What is it about spiders that scare some of us? Is it those eight hairy legs or the way they have fangs that you can see on some species? Or it could be the way they wrap their prey up in their webs to suck their blood. Even in Charlotte’s Web, there was something sinister about the way she ate and E.B. White and the film adaptations didn’t hold back even with the calming voices of Debbie Reynolds and Julia Roberts. In the original The Fly, the footage of a human-fly creature screaming “Help me!” as a spider lurches toward it only helped solidify their creepiness.
But, like just about every living creature on this planet, they serve a purpose. We would be overrun with so many insects, such as cockroaches, flies, moths, and even pretty butterflies if it wasn’t for spiders. Most of them are more scared of us than we are of them. The other day while taking the trash out, I noticed one was weaving a web near a tree in my front yard. As I approached to get a better look, the spider moved in a defense position. I wasn’t going to squash it or destroy its web. As I backed away, it went back to normal.
Unfortunately, a movie like Arachnophobia probably has made more people afraid of spiders than it was supposed to until Jake Gyllenhaal walked in on his wife that has turned into a terrified huge spider at the end of Enemy or whatever that was supposed to mean. The movie made through Disney as the first of their now-defunct Hollywood Picture labels was the first movie to be directed by producer Frank Marshall, who had helped formed Amblin Entertainment with his wife, Kathleen Kennedy (and the most hated Star Wars villain), and Steven Spielberg, who likes to joke that he’s in this movie, but you can’t see him.
It’s kind of like an ode to the old monster movies the producers and writers watched growing up, even though it does share some similarities to the William Shatner movie Kingdom of Spiders, a string of “When Nature Attacks” movies that sprung up following the success of Jaws. You could say Arachnophobia is in the vein of Jaws as it deals with a newly transported professional who comes to a close-knit community where a few people die from spider bites and no one really believes him until it almost becomes too late. He’s also assisted by a scientist and a blue-collar professional experienced in killing this species.
The following will contain spoilers. The movie starts off with a nature photographer Jerry Manley (Mark L. Lester) assisting British entomologist Dr. James Atherton (Julian Sands) in a very secluded area of Venezuela. It’s so secluded (and feared) the locals wanted go into it after guiding them there. Atherton discovers an aggressive species of spiders. Manley kills one when it jumps on his camera but Atherton is surprised they don’t respond to normal toxins that would have killed other spiders and insects.
Back at their base camp, Atherton deduces through research the specimen they have lack sex organs and function as laborers or soldiers, which isn’t typical of spiders. Manley is already suffering from a fever so he goes to his tent to get some sleep. What neither know is a fertile male spider has hitched a ride in Manley’s bag and bites him while he’s lying on his cot. Manley has a seizure and dies. But Atherton and his assistants suspect that Manley just died from his fever so they arrange to send him back to his hometown of Canaima, Calif. And the fertile spider manages to crawl into the casket.
The arrival of Manley’s body coincide with the arrival of Dr. Ross Jennings (Jeff Daniels), his wife, Molly (Harley Jane Kozak), a former stockbroker, and their kids from San Francisco. Ross is supposed to take over as the town doctor as the aging Dr. Sam Metcalf (Henry Jones) was supposed to retire. However, Metcalf has reneged on his retirement. This means Ross won’t have Metcalf’s patients and the relocation to the north California countryside may not be so great.
Ross also suffers from a severe case of arachnophobia, following an incident in which he was a child a spider crawled down on his face while he tried to sleep. When they move into their new house, their son, Tommy (Garette Ratliff Henson), discovers a spider and Molly takers it out to their barn. It’s ironic that they’d have just one spider in a country home. They’d probably have many. And even at their previous home in San Francisco, they’d have many too. In houses, spiders uses stay hidden as much as possible. But for the purpose of this movie, it can be forgiven.
What the Jennings don’t know is the Venezuelan spider that hitched a ride in Manley’s casket has arrived at the local funeral parlor, where it has fed on his body the whole plane ride. The funeral home director, Irv Kendall (Roy Brocksmith) is so disgusted by the site, he phones Manley’s parents which allows the spider to leave the casket undetected. It goes outside through a pet door where it’s picked up by a crow who wants to eat it for dinner but the crow is bitten and falls to its death on the woods near the Jennings. It takes up residence in their barn and meets the house spider where it mates producing drone offspring. This would take up to three weeks even though it only takes about a week.
