The fate of Los Angeles -- and maybe mankind -- rests in the
hands of a single lowly exterminator in "Big Ass Spider!," an
exceedingly good-natured Z-grade creature feature that finds
Angel City under attack by a quite literal spider from Mars.
Made with tongue welded firmly to cheek, loads of affection for
big rubbery monsters, and some surprisingly accomplished
bargain-basement effects, director Mike Mendez's fifth schlock
feature is strictly for genre buffs who'll delight at the sight
of Troma impresario Lloyd Kaufman get devoured by a giant
arachnid -- as well as anyone who found "Sharknado" a bit too
highbrow for their taste. Many worse ways to spend 80 minutes
can easily be imagined.  Surely when Walter Scott wrote "Oh,
what a tangled web we weave," he wasn't picturing a Kong-sized
black widow capable of cocooning an adult human in a matter of
seconds -- or tearing one to pieces with its telephone-pole
pincers. This steroidal beastie starts out not quite itsy-bitsy,
but at least more manageably sized, w