Spider Island

Bluesky

A good old fashioned dangerous animals on the rampage movie is a key constituent of any successful Frightfest or similar festival, but let’s face it, usually they’re pretty bad. We find them entertaining in their ridiculousness; we don’t expect quality. This year, however, the schedulers have played a blinder. Spider Island is frequently silly, and has moments of camp, but it’s well made throughout. Directed with confidence and flair by Triangle’s Christopher Smith, it has blockbuster energy and is a great ride from start to finish.

The plot centres, in accordance with the traditions of the subgenre, on an idyllic tropical island, long maintained as a nature reserve, where developer David (Andy Nyman) has opened a brand new luxury resort, the Oceania Pearl Hotel. He’s holding a party to celebrate, and has invited a selection of the world’s most famous social media influencers (including some real ones, playing themselves) in the hope that after enjoying a few drinks and the company of other glamorous people, they will give him lots of low cost publicity. There’s just one thing he hasn’t accounted for: a horde of highly venomous spiders breeding in the hotel’s air ducts.

Actually, he has a second problem: young journalist Claire (Rose Williams), who grew up on the island before her parents separated. She too is unaware of the spiders – they were a never a problem before David’s construction crew disturbed their natural habitat. She’s returned, after a long hiatus, because she wants to expose the supposedly eco-friendly hotel project for the destructive force that it is – and, perhaps, to reconnect with her father, washed up alcoholic actor Curtis (Tim McInnerny). Most films of this sort have a Jaws reference, and Curtis delivers this one’s in an entirely new way.

Rather than being relegated to the sidelines as the plot begins to shape up, Curtis also forms a connection with one of the influencers. They’re not all identical giggly blondes talking about luxury and fashion, which is all most screenwriters seem to think influencers do. They have a number of different market niches. One of them is a dog. Another, Mongoose (Divian Ladwa), makes his money by getting utterly wasted on all sorts of different substances, and has been excited to find out about the intensely hallucinogenic mushrooms for which the island is known. As other characters run around and scream, his drug-induced calmness and different perspective become quite endearing. Curtis, having taken him under his wing, struggles to balance his own desire for inebriation with the urgency of letting his daughter know how much he loves her, despite his terrible social skills. McInnerny’s performance is comically astute but also delivers moments of heart-rending pathos.

Into this complex (ahem) web of relationships come the spiders, who are also a little more complicated than you might expect. There are number of ugly deaths (just on the right side of scaring away the gore-averse) and some effective chase scenes, as well as the expected exploitation of threat which can creep up unexpectedly. Nothing here seems designed to taunt arachnophobes, however – it’s much closer in tone to standard monster movie stuff. We have the chance to get to know a number of characters, all of who are treated with respect and have their own arcs. This goes a long way in adding to the thrill and giving the film a bit of emotional weight.

Although it follows the standard script in terms of its basic outline, Spider Island is more than usually likeable and more than usually fun. Its own eco-conscious stance seems to be genuine, and no opportunity is spared in highlighting the sleaziness of David, one of the best villains we’ve had in this kind of fare for years. It delivers on scares, adventure and schadenfreude but ends with something heartwarming, a moment that feels earned.

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