Back home

Arachnophobia

1492 votes

Producing House

A large spider from the jungles of South America is accidentally transported in a crate with a dead body to America where it mates with a local spider. Soon after, the residents of a small California town disappear as the result of spider bites from the deadly spider offspring. It's up to a couple of doctors with the help of an insect exterminator to annihilate these eight legged freaks.

movie

Status: Released

Released Date: 1990-07-20

Runtime: 109 mins

Director: Frank Marshall

Spoken language: English, EspaƱol

Genres: Comedy, Horror

Original title: Arachnophobia

Production Companies: Amblin Entertainment, Hollywood Pictures, Tangled Web Productions

Production Countries: United States of America

Reviews

J

John Chard
The itsy-bitsy spider crawled up the water spout; down came the rain and washed the spider out. When a photographer is bitten and killed by a spider in the Venezuelan jungle, his body is shipped back to his home town of Canaima in California. Unfortunately something has hitched a ride in his coffin... Mixing "B" movie conventions with a modern day fun sensibility, Arachnophobia sees Frank Marshall direct and Jeff Daniels, Julian Sands, John Goodman and Harley Jane Kozak line up in the cast. Though horror and comedy on the surface doesn't seem to be a that hard to blend together, it's actually surprising over the years just how few horror comedy movies can claim to be successful, and crucially, have been able to to win over a like minded audience. In fact, if we move away from the likes of "Sean Of The Dead", the "B" movie creature feature, especially in modern times, has few offerings of worth. We can certainly mention the awesome (and best of the modern bunch) "Tremors", which turned a small Worldwide profit, and then we turn to "Lake Placid" and "Arachnophobia". Both of the latter made considerable amounts of cash (for the genre) and are propelled by a degree of star wattage. What was in Arachnophobia's favour was that spiders strike the fear of god into many people, thus, as director Marshall said himself on the publicity junket, "People like to be scared but still laughing at the same time". Arachnophobia achieves this in spades, mixing real spiders (the Avondale breed) with model and magnet work, where the effect achieved is full on nervy giggles coupled with some creepy goose flesh also putting in an appearance. The cast work hard to make it work. OK, Sands remains as wooden as he always is, but in this case his pompous bug professor actually calls for it. Daniels as the modern doctor hoping to start a new life in the country, is an excellent lead, a fine actor who's no show on the "A" list of Hollywood remains an utter mystery. However, it's with the big jolly blunderbuss that is John Goodman where the pic gets its frothy "B" movie fun. His inept, half witted but knowing pest controller, Delbert, engages in that small town Americana way. He is an innocent to the terrors of the world and that makes for a nice play off with the Arachnophobic Dr. Ross Jennings (Daniels). Nicely shot around Cambria, California, to fully realise the small town under arachnid siege, Arachnaphobia is the perfect comedy creeper for all the family to enjoy. So squirm and giggle together and watch out for any creepy crawlies in the corners of your home... 7/10
2019-10-04

Recommendations

After She Died
3

After She Died

2022-09-23

A young woman is horrified to discover that her father's new girlfriend looks identical to her dead

Gemma Bovery
3.1

Gemma Bovery

2014-09-10

Martin, an ex-Parisian well-heeled hipster passionate about Gustave Flaubert who settled into a Norm

Jaws: The Revenge
2

Jaws: The Revenge

1987-07-17

After another deadly shark attack, Ellen Brody decides she has had enough of New England's Amity Isl

Silent Hill
3.3

Silent Hill

2006-04-21

Rose, a desperate mother, takes her adopted daughter, Sharon, to the town of Silent Hill in an attem

Jaws
3.8

Jaws

1975-06-20

When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the

Jaws 2
3

Jaws 2

1978-06-16

Police chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terroriz

The Circle
2.7

The Circle

2015-02-18

An otherworldly evil is slipping into a small town in Sweden. Six unrelated girls have been chosen t

Mars Attacks!
3.2

Mars Attacks!

1996-12-13

A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if

Sweetheart
3.2

Sweetheart

2019-01-28

Jenn has washed ashore a small tropical island and it doesn’t take her long to realize she’s complet

Dracula
3.6

Dracula

1931-02-12

A British estate agent travels to Transylvania to meet the mysterious Count Dracula, who is interest

The Mothman Prophecies
3.1

The Mothman Prophecies

2002-01-25

Reporter John Klein is plunged into a world of impossible terror and unthinkable chaos when fate dra

In the Mouth of Madness
3.6

In the Mouth of Madness

1995-02-03

An insurance investigator visits a small town while looking into the strange disappearance of a popu

Sleepy Hollow
3.6

Sleepy Hollow

1999-11-19

Skeptical young detective Ichabod Crane gets transferred to the hamlet of Sleepy Hollow, New York, w

The Spider Woman
3.5

The Spider Woman

1943-12-10

Sherlock Holmes investigates a series of so-called "pajama suicides". He knows the female villain be

Gremlins
3.6

Gremlins

1984-06-08

After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three i

Gremlins 2: The New Batch
3.3

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

1990-06-15

Young sweethearts Billy and Kate move to the Big Apple, land jobs in a high-tech office park and soo

Don't Let the Riverbeast Get You!
3.4

Don't Let the Riverbeast Get You!

2012-09-02

In this campy throwback to 1950s monster films, a vicious monster, the Riverbeast, has arisen from i

Embedded
2.9

Embedded

2013-02-28

A seasoned news correspondent and cameraman embed themselves with a posse that set off into the rugg

The Thing
4

The Thing

1982-06-25

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its

The Lost Boys
3.5

The Lost Boys

1987-07-31

When an unsuspecting town newcomer is drawn to local blood fiends, the Frog brothers and other unlik