(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from Arachnophobia)
Doug (vo): So for years, whenever you heard there's a scary spider movie, it was always the same thing. They make the spider huge, it's an alien spider or a mutant spider or a monster spider, something that's supposed to take over a city and eat people alive. And that's not really why people find spiders scary. Arachnophobia knows why people find spiders scary and it has a lot of fun with it. Too much fun? Eh, I don't think so. I think it's clear if you've ever seen any of the advertisements, or hell, just watch the first few minutes of this movie, you'll know it's self-aware and definitely goes over the top, but not to a point where it's too distracting. It knows how to have fun, but also dive into why people do find these things creepy.
Story[]
Doug (vo): The film opens in South America, where a photographer who just "can't see why he's here, oh my God!" is taking pictures of this incredibly rare, deadly spider. And if you've ever seen a movie in your life, you know where it's going. This guy gets bitten, he has a really over-the-top death scene. The spider sneaks aboard and makes its way to America, where it finds a small town that's the new home to Dr. Ross Jennings, played by Jeff Daniels, who, big surprise, is afraid of spiders. When the deadly spider finds another spider to mate with-in maybe one of the funniest visuals in the movie, I don't know why that just makes me laugh—they, of course, form a nest, giving birth to hundreds of other spiders, and every single one of them naturally are deadly. Dr. Jennings tries to warn everybody about these killer spiders, but, (in a pompous voice) "We don't like his big city talk around here in our small town values."
Review[]
Doug (vo): Yeah, okay, at first, I was really annoyed by this, but A, they're really, really funny. I mean, these people just kind of hate him almost for no reason. It's so over-the-top, it's pretty enjoyable. And B, they're actually not in the story long, they do get to what we want to see, which is these killer spiders, and they put them in situations that we don't want to see killer spiders in. And again, they keep them small, they know that we don't need to see them as these big killer monsters, we just need to see a bunch of them crawling all over the place, and then just adding on top of that, if they bite you, they kill you, that's enough. But what's so great about it is that this movie is both restrained and excessive at the same time.
(Footage focusing on the spiders is shown)
Doug (vo): Like, there are all sorts of scenarios you don't want a spider to be in. Like, you're eating popcorn and there's a spider in there. You're taking a shower and a spider can just leap on top of you. Like, these are uncomfortable moments, but they're kind of funny, too. And as the movie goes on, things just get crazier, but in the way we want to see them crazy. Like, I just love all these people running away from these little spiders, like, hundreds of them all over the house and they're just crawling along the walls like it's a full frontal attack of these things. Yeah, you know how you see a spider, and when it sees you, it runs away, it tries to find a little corner or something to sneak into? These spiders have no fear whatsoever. And it all builds up to a one-on-one confrontation between Jennings and this huge spider. So, again, I like that mainly the focus is on the little spiders crawling around, but they're still going to go over the top and they're going to have just this big tarantula thing that he has to fight. And I don't know, a lot of these shots are pretty fun because let's say you're not afraid of little spiders for some reason, you are afraid of the bigger ones. They get some really creative shots to make this thing take up the majority of the screen, so it is pretty smart trying to play to every angle somebody could be afraid of these things.
(Footage focusing on the characters is shown)
Doug (vo): As the characters in the story go, they're just good enough. All the actors are doing a good job. And again, you can tell which ones are aware they're supposed to be kind of the straight man, and which ones know they're kind of the comic relief. It was cool seeing John Goodman in a really early film role like just after Roseanne, and you can tell he was really good at creating characters even back then, he wasn't always typecast. Even some characters you think you have figured out. Like, there's this one guy who comes in, he acts like he's not going to like Dr. Jennings like, "Oh, they call you Dr. Death", but then very quickly, he listens to reason and he's like, "Oh, maybe we should look into these spiders, maybe they are poisonous." I like that they play around with the comedy of this place not liking him, but then I also like they're not all super stupid. Like, everything seems focused on either moving the plot forward or trying to get us to the next creative scenario where we can make spiders look scary.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): It was directed by Frank Marshall, who's part of that group that a lot of people say are out of touch nowadays, sort of the Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, Kathleen Kennedys, that kind of group. And that style of whimsically dark in a small suburban town is definitely all over this. And again, since it did come out in 1990, it does work and I think it's a very likable style in that time period, but holds up just enough. I'm not going to say I've never seen anything good from Spielberg or Kennedy or any of them after a certain point, but yes, there's a lot of stuff that doesn't hold up as well nowadays, like, it seems a little dated. With this and I think some of their later stuff every once in a while, there is still a little bit of that magic in there. This isn't a great film, but it is a fun one. It's one that people don't talk about a ton and a part of me can kind of see why. It's kind of in one ear and out the other. But while you're in the middle of watching it, it is a really good time. There are not really any boring moments, it gives you what you're looking for. It is kind of funny, it is kind of creepy, nobody's sleepwalking through it, it's just a genuinely good flick. I guess it's not a movie that demands to be seen right away or anything, but I do feel bad it is a little overlooked. And for a film that is still creative, playfully dark and imaginative, I think it's a lot of fun. Grab a can of Raid, crawl on in and check it out.
Delbert McClintock: Yeah, that's right. I'm bad.