Ice Spiders

Plot synopsis:
Dan "Dash" Dashiell (Patrick Muldoon) is a retired Olympic skier who works at a ski resort in the mountains of Utah. On a restricted side of the mountain, Dr. April Sommers (Vanessa A. Williams) is working on creating a new breed of spider with several others. When a group of teen skiers arrives at the mountain, Chad (Noah Bastian) challenges Dash to a race. The two show some impressive moves as the others look on. When Dash reaches a large rocky slope, he turns back and goes down another way rather than risk a leg injury like the one that ruined his career. As Dash makes it to the bottom, he meets Dr. Sommers. While they talk for a while, Frank (Stephen J. Cannell) takes the teens inside the resort. After a brief discussion, Dr. Sommers returns to the lab, where she finds dead scientists everywhere. She finds the sole survivor cocooned in a spider web. He warns Dr. Sommers about the spiders escaping and then slowly dies. When she turns to leave, the last spider remaining at the lab, a mutated Black Widow, attacks her and forces her into a locked office. She finds an alarm and engages it, which alerts Professor Marks (David Millbern) and Army Captain Baker (Thomas Calabro), who are elsewhere on the mountain, to her location.
Meanwhile, back at the lodge, Dash meets up with Ranger Rick (a pun on the children's nature magazine) who asks Dash to assist him in finding two hunters who did not return to their homes. When they find the hunters' truck parked, they dismount their snowmobiles and take a look around. Dash finds a mutilated Elk and thinks it was killed by a bear. He shoots a flare to summon Rick. When Rick arrives, they find the body of one of the hunters. When they reach a huge spider web, they find the other hunter, cocooned in the web. As they turn to run, Rick is snagged by a web and is dragged to a spider that kills him as Dash watches in horror. Dash makes it back to the hunters' truck and hot-wires it to get away.
Back at the lab, Professor Marks, Captain Baker, and a squad of soldiers enter the compound and find Dr. Sommers, who tries to warn them of the danger. Inside the lab, the spider attacks and kills a soldier. Dr. Sommers steals records of the experiment and realizes Professor Marks deliberately accelerated the spiders' growth, which makes them larger, faster, and stronger; however, it also causes them great hunger and prevents the cold from killing them. Sommers was desperate to obtain sufficient amounts spider webbing for new armor ideas. She drives back to the lodge.
When Dr. Sommers meets up with Frank and Johnny, a man comes in and screams for help. Frank and Dr. Sommers watch as the spiders kill several guests, including the teens' ski coach. Frank sees the teens hiding in a shed, leads them to a bus and gets them safely inside. Chad gets the keys and drives off, crashing the bus into a snow bank and causing it to fly off of the road.
Dash returns to the hotel and helps secure it. When he and Dr. Sommers search the basement, a spider gets in and almost attacks them, but they stun it with a fire extinguisher and lock it in the basement. Back in the lobby, a spider crawls in through the chimney and kills two guests before Dash impales it with the antlers of a mounted deer head.
Meanwhile, on the crashed bus, after checking the area, Frank makes sure the kids are okay. However, one of them is unconscious and injured. They think of a way to get out as the black widow tries to get in. Eventually, Franks traps the spider and the kids escape. Frank is almost killed but is rescued thanks to the timely arrival of Captain Baker and his squad.
Back at the lodge, Dash devises a plan with Captain Baker over a radio to trap the spiders. He takes his skis and leads the spiders to a snowboard half-pipe, which Baker and his men are blocking off. Johnny heads toward an avalanche cannon and waits for Dash's signal.
At the half-pipe, the spiders are captured and Dash signals Johnny, who blows the spiders up. Professor Marks, who had been opposed to killing the spiders, charges at Dash and tries to kill him. Marks falls down the side of the half-pipe to the last spider, which kills him as Baker shoots the beast.
A government agent then arrives with a group of soldiers that begin destroying all traces of the spiders. The agent demands that the survivors keep quiet about recent events and says that the "official" (that is, cover-up) explanation for what happened will be that there was a spill of hallucinogenic chemicals. Then, Dr.Sommers goes out to dinner with Dash.

Tags: violence

Review: