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- Eight legs, two fangs and an attitude.
Summary Capsule
- Doc and bug killer investigate shady spider practices
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Justin's Rating: When Charlotte Goes Bad!
Justin's Review: One of my favorite movie stories comes from an experience while watching Arachnophobia. I was back in high school, over at my friends' house, and we rented it to watch one lazy Sunday afternoon. My friends' older sister (we were maybe freshmen back then, she was a senior) came into the room to get a book and do some studying. About midway through the movie I glanced over and noticed that she was holding the book but was secretly watching the film. And getting seriously freaked out about it, I might add. Her body tensed up and nearly withdrew to a sitting fetal position. Now, it's not that scary of a movie, but this was a girl that would get freaked out over anything.
I don't think I've ever seen a human being's voice burst through the sonic barrier, but she got darn close. I was also hit multiple times with her textbook, which gave me a life-long fear of calculus.
Arachnophobia is the feel-good eight-legged film of the 90's. From the dark heart of Africa, where evil and Wal-Marts thrive, the most deadly spider in the world hitchhikes its way to the USA. It knows our track record for dealing with horror movie threats. The spidey figures, hey, it'll get in at least a couple dozen good kills before the standard fiery climax, and that ain't bad.
In horror movies, there are two types of people who have correctly identified the danger and are never believed by others: either a teenager (and not believed by parents due to youth and general insanity), or a fairly intelligent adult (and not believed by others due to a large web of idiotic plot setups). Not being a teenager, Dr. Ross Jennings (Jeff "Still Fighting The Civil War" Daniels) has a hard time getting people to believe him when the killer spiders start their Gestapo goose-stepping around the countryside. Hey, who are you going to believe? A rational human being with a Ph.D. from a snooty university, or Mrs. Hairy Fangy Arachnid, who most likely eats her young while watching soaps? Exactly.
Arachnophobia billed itself as a horror/comedy mix, but was a tinge too light in either subject to get full course credit. Comedy came too little, too late in the form of bug killer Delbert (John Goodman) and a few humorous false scares. As for the horror, it's simply impossible to be that scared of a fairly small and cuddly spider that's posing as this new ultra-dangerous spider hybrid. With the exception of playing hide-the-fang, what can a 1/1000th ounce spider do to you? Do a full body tackle and drag your women off to its cave? It's this sort of logistical problem that has every character in the movie making the most idiotic decisions possible just to give the spiders a fighting chance.
- DAD: Well honey, I think I'm going to go wander in the attic for a bit with this faulty flashlight!
MOM: That's fine, I was considering dusting the undersides of everything in the cellar anyway!
KID: Mmm! This spider looks like a gummy treat!
But really, Arachnophobia is the harmless sort of fun movie that you'll catch on some cable channel and end up watching to its finish despite any compelling reason to do so. It has a few true moments of creepiness -- and will give you the skin jitters the next time you feel a bug land on you. And for no good reason, I have to say that Delbert's diagnosis of the termite-infested house tickles me Italian Pink every time: "Wood bad. Put in good wood."
 "Honey, dinner's ready!"
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- Okay, not to be juvenile or anything, but the spider-shower thing was incredibly rewound and rewatched when we were teens. Sad, huh?
- Africa doesn't have good embalming facilities
- When Becky is screaming after seeing the spider in the shower, you can see her underwear in the mirror reflection.
- When the General is crawling up Ross Jennings' leg at the end you can clearly see the metal rod pushing it along with a hand.
- When a mouse is injected with venom from one of the spiders it is placed in a jar and left on the table top. The camera pans to the doctors so that the mouse is not in shot, and when the camera pans back to the mouse you can clearly see the jar being removed and replaced with a dead mouse in a jar.
- Film has many references to Hitchcock films, especially "The Birds," for its concentration on obsessed animals, and "Vertigo," with its main character's paralyzing phobia. It also includes a shower scene that makes reference to the shower scene in "Psycho."
Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?
We have no idea (but we'll let you know soon!)
Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]
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The small spiders used in the film were a harmless species from New Zealand that were provided by Landcare Research in Auckland. Hence their fierce appearance, this spider is docile and stems from the crab-spider family. The giant "spider" used in the film was a species of a bird-eating tarantula, which attains it's size of an 8"-legspan or more. Those types of tarantula are not easy to handle and can give a nasty bite. The spiders in the film were managed and handled by famed entomologist, Steven R. Kutcher.
"Canaima" (the town attacked by the spiders) is the name of the avenging spirit of the Guyana Indians. It's also the name the area in Venezuela where the beginning of the movie was filmed and home to the world's tallest waterfall, Angel Falls.
The sound of a spider being crushed by John Goodman was made by the foley artists crushing a couple of potato chips. Also, mustard packs were used for the sqooshing noises.
Directorial debut for Frank Marshall, who was previously a producer, but has gone on to other feature projects such as the 1992 film "Alive."
Groovy Quotes
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Dr. Ross Jennings: Respect is fine, but actually I've always wanted to be feared.
Milt Briggs: What could have killed it?
Dr. Ross Jennings: The shock of seeing Lloyd?
Molly: What's wrong?
Dr. Ross Jennings: Metcalf, he's having a seizure.
Molly: Thank God you didn't examine him this morning.
Delbert: Would anyone object if I tore this floor out?
Molly: I would.
Delbert: False alarm then. Lead on.
Molly: I'm sure you knew exactly what you were doing when you took Margaret off those pills.
Dr. Ross Jennings: Like I knew what I was doing when I chose this town...with the country doctor from hell!
Dr. Ross Jennings: What do you wanna bet they're gonna go chase fireflies?
Bunny: Wanna blow up a bullfrog?
Shelley: Okay!
Delbert: There ain't no spiders here.
Collins: Look! There's a giant spider web over there in the corner.
Delbert: Well yes, a spider web would reveal an arachnid presence.
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This review page was last updated on 6.5.04
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