Arachnophobia

Arachnophobia is a 1990 American - film directed by Frank Marshall and starring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman. It was the first film released by Walt Disney Studios' Hollywood Pictures label, as well as being the directorial debut of Marshall. In the film's plot, a newly discovered Venezuelan spider is inadvertently transported to the small town of Canaima. The escaped specimen produces a new species of deadly spiders, which begin killing the town's residents one by one. Shooting took place in Venezuela and California and the film was released in the United States on July 18, 1990. It was a modest commercial success, gaining $53.21 million at the box office. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot
Entomologist Dr. James Atherton searches the Amazon rainforest with the hope of discovering new species of insects and spiders. Finding a very aggressive new species of spider, a specimen is captured and chloroformed for research. It is later revealed to be lacking sex organs, thus making it a drone or soldier. A nature photographer, Jerry Manley, unknowingly has a fertile male specimen of the same species jump into his backpack, that night sneaking into his sleeping bag and biting him. Manley has a massive seizure from the venom and dies. The remainder of the scientists take his body back to the United States, blaming Manley's death on a fever. The spider crawls into the casket and is sealed in with the corpse.

Manley's body arrives at the funeral home in his small town of Canaima, California. The spider makes it outside, reaching the barn of the Jennings family. Ross Jennings is a family physician, who had moved to the town from San Francisco, in reliance on elderly rival Sam Metcalf's promise to retire and shift his physicians to Jennings. Upon arrival, however, Metcalf decides to maintain his practice. Soon, the Venezuelan specimen mates with a female barn spider and makes a nest in Jennings' barn, producing hundreds of infertile drone offspring, all of which have a lethal bite. Ross, along with his son Tommy, has arachnophobia, making them targets of ridicule to wife Molly and daughter Shelly.

Ross's first patient, Margaret Hollins, dies after being bitten. The town's residents believe that she died from a heart attack, despite Ross's suspicions that something else was at work. After a spider also kills a football player Ross also treated, he becomes known to the town as "Dr. Death." When Metcalf is bitten and dies, Ross suspects that deadly arachnids could be infesting the town.

Ross and county coroner Milton Briggs perform an autopsy on the victims and confirm Ross's suspicion that the deaths were caused by spider bites. Atherton arrives in town with his assistant Chris Collins, joining Briggs, Sheriff Lloyd Parsons and local exterminator Delbert McClintock in the spider investigation. They discover that the killer spiders have a short life expectancy due to being a mixed breed. Atherton tells them that the spiders are soldiers, sent out to eliminate potential threats for the general male spider. He also learns that the general spider produced a queen, which it likely mated with to produce a second nest someplace, guarded by the queen, which could produce fertile offspring. Atherton elaborates that the transplanted spiders can progressively expand their territory, possibly culminating in their worldwide dispersal. The group sets out to destroy both nests and kill the queen and general.

Deducing that the nest is in his barn, Ross sends Delbert to destroy it, where the exterminator finds Atherton dead before destroying the nest. Chris gets the Jennings family out of their infested house, but Ross falls through the floor into his wine cellar, which turns out to be the spiders' second nest, guarded not only by the queen but also the general spider. After electrocuting the queen, Ross battles the general while also attempting to burn the second egg sac. He becomes trapped underneath fallen debris, with the general about to deliver the killing strike, when Ross flings the general into the fire. As the egg sac hatches, the general jumps out of the fire. Ross shoots it with a nail gun and the projectile sends the burning araneid into the egg sac, destroying the nest with fire and ending the infestation. The Jennings family immediately moves back to San Francisco, appreciating city life once more, despite minor earthquakes disrupting them.

Cast

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

Production
Filmmaker Steven Spielberg was involved with Arachnophobia, with one of his earlier producers Frank Marshall directing for the first time. Spielberg and Marshall are both the executive producers of the film.

Marshall meant for the film to be like 's The Birds, and added, "People like to be scared but laughing, like a roller coaster. No one wants to be terrified." The film also has similarities with the 1977 film Kingdom of the Spiders. Kantor hinted in his Fangoria interview that Arachnophobia, which Spielberg produced, bears several similarities to Kingdom of the Spiders. "I thought it was a copy", Kantor stated, "but you don't go and sue Spielberg!"

Jamie Hyneman, of ' fame, stated in ' that Arachnophobia was one of the first movies he worked on and that he often relied on simple magnets for several of the effects.

The film made use of 374 Avondale spiders, from, which were picked for their large size, unusually social lifestyle, and because they are essentially harmless to humans. They were guided around the set by the use of heat and cold, but the large "general" and "queen" were articulated models.

The movie was actually filmed in Southern Venezuela for the intro sequence and the jungle scenes, as well as Cambria, California. All the school scenes were filmed at Coast Union High School. Students and staff were used in the football scenes and group events. The locker room and players were the actual students and players from CUHS.

