Scary movies can be a subjective thing. What creeps one person out may not faze another person at all. One thing that has always given me the heebie jeebies has been bugs, especially large swarms of them all over the place. Anytime I see that in a movie or T.V show I start squirming and feeling very uncomfortable. I'm not exactly sure where this particular aversion comes from, perhaps seeing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at an impressionable age. Regardless of why, I bring this up because beyond all reason, one of my favorite creature features is Arachnophobia.
While working as a photographer on a remote expedition in Venezuela, Jerry Manley (played by Mark L. Taylor) is killed by a particularly rare spider they discovered in a remote area being studied by entomologist James Atherton (played by Julian Sands). When his body is shipped home to the small town of Canaima, California, the same lethal spider hitches a ride along in the coffin. Upon arrival, the spider is able to sneak out of the morticians office and winds up in the yard of the newly arrived Jennings family. They have just moved to town because Ross Jennings (played by Jeff Daniels) is set to take over the medical practice of retiring town physician Sam Metcalf (played by Henry Jones), except Metcalf has decided he's not retiring leaving Ross without any patients. Meanwhile, in Ross' barn, the new Venezuelan spider has mated with a local spider, creating a horde of exceptionally deadly spiders that begin making their way throughout the town. While the first couple of deaths are chalked up to natural causes, when an exam of another victim by Ross shows the spider bite and the toxicology report confirms it, he realizes what they are dealing with. Only after they call in James Atherton and his colleague Chris Collins (played by Brian McNamara) do they put all the pieces together and realize they are dealing with an exceptionally lethal new breed of spider. With help from a quirky local exterminator Delbert McClintock (played by John Goodman), it falls to them to find and take out these spiders before they kill anyone else. The problem is Ross suffers from Arachnophobia - the debilitating fear of spiders.
The film was directed by Frank Marshall from a script by Don Jakoby and Wesley Strick. The film strikes a perfect balance between cringe inducing horror and comedy. This was Frank Marshall's feature debut after being Steven Spielberg's producing partner for a number of years and I felt he did quite well his first time out. He balances the tense moments with the more humorous moments to craft a very entertaining film. They waste no time in setting up the main villain of the film, a large spider referred to as the General, who is discovered in a remote part of the Venezuela jungle who then proceeds to hitch a ride back to camp in a backpack. It's not long after they get back to camp that we get the first attack and see just how deadly the spider venom is. They handle each of the spider attacks quite well, tracking each of the spiders as they move in and expertly building suspense. They used a mix of real spiders for the soldier spiders and an animatronic spider for the much larger General, designed and created by a pre-Mythbusters Jamie Hyneman no less. The film is shot very well by Mikael Salomon capturing the majesty of the remote wilds of Venezuela as well as the almost idyllic charms of the small town, which contrasts nicely with the intensity and fun of the film itself. Topping things off is a fun score by Trevor Jones. I loved the music and the diversity of themes throughout, especially the one he crafts for exterminator Delbert McClintock that stands out as much as the character does.
The film is well cast, starting with Jeff Daniels in the lead role. He is great in the role of everyman hero who has to conquer his fears to save the day, made all that much harder since spiders leave his frozen in fear. So much so that he has to call his wife, Molly (played by Harley Jane Kozak) to come take care of one they find as they move in early in the film. Harley Jane Kozak plays off Daniels well as Molly, showing support for their decision to move and is far more into embracing small town life than Ross is. They have an easy rapport and feel like a couple that has been married for quite awhile. Henry Jones plays his role as the cranky Dr. Metcalf with great relish, making it easy for the audience to hate him as he not only leaves Ross high and dry when he changes his mind about retiring but then proceeds to bad mouth him to other residents in town when Ross' patients start dropping dead. Julian Sands does well in the role of the driven entomologist James Atherton, who is driven by his curiosity at perhaps the expense of common sense. Still, he handles the expositional dialogue explaining the nature of this new breed of spider quite well. This is contrasted nicely with Brian McNamara's far more practical and careful Chris Collins. And then there was John Goodman as Delbert. Goodman effortlessly steals every scene he is in as the slightly eccentric but affable local exterminator who takes his job very seriously. I just couldn't help but smile every time he was on screen. He brings a lot of the comic relief to the movie which Goodman handles quite easily.
Overall, despite my aversion to movies featuring large swarms of bugs, or in this case arachnids, Arachnophobia still remains a favorite of mine. It captures a perfect balance between scares and humor making the film just straight up fun to watch from beginning to end. In the end, that's all I would want from a movie like this and it delivers it well.
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