug operation, the L9 Commandos are called on for an important mission that brings them to Albania, where they discover a sinister plan that could destroy everything. Arachnicide or die!”
Reviews:
“40 minutes of troops firing automatic weapons at spiders. It’s too much even for an action film. Poor dialogue, bad dubbing. There are pretty good effects here, it’s a pity that they are serving a bad film. Looks more like a videogame.” Bastigoran
“This just might be the bottom of the barrel of giant spider films […] there’s a gunfight to stop the spiders, but only after an hour of pointless talk (and the voices are badly dubbed). There’s a scene where nothing happens for 5 minutes – well, there is a conversation, but it has nothing to do with advancing the plot or characterization…” Down Among the “Z” Movies
“Arachnicide delivers a laundry list of screw-ups and misplaced logic, from a DVD box artwork that never really occurs in the film and that huge spider appears after 45-minutes into the movie, far after the worst drone explosion on the CGI spectrum and more disjointed scenes possible. The special effects team did a horrendous job at decorating with fake Spirit Halloween webbing…” The Horror Times
” …fans of the cheesy, over-loud, often frenzied, Euro soundtracks of Italian cinema of old will be happy to hear (pun intended) that they at least makes a comeback here […] in the most ill-thought-out, badly placed way possible! Spiders is a case of truly joyous, bad Italian cinema right here folks! Scratch that, it’s just bad. Really bad. Like avoid at all costs, burn any copies that exist bad…” Nerdly
This is one of those films where you pretty much get what you expect: spiders, commandos and over-the-top villains, all badly dubbed […] But hey, if you don’t ask too much from it, it’s mostly fun in a mildly brainless sort of way. Which is really all we can ask from a giant spider movie.” Rivets on the Poster
Doctor Sarti [Crisula Stafida]: “Who’d have thought it could get worse?”
Buy DVD: Amazon.co.uk
Release:
Arachnicide was unleashed on DVD in the US on May 10, 2016, via Midnight Releasing.
Main cast and characters:
Gino Barzacchi … Major Murra
Gabriel Cash … Lieutenant Kolman
Riccardo Serventi Longhi … Colonel Monti
Crisula Stafida … Doctor Sarti
Technical details:
91 minutes
Trailer:
Free to watch online:
