A serviceable enough B-feature of the sort that could appropriately induce nightmares in adolescents and arachnophobes, modestly budgeted horror offering Spiders opts for action antics when a bit more creepy-crawly tension and mystery would have better suited its story.

Working from a script co-written with Joseph Farrugia, director Tibor Takacs baits an interesting hook (genetically-spliced mutant spiders crash land in New York City from an old Russian space station), and marshals a decent if eventually much-overused mix of practical and CGI effects. But while the screenplay tries for a bit of clever character inversion, the movie takes all sorts of annoying and stupid short cuts that quickly mark it as an essentially lazy take on a much more interesting concept.

Mainly, though, it’s peppered with all sorts of interesting avenues left totally unexplored, like the notion that by blocking security cameras and hiding the queen these space spiders are actually quite intelligent, and maybe even have some sort of plan. In general, given the movie’s PG-13 rating and its plot, more mystery and less action — which reaches a point of diminishing return in the third act, given the movie’s cramped, quarantined city block, where much mayhem takes place — would have given Spiders more of a chance at achieving something memorable. As is, with its square-jawed familial imperilment and frontal assault fetishism, wherein plenty of spindly legs smash through windows and get slammed in doors, Takacs’ movie is a throwback to enjoyable but forgettable VHS-era creature-feature entertainment. For the full, original review, from ShockYa, click here. In addition to its theatrical engagements, the movie is available on premium VOD beginning on February 8. (Millennium Entertainment, PG-13, 89 minutes)