a review of 小魔星

HOOPTOBER 3.0 NIGHT SEVEN: + 2024 PODCAST MACABRE CHALLENGE #14: A film without any sequels Had a good time with this one, and the '90s Amblin feel exists here in great abundance: The early scenes in South America have a certain Indiana Jones/Jurassic Park flair, the small-town middle section feels like a collage mood board cobbled together from Poltergeist, E.T., and Goonies, and then the slapsticky action finale combines some of the choicest bits of Gremlins and Jaws. It's all maybe a little too arch in its genre self-awareness to really be SCARY-scary, although your mileage may vary depending on your personal levels of the title condition. As it is, I wish they'd maybe amped up the creepiness of the live spiders (most of whom are of the kind I say "hello" to in the laundry room basically every week) or given us more of the big hairy sucker's for full effect.