If there's one thing that a majority of the world can agree on, it's that spiders are creepy and unsettling, and in some cases, quite terrifying. That's a fear that the 2026 horror movie Don't Move plays off of perfectly, with a man-sized, vicious, killer spider.
The movie follows a local church group, led by Tom Cavanagh's (known for his time as Reverse Flash on Arrowverse's The Flash) Pastor Rizzo, who convinces a grieving widow, Lyndsy Fonseca's Megan Forrester, to join them on their camping trip in order to get some time away. Sadly for them, things don't go as planned when the group quickly realizes that they set up camp in the wrong area—and right in the backyard of a massive, killer arachnid, one that can track their every movement.
The Direct spoke with the filmmakers and cast behind Don't Move at the movie's Los Angeles red carpet premiere, where they talked about how they made an authentic giant killer spider and the surprising challenges they faced along the way.
The entire list of people we spoke with includes Nikita's Lyndsy Fonseca (Megan Forrester), Tom Cavanagh (Pastor Rizzo), Russ (Ricky Vargas), Joseph Lee Anderson (Ryan Stark), Mark Eugene Vaughn (Jim Winston), Matt Biedel (Mike Forrester), and producer David M. Wulf.
Creating an Authentic Giant Killer Spider to Terrorize Churchgoers
"We Actually Looked at a Lot of Real Spiders in the World..."
- The Direct: "The movie obviously centers on a massive killer spider. Can you talk about the process of bringing that spider to life and making it feel authentic and not just a movie monster?"
David M. Wulf: Yeah, I think the first key that we did is we actually looked at a lot of real spiders in the world, and we kind of took the thing that was like super scary about all of them, and we sort of like put it all together. And we did a lot of different designs, so that was very cool because I think what we felt like was like, in order to make something scary, it has to be real in the sense that people know it exists or could exist, and that was where we started.
The team made sure to consider "how it would move, how it would crawl in and crawl out" and "how fast it was..."
Wulf: And then from there, we just kept up the design concept, and then we sort of mapped out where we thought everything would go. You know, like where the spider, how it would move, how it would crawl in and crawl out, how fast it was, all these things. So it was really, really well thought out. You know, especially by the director.
Needless to say, Don't Move succeeded in its terrifying Spider design, and it's a force to be reckoned with during the movie.
For star Lyndsy Fonseca, one of the most surprising challenges was the film's budget, which meant the movie was shot in 16 days—a tight timeframe compared to what a big studio might have used.
Lyndsy Fonseca: Probably our budget. I mean, we shot this in 16 days. Like, a studio movie would have taken a couple of months. So between James Murray and Mclain Nelson, our incredible team leading the way, we were in good hands. But we were dealing with the elements. This was a bunch of people who wanted to make great art, and everyone was down for it. And like, it's kind of special when that happens, and everyone's just sort of like, yeah, there to make it happen.
For her co-star Russ, known for her career in the music industry, the biggest challenge for him was having "to reconcile with being a beginner again at something:"
Russ: It was just being a beginner. It was a really, really tough thing for me. It was hard to reconcile with being a beginner again at something and not being scared to screw up and make a mistake in front of a bunch of people who are professionals, and it was nerve-wracking. But everyone was so welcoming and so supportive that it was awesome, and I had a blast.
The entirety of all of The Direct's interviews from the red carpet of Don't Movie's LA can be seen below.
