Arachnophobia (1990)

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Obviously there are a lot of people terrified by spiders, because I thought this was a very funny movie, and until I watched the movie years after it was made, I had initially heard people calling this movie scary. Arachnophobia is very funny, the actors played their characters very well. One classic scene in the movie is when he is expecting to find a spider on the wall in a rather heart-beating moment, and it ends up being the shadow from a coat hanger on the wall. I just love that moment. John Goodman's roll in this as the exterminator was very amusing too. The movie itself is kind-of like a mix between "Back to the Future III" and another comical movie made years after, "Scary Movie".

This popular, family-orientated monster movie is just one of the wave of "nature's rampage" films which have been churned out in the past thirty years. ARACHNOPHOBIA builds upon the clichés already set up by previous offerings into creating a crowd-pleasing template which has been copied by every such movie since. You should know the routine by now: after the initial set-up, there's a slow beginning, then a string of deaths culminating in an all out, widespread invasion at the end. Unfortunately, ARACHNOPHOBIA tends to be cheesy or clichéd when it should be frightening, but there are still a couple of effective scares to look out for, so spider-haters beware.With Steven Spielberg as producer, you know things will never get too nasty, although this film thankfully lacks the stultifying sentimentalising which Spielberg sometimes crowbars into his films. Frank Marshall's direction is slick and enterprising, and the film's high budget shows in the elaborate sets, vivid photography and the realistic special effects - a mixture of real spiders and partially-convincing animatronics.Jeff Daniels takes the lead as the boring doctor, and I'll be frank: I don't like his performance here, and I don't like Daniels as an actor. Something about him just makes me want to switch off. But, I stuck with it, and Daniels is at least passable here. John Goodman, however, steals the show as the frequently-hilarious exterminator who seems to think that he's John Wayne. Also appearing are Julian Sands (BOXING HELENA) as an amusing feminine doctor and Harley Jane Kozak, who's okay in a supporting turn as Daniels' wife. The supporting cast are unfamiliar but all play their (mostly clichéd) characters well.The initial opening, set in a studio-bound South America, is quite fun and promises a lot. Sadly after this the film goes down a gear and is quite slow-paced for an hour, where nothing much happens apart from characterisation. Fortunately this is a movie that gets better as it goes along and things are soon picking up with the various spider attacks which are amusing to watch. However, my favourite part is the unbelievably cheesy yet enjoyable finale which sees Daniels going one-on-one with the spider queen and her male, who have taken up residence in his wine cellar! You won't believe it as Daniels shoots the spiders with a nailgun and sets fire to him, and a big suspension of disbelief is indeed required, but this is still well-executed. Despite being made as a crowdpleaser, ARACHNOPHOBIA has some genuinely creepy moments in the spider's nests and is worth a look for undemanding monster movie fans.

Arachnophobia is okay, but typical. A rare species of spider ends up traveling to the United States in a coffin, and wreaks havoc on a boring family, including the dad, who is terrified of spiders.The entire time I was watching this, I couldn't get the image of the picture-perfect families from Poltergeist, Edward Scissorhands, etc. out of my head. The countryside homes reminded me of the town from Beetlejuice, as did many of the actors. The soundtrack was very Addams Family-like. From the early eighties to early nineties, the era had several films each with similar characters. It was hard to view this film as original. Not only were the spider web effects incredibly fake-looking, but the film stretched on and became incredibly boring. The acting was okay but not very good and the soundtrack was typical.There's no real side to this movie, I can't call it good or bad. Just typical.

Are you afraid of spiders? We believe everyone is afraid of the furry eight legged spiders.If you are afraid, then force yourself to watch this incredible movie! South American killer spider hitches a lift to the US in a coffin and starts to breed and kill. This is one of the scariest spider films of all times.A great cast with Jeff Daniels, Harley Jane Kozak, John Goodman, Julian Sands and more.We'd recommend this movie to anyone who has not seen it. Check it out and you won't be disappointed especially if you have Arachnophobia.....