Save your money for something good and enjoyable

A-maz-ing

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This directorial feature film debut from legendary producer Frank Marshall was surprisingly enjoyable to me. I loved Daniels and Goodman, the atmosphere, the great creature design and the screenplay's "respect for structure" (Roger Ebert).

Arachnophobia is pure late night entertainment,IT'S another childhood classic of mine that i always remember being on t.v on a Saturday night & i watched it every time i loved it & still do!!! This is a true classic movie with the great Spielberg producing it you know this is going to be a BRILLIANTLY made suspense Thriller & it is.The music is beautiful throughout,the small American town is beautiful & the cast is Amazing especially JEFF DANIELS & JOHN GOODMAN!!! The spiders are terrifying & the film has a real magical fun tone mixed perfectly with really suspenseful scary moments & silly fun bits but all goes perfectly together!!! A true old school CLASSIC that deserves it's place up there with films such as JAWS,POLTERGEIST,GREMLINS & other beautifully made/produced Spielberg greats

Released in 1990 and directed by Frank Marshall, "Arachnophobia" is a horror film about a killer South American spider that hitches a ride in a coffin to a small town on the central Californian coast where it breeds and causes wholesale havoc. Jeff Daniel is a new doctor in town with Harley Jane Kozak as his wife. John Goodman is on hand as a redneck exterminator while Julian Sands plays the spider expert with Brian McNamara as his protégé. "Arachnophobia" plays like any number of Syfy creature features, but with a blockbuster budget and a somewhat Disney-esque vibe. It's horror, but its more polished and family friendly than the typical horror flick, plus there's a comedic edge, particularly with Delbert the exterminator (Goodman). I'm not afraid of spiders, but there are several genuine jump scares and Marshall effectively makes the critters creepy with the clever use of shadow, camera angle,etc. Moreover, Daniels makes for a great protagonist. Unfortunately, the movie fumbles the ball in the female department. Beyond Kozak, whose role is relatively peripheral as the protagonist's wife, where are the babes? Cori Wellins as Becky Beechwood could've worked, but her part is limited to a brief shower scene, which is competent as far as arachnid creepiness goes. To be clear, I'm not talking about female nudity or sex scenes; I'm just talking about one or two prominent good-lookin' women in the cast, like Kari Wuhrer and Scar-Jo in 2002's "Eight Legged Freaks."Speaking of which, how does "Arachnophobia" compare to other spider-oriented horror flicks, like "Eight Legged Freaks," 1958's "The Spider" (aka "Earth vs. the Spider") and 1977's "Kingdom of the Spiders"? I think it's the best of the lot, babes or no babes. The movie takes its time, but is compelling from a dramatic viewpoint, as it slowly builds suspense; and the awesome Venezuelan scenes in the prologue don't hurt. The movie runs 103 minutes and was shot in Angel Falls, Canaima National Park, Venezuela; Cambria, Pasadena, Venice & Burbank Studios, California. GRADE: B+

This popular, family-orientated monster movie is just one of the wave of "nature's rampage" films which have been churned out in the past thirty years. ARACHNOPHOBIA builds upon the clichés already set up by previous offerings into creating a crowd-pleasing template which has been copied by every such movie since. You should know the routine by now: after the initial set-up, there's a slow beginning, then a string of deaths culminating in an all out, widespread invasion at the end. Unfortunately, ARACHNOPHOBIA tends to be cheesy or clichéd when it should be frightening, but there are still a couple of effective scares to look out for, so spider-haters beware.With Steven Spielberg as producer, you know things will never get too nasty, although this film thankfully lacks the stultifying sentimentalising which Spielberg sometimes crowbars into his films. Frank Marshall's direction is slick and enterprising, and the film's high budget shows in the elaborate sets, vivid photography and the realistic special effects - a mixture of real spiders and partially-convincing animatronics.Jeff Daniels takes the lead as the boring doctor, and I'll be frank: I don't like his performance here, and I don't like Daniels as an actor. Something about him just makes me want to switch off. But, I stuck with it, and Daniels is at least passable here. John Goodman, however, steals the show as the frequently-hilarious exterminator who seems to think that he's John Wayne. Also appearing are Julian Sands (BOXING HELENA) as an amusing feminine doctor and Harley Jane Kozak, who's okay in a supporting turn as Daniels' wife. The supporting cast are unfamiliar but all play their (mostly clichéd) characters well.The initial opening, set in a studio-bound South America, is quite fun and promises a lot. Sadly after this the film goes down a gear and is quite slow-paced for an hour, where nothing much happens apart from characterisation. Fortunately this is a movie that gets better as it goes along and things are soon picking up with the various spider attacks which are amusing to watch. However, my favourite part is the unbelievably cheesy yet enjoyable finale which sees Daniels going one-on-one with the spider queen and her male, who have taken up residence in his wine cellar! You won't believe it as Daniels shoots the spiders with a nailgun and sets fire to him, and a big suspension of disbelief is indeed required, but this is still well-executed. Despite being made as a crowdpleaser, ARACHNOPHOBIA has some genuinely creepy moments in the spider's nests and is worth a look for undemanding monster movie fans.