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Pitting the cast of Police Academy against giant fire-breathing spiders, Syfy's Lavalantula might just be the most bonkers movie since... well, since Syfy's Sharknado 3.

So it's fitting that the film stars '80s legend Steve Guttenberg - who turned down the original Sharknado and has regretted it ever since.

"I was approached about Sharknado and turned it down - and obviously it was a huge disappointment," he said - not entirely seriously - in an interview with Digital Spy.

"So when the same company came to me and said, 'Hey, we've got another idea!' - and I said, 'Come in, can I make you dinner? Can I massage your back? Can I rub your feet?'

"I think creature features and superhero films are what audiences want to watch, and I very much want to get on that bandwagon, and this is a real popcorn film. You sit down and watch these fire-breathing, lava-spewing spiders destroy Los Angeles and a couple of heroes save the day... it's a real classic storyline."

Guttenberg plays Colton West - a fading action star who has to take on the mantle of hero for real to battle lava-spewing arachnids and, most terrifying of all, the mighty Momma-rantula!

"Basically it's your usual spider / volcano / superhero type thing," he said. Again, we think he was joking.

Guttenberg is perhaps best known for his iconic role of Mahoney in the Police Academy films - and reunites with his old co-stars Michael Winslow, Leslie Easterbrook and Marion Ramsey in Lavalantula.

But now it appears he has a new franchise - one to rival Sharknado - as Syfy just greenlit a sequel to their latest trash-terpiece called (we kid you not) 2 Lava 2 Lantula!

"I think it's got legs..." said Guttenberg. "I think it's got eight legs!"