Ross’ widowed neighbor Margaret Hollins (Mary Carver) becomes his first patient as she welcomes him to town and throws a party for him to give him some new clientele. Unfortunately, a drone spider bites and kills her later after all the guests leave. And since Ross took Margaret off the blood pressure medicine he didn’t think she needed, Metcalf begins to badmouth him around town.
The high school coach Henry Beechwood (Peter Jason) invites Ross to examine his football players and perform check-ups. Sadly, one of the players is bitten during practice when a drone crawls into his helmet. Labeled “Dr. Death” by the kids according to his daughter, Shelley (Marlene Katz), Ross becomes infamous around town with some suspecting that he’s not the best doctor in town. But Metcalf, himself, is also bitten on his toe, and dies. With help from the local coroner Milton Briggs (James Handy), Ross gets the local Sheriff Lloyd Parsons (Stuart Pankin) to exhume all the bodies after Metcalf’s wife reports he was bitten by a spider before he died.
Feeling they may have some investation, Ross is able to contact Atherton who sends his assistant Chris Collins (Brian McNamara) to help. At the same time, local exterminator Delbert McClintock (John Goodman in a hilarious supporting role) notices the spiders don’t respond to the normal toxin sprays, but his work boots do the trick. It was during a scene where Delbert drives up to a location, Spielberg was hiding crouched down in the passenger seat.
While Goodman provides some good comic relief, the whole movie itself has a lighter tone than it could’ve had. With the PG-13 rating and the House of Mouse distributing it, there’s not much violence and gore. Since all it takes is a small bite and the venom works inside, it’s really just actors doing convulsions. Reportedly James Wan is working through his production company Atomic Monster with Amblin to do a remake with Christopher Landon directing. But the question is what angle will they take? Will they keep the lighter tone or go for a darker tone?
But the bigger question is why bother with a remake? This movie is almost near perfect. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. It also knows what buttons to push to make some of its viewers cringe, squirm and shudder especially when they swarm the house in the movie’s climax. Daniels is one of those actors who can handle comedy just as well as drama and there’s something rather comical about an actor like Daniels, who’s 6-foot-3, being afraid of a small spider that he could very easily squash in the palm of his hand. The production used avondale spiders which despite their creepy appearance are harmless. Animatronics and puppetry was also used for the special effects which are very impressive considering they’re all practical. A special shoe with part of the sole cut out was use for the scene where Delbert squishes one.
It’s also nice to see Sands, who recently died while hiking in January, in the role as Atherton. Even though he is a good guy, Sands delivers a little arrogance in his British voice to the role of a doctor who thinks he’s smarter than others. However, the movie basically gives Molly nothing much to do after the first hour except react. Considering she was coming off a major role in Parenthood, it’s a shame. But I guess her casting is a wink at one of her earliest roles in the slasher The House on Sorority Row. In many ways, this is a slasher itself with many characters being killed off. One of those was supposed to be Parsons but his death scene was either edited out for pacing or not filmed.
And the big bad Venezuelan spider, nicknamed “The General,” pretty much sits out the middle of the movie after mating with the house spider, to come back at the end for a showdown with Ross. Well, you didn’t see the shark in Jaws constantly throughout the movie. That being said, it is used in an effective way.
All in all, the movie was a modest success making about $53 millon against a $22 million budget. Unfortunately, the movie went up against summer juggernauts Die Hard 2 and Ghost. It did receive great reviews despite a question of how to market it. It was labeled a “thrill-omedy” with an emphasis on Goodman’s Delbert. When I saw it at 13, I felt it might have worked better if they played up the thriller/horror element but Disney probably didn’t want to be associated with the black-eye horror had received following the slasher craze of the 1980s.
The movie also ends with the late Jimmy Buffett singing the catchy but somewhat silly “Don’t Bug Me” over the end credits. If a remake ever does happen, I hope the filmmakers give the original the respect and credit it deserves.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 