To create the s of spiders being stepped on or squished, stepped on  packs or squashed {{w|potato chips.

Release and reception
Arachnophobia was the first film released by Hollywood Pictures. Advertisers were uncertain as to whether they should market the film as a thriller or a comedy. Therefore, television spots promoting the film billed it as a "thrill-omedy".

Box office
Arachnophobia debuted at #3 behind ' and ' with $8 million in its first weekend. The film was a financial success, grossing $53,208,180 domestically and going on to gross an additional $30,000,000 in video rentals. This allowed Spielberg to be the fourth wealthiest entertainer of the year, having previously been the second wealthiest.

Critics
In his book, critic calls the film a "slick comic thriller" and approves of the acting, warning, "Not recommended for anyone who's ever covered their eyes during a movie."  associated the film with B movies "about the small town threatened by ", and said it was well made but "oddly unresonant." said it made audiences "squirm out of enjoyment, not terror," and listed details in the film that he felt were typical of such films, including "the bright young doctor, whose warnings are ignored" and "the loyal wife and kids", as well as "the usual cats and dogs, necessary for the obligatory scene in which they can sense something even when the humans can't." He gave the film three stars.

On the review website, 91% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 35 reviews, and an average rating of 6.8/10, with the consensus "Arachnophobia may not deliver genuine chills, but it's an affectionate, solidly built tribute to Hollywood's classic creature features."

The film drew protests from some people interested in spiders, as they believed the film tarnished the public image of spiders.

Home media
The film was first released on in 1991. It was then released as a bare bones in 1999. The film was released on on September 25, 2012. VHS and DVD releases by Hollywood/ Home Video curiously omit the original poster art's spider from their cover design, however the Blu-ray now reinstates it.

Merchandising
Unusually, the version of Arachnophobia was also released in 1991, for, ,  and.

There is also a novelization of Arachnophobia written by author Nicholas Edwards.

A soundtrack album for the film, also called Arachnophobia, was released in 1990. It included Trevor Jones's instrumental music from the film as well as dialogue excerpts and songs such as "Blue Eyes Are Sensitive to the Light" by Sara Hickman, "Caught in Your Web (Swear to Your Heart)" by Russell Hitchcock, and "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" by Tony Bennett. The European version of the album has the same cover art, but more score tracks, fewer songs and no dialogue. The two versions share 10 of the same tracks, but these are also not without their differences: several tracks are noticeably shorter on the European version like "Canaima Nightmare", which is nearly three minutes shorter; and another track has two different titles ("Cellar Theme" in America and "The Cellar" in Europe).

Soundtrack
US release:


 * 1) "Blue Eyes Are Sensitive to the Light" by Sara Hickman – 5:11
 * 2) "Atherton's Terrarium" – 0:21
 * 3) "Arachnophobia" by Brent Hutchins – 4:53
 * 4) "Miller's Demise" – 0:37
 * 5) "Spiders and Snakes" by The Party – 3:40
 * 6) "Offspring" – 0:51
 * 7) "Boris the Spider" by Pleasure Thieves – 2:59
 * 8) "Delbert Squishes the Spider" – 0:49
 * 9) "Spider and the Fly" by Poorboys – 2:52
 * 10) "Web Photo" – 0:26
 * 11) "Caught in Your Web (Swear to Your Heart)" by Russell Hitchcock – 4:28
 * 12) "Main Title" – 5:36
 * 13) "Don't Bug Me" by Jimmy Buffett – 3:27
 * 14) "The Casket Arrives" – 1:55
 * 15) "Delbert's Theme" – 2:04
 * 16) "Canaima Nightmare" – 6:21
 * 17) "Along Came a Spider" – 2:37
 * 18) "Cellar Theme" – 1:20
 * 19) "End Title" – 3:54
 * 20) "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" by Tony Bennett – 3:02

European release:


 * 1) "Main Title" – 5:38
 * 2) "Photus Manlii" – 2:24
 * 3) "Bob Hitches a Ride" – 4:18
 * 4) "The Casket Arrives" – 1:53
 * 5) "Blue Eyes Are Sensitive to the Light" by Sara Hickman – 5:05
 * 6) "Molly's Web" – 3:29
 * 7) "Arachnophobia" by Brent Hutchins – 4:48
 * 8) "Delbert's Theme" – 2:32
 * 9) "Spider Lamp Shade" – 1:55
 * 10) "Under the Bleachers" – 2:05
 * 11) "Along Came a Spider" – 2:25
 * 12) "Bugs 'B' Gone" – 3:04
 * 13) "Canaima Nightmare" – 3:45
 * 14) "Life in the Country" – 0:56
 * 15) "The Cellar" – 1:17
 * 16) "End Title" – 3:52
 * 17) "Don't Bug Me" by Jimmy Buffett – 3:27

Songs in the film that were not included on the soundtrack are:
 * "Summer Wind" by Frank Sinatra
 * "Goin' Ahead" by Pat Metheny