Arachnophobia (1990)

Director:

Frank Marshall

Writers (WGA):

Don Jakoby (story) &
Al Williams (story) ...

Release Date:

18 July 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi | Thriller | Horror

Tagline:

Eight legs, two fangs and an attitude.

Plot:

South American killer spider hitches a lift to the US in a coffin and starts to breed and kill.

Plot Keywords:

Spider | Doctor | Small Town | Coffin | Exterminator

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Thur. Dec. 24	9:00 AM	TMC
Thur. Dec. 24	8:00 PM	TMC

Cast

Jeff Daniels	...	Dr. Ross Jennings
Harley Jane Kozak	...	Molly Jennings
John Goodman	...	Delbert McClintock
Julian Sands	...	Doctor James Atherton
Stuart Pankin	...	Sheriff Lloyd Parsons
Brian McNamara	...	Chris Collins
Mark L. Taylor	...	Jerry Manley
Henry Jones	...	Doctor Sam Metcalf
Peter Jason	...	Henry Beechwood
James Handy	...	Milton Briggs
Roy Brocksmith	...	Irv Kendall
Kathy Kinney	...	Blaire Kendall
Mary Carver	...	Margaret Hollins
Garette Ratliff Henson	...	Tommy Jennings (as Garette Patrick Ratliff)
Marlene Katz	...	Shelley Jennings

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby SR (35 mm prints)

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #30592) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Angel Falls, Canaima National Park, Estado Bolívar, Venezuela

Company:

Amblin Entertainment

Trivia:

"Canaima" (the town attacked by the spiders) is the name of the avenging spirit of the Guyana Indians. It's also the name the area in Venezuela where the beginning of the movie was filmed and home to the world's tallest waterfall, Angel Falls. The actual town in the movie is Cambria, California, and there is a scene shot in the gymnasium of the local Coast Joint Union High School.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When a mouse is injected with venom from one of the spiders it is placed in a jar and left on the table top. The camera pans to the doctors so that the mouse is not in shot, and when the camera pans back to the mouse you can clearly see the jar being removed and replaced with a dead mouse in a jar.

Quotes:

Molly Jennings: What's wrong?
Dr. Ross Jennings: Metcalf - he's having a seizure.
Molly Jennings: Thank God you didn't examine him this morning.

Movie Connections:

Features "Wheel of Fortune" (1975)

Soundtrack:

Blue Eyes Are Sensitive To The Light

It made my Skin Crawl

As a movie this isn't really all that great. The cast, the script and the direction are all adequate, and there's nothing really special about it as a movie. Yet i have scored it 7/10, seems weird; but let me tell you why.

If the bugs had been something other than spiders then i would have given this a 5 or 6, that is about the score it deserves as a movie, but if your like me, and your an arachnophobe then this movie surpasses this score significantly, it makes your skin crawl and has you thinking every shadow is a spider for weeks afterwards. Aside from scaring the s**t out of me it also made me laugh a lot.

For arachnophobes, who enjoy a fright this is the film for you

7/10