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Arachnophobia Movie Review

Arachnophobia is a 1990 black comedy horror film directed by Frank Marshall and starring Jeff Daniels. It’s an overly lightweight, but very pleasing horror comedy.

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“Therapy“

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It centers on a newly discovered Venezuelan spider being transported to a small American town that produces a new species of deadly spiders, which begin killing the town’s residents one by one. The movie obviously attempts to imitate those older horror flicks of the fifties, and it succeeds at that, but obviously at a cost of not being horrific enough.

I find Arachnophobia to be immensely enjoyable and charming from start to finish. It’s an undeniably entertaining, very sweet in its rustic charms flick. However, the movie could become way too lightweight at times, simply because it’s never truly funny, it did not end up being a successful horror comedy per say, but an odd half-assed mixture of the two.

What I respected the most here has to be its very scientific approach at storytelling. The movie never vilifies spiders, but it makes an effort to actually explain these creatures, in layman terms of course. It showcases their ecological importance while still emphasizing just how terrifying they can be.

I really liked the characters as well. Everyone is fine here, both characters and their actors, but Jeff Daniels is clearly the standout. He is excellent and the character is actually very well written. The reason why they came to this small town is explained as is his strong case of arachnophobia and how he deals with it. It’s a surprisingly well written movie, both in terms of characters and plot points.

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The cinematography is great as this town is very well portrayed and it felt lived-in from the very first moment. The spiders also look excellent, and I particularly appreciated the utilization of the house and all of its parts into this narrative with the basement being suitably dark and creepy. As for the score, it’s so wonderful and fun that I’ve had a lot of enjoyment out of it, but a horror movie should never have that much of an upbeat score.

Arachnophobia’s confused identity is unquestionably problematic as the film never quite decides if it wants to be a horror or a comedy. The upbeat score doesn’t help. It’s so much fun and wonderful, but then again, it’s maybe too fun and wonderful. Still, the picture is undeniably charming in its old-fashioned charms, the house and the entire town felt very much lived-in and the protagonist is surprisingly well developed with Jeff Daniels delivering a strong central performance.