7 Guardians of the Tomb

In a tomb hidden in the deserts of China, a team of scientists finds the mummified remains of an emperor who lived around 200 BC. The discovery looks like the archaeological find of the century, but it awakens something that had been buried for more than two thousand years. When one of the researchers, Luke, disappears inside the ancient labyrinth, his sister Jia, an expert on venomous animals, joins a rescue mission led by businessman Mason Kitteridge. Together with former members of Luke's team, including medic Jack Ridley, they descend into the underground complex, where a colony of intelligent, man-eating spiders guards the emperor's tomb and the secret it was meant to keep.

The film is a China-Australia-Russia-Thailand co-production directed by Kimble Rendall, who wrote the screenplay with Paul Staheli. It is Rendall's third feature as director, following Cut in 2000 and Bait in 2012. Li Bingbing, who also produced, plays Jia, with Kellan Lutz, Kelsey Grammer, Wu Zun, Stef Dawson and Shane Jacobson in the main roles.

Released in January 2018, the film runs 90 minutes and mixes action, adventure and horror. It took about 8 million dollars worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds a 4.4 rating from just over 4,100 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 5.3 from 268 votes. A critics' rating of 3.9 from 15 reviews places it below both audience scores.