Jump to content

Arachnophobia (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 69.150.209.13 (talk) at 17:39, 19 September 2011 (→‎Plot). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Arachnophobia
Theatrical release poster.
Directed byFrank Marshall
Screenplay byDon Jakoby
Wesley Strick
Story byDon Jakoby
Al Williams
Produced byDon Jakoby
Richard Vane
Kathleen Kennedy
Executive:
Steven Spielberg
Frank Marshall
StarringJeff Daniels
John Goodman
Harley Jane Kozak
Julian Sands
Brian McNamara
CinematographyMikael Salomon
Edited byMichael Kahn
Music byTrevor Jones
Production
company
Distributed byHollywood Pictures
Release date
July 18, 1990
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$31 million
Box office$53,208,180

Arachnophobia is a 1990 American comedy horror film[1] directed by Frank Marshall and starring Jeff Daniels, John Goodman, Harley Jane Kozak and Julian Sands. It was the first film released by Hollywood Pictures.

The story centers on a newly discovered Venezuelan spider being transported to a small American town that produces a new race of deadly spiders, which begin killing the town's residents one by one.

Shooting took place in Venezuela and California and the film was released in the United States on July 18, 1990. It was a commercial success, gaining $53.21 million at the box office. Critics bestowed generally positive reviews.

Plot

A group of scientists, led by entomologist Dr. James Atherton, head to the Amazon with the hope of discovering new species of insects and arachnids. After descending into an enormous sinkhole, they identify a new species of spider which (unknown at the time) carries a type of venom that causes near-instantaneous death to its victims. The spider is captured and chloroformed for research. A nature photographer, Jerry Manley, takes a rest under the tree where the spider was found, and a spider jumps into his backpack, later sneaking into his sleeping bag and killing him with a bite to his hand. The remainder of the scientists take his body back to the US, in a wooden box, with the original spider from Venezuela inside, blaming Jerry's death on fever.

Jerry's body arrives at the funeral home in his home town, Canaima, and the mortician Irv Kendall does not notice the spider inside the coffin when he opens it. He is disgusted to find Jerry's body mummified, and completely drained of bodily fluids. As Irv is speaking on the phone with the Manley family about funeral arrangements, the spider heads outside, only to be picked by a bird. But before the bird gets back to its nest, the spider manages to bite it, and it falls to the ground, right in front of the barn of the Jennings family. Ross Jennings is a family physician, who had moved to the small town from San Francisco, and faces a lack of patients due to elderly rival Sam Metcalf, who was supposed to retire and shift his patients to Ross, but decided to maintain his practice.

The spider mates with a domestic house spider and makes a nest in Jennings's barn, producing hundreds of infertile, but still deadly, offspring. Ross, along with his son Tommy, has arachnophobia (fear of spiders), making them targets of ridicule among Molly and Shelly. His first patient, Margaret Hollins, dies after being bitten, which the town's residents believe was a heart attack. After a football player is also killed by a spider, Ross is known to the town as "Dr. Death", because each of his patients coincidentally dies after having seen him. Soon, Metcalf himself is bitten on the toe and killed by a spider, giving Ross the idea that the town could be infested by deadly arachnids.

After Ross and the county's coroner Milton Briggs perform an autopsy on the victims and confirm Ross' suspicion, he, along with Dr. Atherton, his assistant Chris Collins, Briggs, Sheriff Lloyd Parsons, and exterminator Delbert McClintock investigate and eventually discover that the killer spiders are descendants of the new species James discovered earlier and, due to being born a mixed breed, have a short-life expectancy. Atherton tells them that the spiders are soldiers, eliminating potential threats for the general spider. He also informs that the general spider also produced a queen, which it likely mated with to produce a second nest, guarded by the queen, which could produce fertile offspring. Atherton elaborates that, due to the constraints of the spider's original habitat, it was left unable to expand its territory; however, now that such constraints have been eliminated, the spiders can progressively expand their territory, possibly culminating in their worldwide dispersal. With these revelations now at hand, the group sets out to destroy the second nest and kill the queen and general. Atherton is bitten on the arm and killed by the general after he discovers the first nest's location and disturbs its web while trying to capture it.

