Eight Legged Freaks

The terrified townies of Prosperity, Arizona, will all be served up buffet style if ravenous, mutated arachnids as big as SUVs have their way in this comedy/horror crowd-pleaser whose creators include the producers of ''Independence Day'' and ''Godzilla''.

Spiders that leap like gazelles, icky web-spitting spiders, spiders that turn your insides into jelly and suck them out as if through a straw -- they're all among the eight-legged behemoths conjured up by the revved-up movie's inventive effects team.

And David Arquette heads the two-legged stars, mobilizing the citizenry (Kari Wuhrer, Scarlett Johansson, Doug E. Doug and others) in a last-ditch fight to survive. Here's hoping they succeed. Otherwise Prosperity -- maybe the world -- may be reduced to one giant, uh, website.