Creature feature Don’t Move brought eight giant legs to Kansas City for its local premiere
Good news, arachnophobes: According to Don’t Move director Maclain Nelson, being afraid of spiders is an evolutionary defense. Your fear makes you more evolved than the rest of us, who are just moderately freaked out by eight-legged freaks.
“I did a deep dive on this,” he says.
“Of course you did,” laughs Don’t Move star Lyndsy Fonseca.
Undeterred, Nelson keeps going, like a sixth grader who’s just learned a cool fact in science class that he can’t wait to share.
“Evolutionarily, you survive if you know how to avoid spiders, because spiders would kill weaker, stupider humans. They have so much poison relative to their size,” he says. “So arachnophobia is a good quality. Same with snakes. It’s not that you’re a wimp; it’s a trait that helps your lineage survive.”
See kids? It’s cool to be scared of spiders.
In Nelson’s defense, enthusiasm was palpable all over the Midland Theater at the local premiere this week of Don’t Move, a monster-driven horror-comedy that shot locally last year. Nelson directed and co-wrote the film, an adaptation of the book of the same name by Impractical Jokers star James “Murr” Murray, who also serves as a producer on the film.
“It’s one of those few times when I think the movie is actually better than the book,” Murray says with a proud smile.
Don’t Move draws inspiration from Tremors and more than a few vibes from SyFy Original Movies (complimentary). The story follows a church group on a camping trip to the Ozarks who become the unwitting prey of a massive prehistoric spider living in the woods. Fonseca’s Megan, who previously survived a traumatic accident that opens the film, has to overcome her fears and jump into action to save her friends.
In addition to writing and directing, Nelson also got to bring life to the giant spider that stalks the pages of Murray’s book, which was co-written with Darren Wearmouth.
“I had this cot in my backyard, and I’d lie down in like a one-meter square in my grass and just watch spiders,” Nelson says, once again emanating wide-eyed kid vibes. “You’d be amazed at how many different kinds there were. My favorite one I found was a crab spider. The front four arms were twice as long as the back four. That’s what I based the monster design on. I added a hornet body, a little cicada in there. I had the most fun designing that thing.”
Along with Fonseca, the film features rapper Russ, Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story alum Joey King, and Kansas City all-around icon Rob Riggle. The production was originally slated to film in Canada, but Riggle claims he (along with recent Missouri filming incentives) had something to do with the choice to relocate production here.
“I like to claim something that’s probably not true, but I had James come to Kansas City for Big Slick, and he fell in love with Kansas City so much that he just had to make his film here,” Riggle says.
“There’s 100 percent truth to that,” Murray confirms. “The guys and I from Impractical Jokers came for Big Slick, like six years ago. Now we carve out a weekend of our tour every year for it because it’s so important. We absolutely love the city. When Kansas City last year came out with that amazing film incentive program, it was a no-brainer.”
Nelson, who had previous experience working on Hallmark movies—which often shoot in the area—was convinced after co-producer David Wulf contacted him from the set of Holiday Touchdown, telling him to consider this area as a location. “They opened the city up for us, and they have great crews we worked with,” Nelson says. “It was the best possible scenario to get what we wanted to get in the 17 days we had to shoot.”
Murray agrees. “The film commission was easy to work with, and the crews here were amazing to work with too,” he says, adding, “And you can’t beat the barbecue.”
Riggle says he sees it all as the start of something big for Kansas City talent—both the folks who’ve come from the area and the ones who still call it home. “I can’t get enough of it. I’m so happy to see the arts excelling, so many young talented artists coming out of the Midwest and specifically Kansas City,” Riggle says. “I believe that when you come from Kansas City, you want to come back to Kansas City. I hope people go out and do amazing things and then they want to come back.”
Whether it’s giant spiders or hosting a World Cup, Riggle says, it’s a great time to be a proud Kansas City citizen. Projects like Don’t Move, which brings attention and jobs to local crews, help prove it.
“I do believe Kansas City is ascending right now,” Riggle adds. “We should all be doubling down on it.”
Don’t Move opens in theaters nationwide this weekend.
