Eight Legged Freaks was originally titled Arac Attack. Somebody at the studio thought that sounded too much like "Iraq" and went searching for a new title. When star David Arquette was doing looping work, he ad-libbed and shouted the phrase "Get away from me you eight-legged freak!" Producer Dean Devlin put the title on a list as a joke and the studio picked it!

This tongue-in-cheek horror comedy features a bunch of spiders of different sizes and breeds which mutate to the size of Volkswagens or Mini-Coopers when exposed to toxic waste in a small mining town. Chris McCormick (David Arquette)comes back to town to take over his dad's mine and romance an old girlfriend Sheriff Sam Parker (Kari Wuhrer). Romance takes a back burner when the spiders start munching citizens.

Chris and Sam are joined in spidey-battle by Sam's young son Mike (Scott Terra) who is fascinated with the creatures, her teen daughter Ashley (Scarlett Johansson) who just wants them out of her bedroom and off her boyfriend, Harlan (Doug E. Doug) a conspiracy-crazed radio announcer and doofus Deputy Pete Willis (Rick Overton).