DVDebut: Mike Mendez goes after those giant spiders -- again! -- with LAVALANTULA

If the Syfy Channel, where the film LAVALANTUAL made its debut, was expecting another Sharknado -- the campy, now-classic, so-bad-it's-good, would-be scary movie -- I'm afraid they were disap-pointed. They should not have been. This newer film, which combines tarantulas and volcanoes much more cleverly and intelligently than its predecessor managed sharks and tornadoes, is simply a model of straight-ahead B-movie smarts with A-level special effects.

Written by Neil Elman and Ashley O'Neil and directed by Mike Mendez (shown at right), who back in 2013 gave us the wonderful little monster comedy Big Ass Spider!, this new film manages to combine comedy, camp, chills, thrills and terrific special effects with a story that starts fast and keeps up that pace for almost its entire 83-minute running time. That's exactly what a good B movie is supposed to do. Everything else--style, charm, wit and some decent performances (all of which there are plenty of here)--is gravy.

Lavalantula is lucky to have as its star, the under-rated Steve Guttenberg, (above, right) who, for nearly 40 years now, has been in the limelight. Remember The Chicken Chronicles and the Police Academy series, not to mention Can't Stop the Music, which might easily have qualified in its day as the Sharknado of musical comedies? Well, Mr. Guttenberg is still at it, entertaining us easily with his off-the-cuff charm, humor and sex appeal, almost none of which have drained away over the intervening decades. The guy still looks great, acts easily and seems to have actually gained some additional charm en route.

Here Guttenberg plays an over-the-hill actor who once had a successful franchise but is now making C and D movies for a living. He has just walked out on one of these after an altercation with its director when a series of earthquakes and volcanic activity seize Southern California, releasing those titular Lavalantulas all over the place.

As in all thee B horror/monsters flicks, protecting family becomes paramount and so our hero rushes to save mom (Nia Peeples, above) and teenage son (Noah Hunt). The filmmakers use their hero's "star" status to make good, loving fun of Hollywood, agents, the industry and especially fan worship, and all this is blended quite well with the thrills and chills, as what looks like about half of Hollywood gets incinerated by these fire-breathing spiders.

There's a nice balance of excitement, storytelling, humor, and inside-the-industry that should keep audiences happy and on their toes throughout, as Guttenberg commandeers a tour bus, which leads to a lovely turn from Patrick Renna (above, left) as one of its passengers.

If there is nothing great here (the ending is a little bit of a let-down, given what's comes before), it is still quite pleasant to view a good B movie from a bunch of professionals who know what they're doing and do it this well.

Released to DVD from Alchemy, after its Syfy debut, the disc hit the streets this past week, for purchase and/or rental.

Tibor Takács' SPIDERS will creep you out -- especially if you're prone to arachnophobia

Remember Tarantula? (You've got to be pretty elderly -- or given to watching monster movies from the 1950s -- to manage it.) If so, you'll probably be willing to stand in line to get a gander at the new scare flick SPIDERS. If you do, I think you'll agree that it's those creepy, crawly arachnids who deserve most of the cheers -- along with the special effects people who created them. The movie itself is a competent enough scary-monster flick, which will entertain that portion of the masses who enjoy this sort of thing, but it may also hold appeal for many movie buffs for other interesting reasons.

Directed and co-written by Hungarian filmmaker Tibor Takács (at right), the movie, from what I can gather, was filmed in Bulgaria (or some other nearby eastern European country, but it's Bulgaria most often mentioned in the end credits), in which were constructed a few street-scape sets meant to make us imagine we're in New York City. Now, NYC is a place that even NYC itself does not always make real enough, so these charming and actually pretty good attempts at capturing the Big Apple are to be first commended and then chuckled at. (Sorry, but this New York is just not crowded enough with people, and admist the usual big, red stand-up boxes that hold The Village Voice is an occasional big blue box, too!)

The story/screenplay itself is pretty good -- at least for maybe two-thirds of the way along. We know the world is in for trouble pre- and during the opening credits, as a space shuttle careens toward earth carrying a dead astronaut and a bunch of living spiders.

From the outset, the arachnids hole up in a particular station of the city's subway system, where they begin biting and killing (and laying eggs in) people -- and rats. And then the spiders start growing. Yikes! (That's one of 'em, facing off against a mechanical dog, above.) In the old days, these movies would simply have a scientist (or two) and his pretty, young assistant or daughter discover a way to rout the monsters (who were almost always a product of nuclear testing in the dessert or ocean).

These days, however, as conspiracy theories mount and we can trust almost anyone except our own government, movies continue to reflect this change, and so Spiders does its bit for paranoia, while adhering to the age-old principle of the mad scientist (nicely limned by Pete Lee-Wilson) who's got a jones for his eight-leggers at the expense of us poor human beings.

That scientist may be be a bit stupid (in the way that movie mad-scientists so often are), but he is a hell of a lot more humane that the U.S. military man in charge of things (a strong and nasty William Hope, above), who is ready to sacrifice everyone in any way connected with the project to ensure maximum secrecy.

That would include our heroic family -- dad (Patrick Muldoon, above, right), who works for the NYC Transit Authority, his estranged wife (Christa Campbell, above, left), who works for the NYC Health Department, and their lovely, nearing teen age daughter (Sydney Sweeney, shown below, a bit surprised by the size of what she sees). All are acceptable performers but are never given the opportunity by script or direction to be much more. (But, come on, do we go to these movie for the acting?!)

The usual elements are here, initially stirred a little differently, until somewhere around the halfway point -- at which time, the movie, hmmmm... degenerates is a tad too strong a term (maybe wilts is better) into the usual, conceive/write/direct-by-numbers routine.

Still there are those delightful title characters, creepily created and evidently a lot smarter than most of the human beings nearby.

Spiders, via Millennium Films, opens its very limited theatrical run today, Friday, February 8 -- mostly, according to the press info I received, in outlying areas of the Los Angeles region -- but not, I think in 3D, the way it was initially advertised and probably filmed (you'll note many of these comin'-at-you effects as the movie bounces along). Instead, it is being shown in a 2D version that -- on the screener I received, at least -- looks pretty damn good. All told, Spiders provides decent fun, thrills and special effects. And that limited run should not deter fans around the rest of the country, as the movie also premieres today on Premium VOD. Then, mid-March, it will become available on DVD and VOD.