Line #24 Film/BigAssSpider


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3	''Big Ass Spider'' is a 2013 horror/comedy directed by Mike Mendez and starring Creator/GregGrunberg, in which Grunberg plays lonely, good-natured UsefulNotes/LosAngeles exterminator Alex Mathis. An unfortunate chain of events on Mathis's supposed day off leads to his being at the local hospital when a misdirected secret government experiment gets loose and begins attacking employees and patients, before breaking out into the surrounding area. Along with his self-appointed sidekick, hospital security guard Jose, Alex must now help save the city from a voracious, fast-growing, alien-hybrid [[TitleDrop big ass spider]].
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6	!!This film contains the following tropes:
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8	* AchillesHeel: See below under YouHaveToBurnTheWeb.
9	* ActionGirl: Lieutenant Brant does fairly well in this regard, though unsurprisingly she does eventually turn into the DamselInDistress.
10	* ActionSurvivor: Alex, an exterminator, has to save the city from giant monster.
11	* AirVentPassageway: Alex ends up crawling around in them in the hospital.
12	* AllWebbedUp: The spider does this to Brant and some others in order to supply food to its newly-hatching offspring.
13	* ArtisticLicenseBiology:
14	** Averted, in that the critter is explicitly described as being a cobbled-together hybrid thing which used extraterrestrial DNA.
15	** Played straight with many people referring to animals as "poisonous" when they really mean "venomous".[[labelnote:Distinction]]If you bite it and you die, it's poisonous. If it bites you and you die, it's venomous. [[/labelnote]]
16	* BaitAndSwitch: After Mrs. Jefferson agitates the Brown Recluse into biting Alex, we're treated to a shot of a wrapped up body being rolled to the morgue, before the shot stops at the room where Alex is being examined.
17	* BigCreepyCrawlies: Go read the title again.
18	* BribeBackfire: Alex tries to bribe his way out of a speeding ticket, and only avoids being arrested because the cop gets an all-hands emergency call regarding the spider attacking a park.
19	* TheCameo: Troma legend Creator/LloydKaufman turns up as a DirtyOldMan "jogger"/monster victim.
20	* ChekhovsGun: The fact that the [[spoiler:spider's webs]] prove to be highly flammable.
21	* CodeName: For [[RuleOfCool no particular reason]], Alex uses these while communicating with Jose via walkie-talkie in the hospital.
22	* CrazyCatLady: Evidently only has one cat, but still, she is the reason Alex ends up at the hospital.
23	* DoggedNiceGuy: Alex really wants some female companionship. Who isn't Mrs. Jefferson.
24	* DudeWheresMyRespect: Alex is repeately brushed off regarding the titular spider despite being an expert in their behavior. He finally gets taken seriously when Major Tanner takes the fact that he could predict where the spider would go as easily as their trackers as evidence that Alex really can walk the walk.
25	* EccentricExterminator: Mostly averted by Alex, though he has one or two quirks.
26	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Alex is introduced clearing a rodent trap for an elderly lady on his day off, and accepting a fruitcake as payment. Shortly after he's shown trying and failing to flirt with the nurse treating his brown recluse bite.
27	* EveryoneHatesFruitCakes / LethalChef: Alex very wisely has not eaten any of Mrs. Jefferson's offerings of gratitude, leaving them in a pile on the floor of his truck. At least with the latest one she took the stems off the cherries!
28	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The villain of the film quickly proves to be... a big-ass spider!!
29	* GetARoom: Jose's comment to Alex and Brant at the end of the film.
30	* GiantEqualsInvincible / ImmuneToBullets / NighInvulnerability: Guess who, once it gets big enough. [[spoiler: Some of its newly-hatched offspring do prove to be susceptible to gunfire.]]
31	* GiantSpider: TheMovie.
32	* HeroicSacrifice: Discussed but ultimately subverted. Brant is asked if she's willing to take out the spider if she gets the chance even if she's caught in the blast, and she affirms that she is. Later, she expresses a willingness to detonate those same explosives to kill it even if a less willing Alex is caught in the blast, but Jose intervenes and the two of them escape. Likely for the better, as odds are the explosion wouldn't have actually killed it anyway, making it a SenselessSacrifice if she'd gone through with it.
33	* HollywoodAcid: While still small, the spider sprays this a couple of times in people's faces.
34	* HollywoodTactics: On display a few times with the government assault team.
35	* HowWeGotHere: The film starts with Alex witnessing the fully-grown spider climbing the Los Angeles city hall, then cuts back to twelve hours earlier.
36	* ImpendingDoomPOV: Spider-vision is deployed a couple of times.
37	* InstantlyProvenWrong: When Major Tanner finally realizes Alex knows his stuff when it comes to spiders and asks him where the spider will likely go to lay her eggs, Alex describes how she'll likely try to find the most isolated spot she can. Cue a news report of the spider laying her eggs at Los Angeles City Hall.
38	* JumpedAtTheCall: Jose cheerfully springs into action when "assigned" to work with Alex.
39	* {{Kaiju}}: At its max size, the creature is this.
40	* MonsterIsAMommy: Brant and other victims are captured alive and left to be eaten by the soon-to-hatch offspring.
41	* MonumentalDamage: The spider of course chooses Los Angeles City Hall as the site to lay its eggs. Plus see Sequel Hook below.
42	* MrExposition / TheProfessor: The assault team's pipe-smoking scientific adviser Lucas.
43	* NotQuiteDead: Was it ''any'' surprise at all to anybody that [[spoiler: the missile-strike only wounded the spider]]?
44	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
45	** By the standards of the genre, Major Tanner is downright benevolent, even giving Alex and Jose a chance to save Brant (and some other victims) before the spider and its nest in City Hall get targeted with a missile-strike.
46	** The harried hospital administrator is [[DeadpanSnarker something of a jerk]], but ultimately qualifies as well, agreeing to clear Alex's bill in exchange for his dealing with the "pest problem".
47	* SequelHook / TheStinger: Tanner has just learned that [[spoiler: a giant cockroach is attacking the Statue of Liberty.]]
48	* ShoutOut: Numerous examples, including the films ''Film/{{Them}}'' and ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. (Parts of the spider's body design in particular are a clear homage to the Alien Queen in the latter film.)
49	* SlapSlapKiss: Alex and Brant go through a verbal version of this.
50	* SpidersAreScary: Once again, could have been an alternate title for the movie.
51	* SquareCubeLaw: Obviously ignored, though it is at least explained how the spider gains so much extra mass so quickly: It eats a ''lot'' of people.
52	* TitleDrop: A handful of characters call the titular spider a big-ass spider word-for-word.
53	* UncomfortableElevatorMoment: Inverted by Alex and Jose, who use the elevator time (and music!) to psych themselves up for the coming fight.
54	* YouHaveToBurnTheWeb: In fact, you have to do it while [[spoiler: it's still inside the spider's body]].
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Context Film / BigAssSpider