Arachnophobia (1990)

Directed by: Frank Marshall | 103 minutes | comedy, science fiction, horror, thriller | Actors: Jeff Daniels, Harley Jane Kozak, John Goodman, Julian Sands, Stuart Pankin, Brian McNamara, Mark L. Taylor, Henry Jones, Peter Jason, James Handy, Roy Brocksmith, Kathy Kinney, Mary Carver, Garette Ratliff Henson, Marlene Katz

A deep-seated and often irrational fear of spiders is an ailment that affects many people. This theme has also been exploited many times in the film world. Usually the spiders in such films take the form of disproportionately large monsters, as in ‘Tarantula’ or ‘Eight Legged Freaks’ for example.

However, ‘Arachnophobia’ does not seek such exaggerations, but approaches the theme in a more mundane and realistic way. The nightmare begins when an extremely aggressive and venomous South American spider travels as a stowaway in the coffin of a deceased expedition member to the quiet rural California town of Canaima. Once there, the spider mates with a local house spider, creating a new breed of extremely poisonous and dangerous spiders. Ironically, the spiders have chosen the new village doctor’s shed (who is terrified of spiders) as their breeding ground.

‘Arachnophobia’ is a nice twist on the monster movie in which a human community is ravaged by certain murderous excesses of Mother Nature. In any case, the careful build-up of tension and the realistic-looking spiders ensure that the thriller and suspense element comes to the fore and eventually culminates in a fairly spine-chilling finale. For people who are already afraid of spiders, sitting through this film will be a demanding task and those of us who are not so afraid of this will at least give the sheets one more time before going to sleep and the room. subject to a thorough inspection.

However, ‘Arachnophobia’ is not just a horror movie. Humor also has a prominent place in this film. In particular, John Goodman’s performance as the rough-and-tumble local insect fighter Delbert McClintock is noteworthy in this regard. Remarkably enough, the terrors that poor doctor Jennings must endure when he is surrounded by spiders hardly seem to affect his sense of humor. Of course, the story occasionally contains some illogical elements (for example the assumption by Jennings and his wife that the meter-sized web in their shed was made by an ordinary house spider or the fact that the authoritative spider professor Atherton is very easily tricked. by his arthropod study objects), but this is not very disturbing.

People who do not suffer from the ailment mentioned in the title of this film and who appreciate a good thriller with a good dash of dry and black humor, would be wise to rent this film or add it to their film collection. The spider haters among us will not be so quick to change their judgment about our eight-legged friends after viewing this print.