Eight Legged Freaks - Production

Production

Director Ellory Elkayem got the idea from his 1997 short film, Larger Than Life, which also handled a spider-fighting storyline.

The film was originally titled Arac Attack (under which it was released in some parts of Europe and other countries around the world) but the similarity to 'Iraq Attack' made the title seem inappropriate near the start of the Iraq War.

The title Eight Legged Freaks is a line that Arquette ad-libbed in the movie: "Get back, you eight-legged freaks!" The title however contains a punctuation error in that it drops the hyphen, changing both the meaning ("eight freaks with legs" instead of "freaks with eight legs") and the pronunciation ("legged" as one syllable instead of two).

Filming locations

• The town of Prosperity does not exist in Arizona. The scenes inside Prosperity Mall were actually shot in an abandoned mall in Glendale, Arizona. The location was formerly Valley West Mall and also known as Manistee Mall. This movie would be the last operation that took place in the mall, as it was demolished soon after shooting was completed. The Mall land was redeveloped into a retail strip afterwards.
• The scenes in Aunt Gladys's house in the kitchen and in Gladys' basement were filmed at the Manistee Ranch in Glendale, Arizona, directly adjacent to the Mall itself.

Spiders used in the film

• Orb-weaver spider
• Jumping spider
• Tarantula (several species are featured, including the Mexican redknee tarantula, the Pink Foot Goliath, and the Goliath birdeater)
• Trapdoor spider
• Australian funnel-web spider

Alternate credits

• The alternate beginning is an extended version in which Harlan does a broadcast promoting the mall, after which a worker at the mall sees Wade having the toxic waste put in the basement.
• In the alternate ending, after the mines are blown up, the townsfolk walk down a road to get help. They meet up with Pete and Harlan who were walking through the desert, Pete trying to convince Harlan the spiders were not aliens. Afterward, Sam and Chris kiss as the scene ends.