Synopsis
Canaima is a quiet little town where Ross and his family have just moved to. They've arrived just in time to meet the most venomous creatures to walk on eight legs.
Thoughts
I enjoy traveling. Seeing the sights, eating new foods, exploring culture around the world. Where do I draw the line? Coming in contact with any and all insects. Like when we visited the Virgin Islands and went on an amazing kayak tour of this beautiful secluded beach and our guide, Zulu, let us explore the deserted steam facility. It was here where I came in contact with the tarantula hawk. I watched this giant wasp hover over the ground waiting for its prey to emerge. If the tarantula hawk grows impatient, we were told it would invade the hole where the spider resides and battle. As awesome as this may sound to some, I'm not a fan of bees whatsoever, so I was ready to get back in the kayak and be on our merry way. Zulu insisted we go spider fishing. What is this, you ask? Well, you pick a piece of long grass from the ground, shove it into one of the many holes in the ground and wait for a spider, in this case, a tarantula, to grab hold thinking it's food and emerge as you pull the grass slowly out of the hole. No, no, no, NOPE!
Arachnophobia is the scariest film of all time for anyone who is deathly afraid of spiders. What starts as an innocent voyage to the Amazon rainforest to discover new species of insects escalates to battle of human versus the deadliest spider in the world! So, a doctor, Ross, moves his family to the town of Canaima to take over a retiring doctor's practice. Deciding not to retire though puts Ross pretty much out of work with the exception of his neighbor, Margaret. Behind all the drama, the "general" spider, that unknowingly traveled back from the rainforest, has unleashed minions it had produced onto the town. These minions have a bite powerful enough to send a person into a fatal cardiac arrest. With the townspeople people falling prey to these spiders, Ross, now known to the town as Dr. Death, suspects more than just a simple heart attack. He decides to enlist the help of Dr. Atherton. When the truth is revealed, Ross must overcome his fear of spiders to protect his family and ultimately the town.
The 90's sure did produce some great family friendly thrillers. Here, director, Frank Marshall uses John Goodman as an exterminator for comic relief. His scenes bring a sense of normalcy to all the creepiness. The film itself is good at keeping the viewer tense. The first time I saw this movie, I didn't put shoes on for at least a year. To this day I still prefer flip flops over putting my foot in that dark abyss you call shoes. Just recently watching this, a stink bug flew out of nowhere and practically gave me a heart attack. Why? I always get sucked into this movie that I fear that there are spiders everywhere plotting their attack. Arachnophobia does an amazing job of scaring the viewer, yet, it's so light hearted and family friendly that you wouldn't really expect it.
The spiders in the film were both real and animatronic. The smaller spiders were a non venomous species from New Zealand. The general, the escape artist from the rainforest, was a tarantula. More specifically, a bird eating one. Seeing that this spider is quite venomous, all shots involving the cast used an animatronic version. The last thing this film needed was a cast member getting bitten by the real deal. The general was created by none other than famed Mythbuster, Jamie Hyneman. He did a fantastic job with it because the close up shots of its eyes are absolutely terrifying.
This is truly a really fun movie. From start to finish, it's a great blend of comedy and thriller. There is some pretty dark humor as well, which is quite a nice touch. Sure, nothing here screams oscars, but it's still a damn good movie. If you're looking for a family friendly night of terror making your children, or yourself's dreams turn into eight legged nightmares, look no further. Arachnophobia is just what you're looking for.
IMDB: 6.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 6.8/10
WeFLM: 7/10
Come for the dried up corpse. Stay for the animatronic general.
-kp
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