Yeah, a Chinese creature feature with a massive spider. That had me excited, as I stumbled upon this 2020 movie titled "Abyssal Spider" by random chance here in 2023. I had never actually heard about the movie prior to getting to watch it. But I had recently sat through other Chinese creature features, so I was hoping that director Joe Chien would deliver something thrilling, exciting and wholesome. And let's just face it, there is something interesting about monstrously large spiders in movies; it definitely is something that appeals to my interest in movies.
The creature design in the movie is quite good. The spiders look rather interesting and realistic, and they also move in a realistic manner. It really means a lot to a movie such as "Abyssal Spider" to have proper special effects that can carry the movie. And they definitely have that here. I was genuinely surprised with the quality of the design and the way the spiders were brought to life on the screen.
Oddly, though, then the spiders were really given all that much screen time. And that just downright puzzles me, because the movie suffered from that. If the spiders had been given more on-screen time, it would have felt like a more proper threat to be feared.
Instead "Abyssal Spider", from writers Joe Chien and Nelson Yan was more of a crime drama set aboard a fishing boat, whereas the spiders were almost just an obstacle along the drama narrative. It was a shame, because "Abyssal Spider" could have been so much more if they opted to go for an all-out creature feature with monstrous, aquatic spiders.
I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in "Abyssal Spider", but I will say that they had a collection of fairly talented actors and actresses. I didn't really see any performances on the screen that was amateurish or bad. So the actors and actresses brought not only the characters, but most certainly also the storyline, to life on the screen in a nice manner.
It should be noted that "Abyssal Spider" is actually a fair enough viewing experience, just a shame that director Joe Chien delivered more of a crime drama than an actual horror creature feature.
My rating of director Joe Chien's 2020 movie "Abyssal Spider" lands on a five out of ten stars. It is not a secret that I had hoped and wished for more spider fun and excitement on the screen throughout the course of the narrative.
