Arachnophobia is a 1990 American horror-comedy film directed by Frank Marshall and starring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman. It is about deadly spiders infesting a small California town, with the title referring to the fear of spiders.
Plot
A deadly spider from the Venezuelan Amazon is brought into the United States through the inside of the coffin of one of its victims, dead nature photographer Jerry Manley (Mark L. Taylor). It then breeds with local spiders, creating a new type of spider that invades the small town of Canaima, California. The film focuses on physician Ross Jennings (Daniels), who is new to the town and faces a lack of patients due to elderly rival Sam Metcalf, who was supposed to retire and give his patients to Ross. It is established that Ross has a fear of spiders. Ross’ reputation is severely damaged as his few patients begin to die, but this is the work of the spiders rather than his neglect. After Metcalf is himself killed by one of the spiders, it is realized that the town is infested with deadly arachnids, and with the help of exterminator Delbert McClintock (Goodman), entomologist Dr. James Atherton (Julian Sands) and his assistant Chris Collins (Brian McNamara), an effort is made to wipe out the species. Eventually the “queen” is traced back to Ross’s own basement, where he manages to overcome his fear enough to kill the creature. The movie ends with the Jennings family back in San Francisco. As Ross and his wife Molly (Harley Jane Kozak) enjoy a fine wine, an earthquake occurs. While checking the kids, an aftershock happens.
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 Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, and added, “People like to be scared but laughing, like a roller coaster. No one wants to be terrified.”
Jamie Hyneman, of MythBusters fame, stated in Popular Mechanics[4] that Arachnaphobia 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, which were picked for their large size, lack of actual venom, and unusually social lifestyle. They were guided around the set by the use of heat and cold, but the large “queen” was an articulated model.
To create the sound effects of spiders being stepped on or squashed, people stepped on mustard packs or crunched potato chips.
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