HEFE'S REVIEW OF:
ARACHNOPHOBIA (1990)

OPENING THOUGHTS

    This movie always creeps me out. I have a serious fear of spiders, but before you judge me you should know that a spider once tried to take me leg. I got bit by a wolf spider in my own freakin' bed and I couldn't walk on the leg for like 3 days plus it killed a bunch of the tissue in the surrounding area. That is not cool spiders. So as you can now imagine, whenever I see this movie it freaks me out.

ACTING

    JEFF DANIELS does a good job at playing a big fat pussy boy in this movie. I know because he reacts kind of the same way that I do when I see spiders. Most of the time I am able to kill spiders just out of instinct, however sometimes when they are big enough and it requires me to like stand on something to kill it, I will call my wife in and make her kill it for me. I feel your pain Jeff Daniel's character, I feel your pain.
    JULIAN SANDS plays a British douche bag scientist in this movie, complete with a long blond pony tail. Just hearing him talk and seeing his pony tail blowing in the wind sends surges of anger coursing through my body. I am not sure if I am supposed to loathe this guy or not, if I am then he id a good job. If not, well, that would explain his career since this film was released.
    JOHN GOODMAN was the absolute hands down best part of this movie. His performance as Delbert McClintock the town's local exterminator is nothing short of priceless. His bizarre hillbilly accent combined with his glasses and unjustified cocky walk is just ridiculously entertaining. I would have loved to see him have a bigger role, but hey, I will take what I can get.

DIRECTION AND SCRIPT

    FRANK MARSHALL normally sticks to just giving people money to make good movies in a producers role, however every once in a great while he will get the urge to actually do something. This film is one of those times. I really appreciated that he used real spiders in this movie and not shitty fake ones. If they tried to make a movie like this now everything would be computer animated. Using real spiders really adds to the realism and suspense of this film I think. As for the rest of the movie he did a good balancing act of making the movie suspenseful and also shooting the movie in a way that never let things get to serious or full of itself. This may just be Marshall's best take at directing.
    DON JAKOBY and WESLEY STRICK wrote a really good script considering that this is a horror movie about spiders. I mean when you think about it, a movie like this should have been just awful, but somehow it wasn't. I think the reason for this is that movie never really fully took itself seriously. For every really suspenseful moment, there was an equally silly or funny moment. By poking fun at itself, it allowed me to be more accepting of what was going on. Plus I still feel like spiders are crawling on me for days after watching this movie, despite it's light nature... of course that could be my completely justifiable fear of spiders coming into play there.

THE VERDICT

    Most people will enjoy this movie, and I am glad to report that even twenty years later this movie holds up remarkably well. This movie is worth watching just to see John Goodman's performance, but I think you will find once you get there that there is plenty more to enjoy as well. Watch this movie in the dark right before you go to bed, and I guarantee that you will be checking your sheets and blankets for creepy crawlies before you are able to fall asleep.
 
 

RATING: B -

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