After Ross, Chris, and Delbert trace the nests to Jennings' own property, Ross sends Delbert to destroy the first nest at the barn while he and Chris try to help the family escape from their own house. Spiders begin to appear all over the house as Ross enters. Molly, the children, and Chris make it out through the window, but Ross finds himself trapped until he falls through the floor into his wine cellar, which turns out to be the spiders' second nest. Outside, a fully equipped Delbert makes his way to the house and begins to exterminate the baby spiders. Back inside, after electrocuting the queen, Ross battles the general, attempting to destroy the second egg sac along with burning the spider to death with an aerosol can and a lighter. However he becomes trapped underneath fallen debris and when the spider is about to deliver the killing strike Ross flings the spider into the fire with a board that has fallen on his chest.

When the egg sac hatches, the general, now entirely engulfed in flames, jumps out of the fire, refusing to let Ross leave the basement alive. Ross shoots it with his nail gun and the projectile sends the burning spider into the nest's egg sac, effectively destroying the nest with fire and ending the plague. Delbert is able to reach Ross and get him to safety. Having enough of the country along with the near-death experience, the Jennings family immediately move back to San Francisco, appreciating city life once more, despite minor tremors disrupting them.

Cast

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.[2] 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."[3]

Jamie Hyneman, of MythBusters fame, stated in Popular Mechanics[4] that Arachnophobia 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, from New Zealand, which were picked for their large size, unusually social lifestyle, and because they are essentially harmless to humans. They were guided around the set by the use of heat and cold, but the large "queen" was an articulated model.

The movie was actually filmed in Cambria, California. All the school scenes were filmed at Coast Union High School. Students and staff were used in the football scenes and group events. The locker room and players were the actual students and players from CUHS.

To create the sound effects of spiders being stepped on or squished, people stepped on mustard packs or squashed potato chips.[5]

Release

Arachnophobia was the first film released by Hollywood Pictures.[6] Amblin Entertainment also helped produce it.[6] Advertisers were uncertain as to whether they should market the film as a thriller or a comedy. Therefore, television spots promoting the film billed it as a "thrill-omedy."[7]

Reception

Box office

The film was a financial success,[8] grossing $53,208,180 domestically[9] and going on to gross an additional $30,000,000 in video rentals. This allowed Spielberg to be the fourth wealthiest entertainer of the year, having previously been the second wealthiest.[8]

Critics

In his book, critic Leonard Maltin calls the film a "slick comic thriller" and approves of the acting, warning, "Not recommended for anyone who's ever covered their eyes during a movie."[2] Newsweek associated the film with B movies "about the small town threatened by alien invaders," and said it was well made but "oddly unresonant."[10] Roger Ebert said it made audiences "squirm out of enjoyment, not terror," and listed details in the film that he felt were typical of such films, including "the bright young doctor, whose warnings are ignored" and "the loyal wife and kids," as well as "the usual cats and dogs, necessary for the obligatory scene in which they can sense something even when the humans can't." He gave the film three stars.[11]

On the review website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 24 reviews, and an average rating of 6.5/10 [12]

The film drew protests from some people interested in spiders, as they believed the film tarnished the public image of spiders.[1]

Awards

The film won a Saturn Award from The American Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror films for Best Horror Film and Best Actor (Daniels). Young actress Marlene Katz was nominated for a best actress award from the Young Artist Awards.

Merchandising

A soundtrack album for the film, also called Arachnophobia, was released in 1990. It included Trevor Jones's instrumental music from the film as well as dialogue excerpts and songs such as "Blue Eyes Are Sensitive To The Light" by Sara Hickman, "Caught in Your Web (Swear to Your Heart)" by Russell Hitchcock, and "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" by Tony Bennett. The European version of the album has the same cover art, but more score tracks, fewer songs and no dialogue.

Soundtrack

Untitled

US release:

  1. Blue Eyes Are Sensitive to the Light - Sara Hickman (5:11)
  2. Atherton's Terrarium (:21)
  3. Arachnophobia - Brent Hutchins (4:53)
  4. Miller's Demise (:37)
  5. Spiders And Snakes - The Party (3:40)
  6. Offspring (:51)
  7. Boris The Spider - Pleasure Thieves (2:59)
  8. Delbert Squishes the Spider (:49)
  9. Spider And The Fly - Poorboys (2:52)
  10. Web Photo (:26)
  11. Caught In Your Web (Swear To Your Heart) - Russell Hitchcock (4:28)
  12. Main Title (5:36)
  13. Don't Bug Me - Jimmy Buffett (3:27)
  14. The Casket Arrives (1:55)
  15. Delbert's Theme (2:04)
  16. Canaima Nightmare (6:21)
  17. Along Came A Spider (2:37)
  18. Cellar Theme (1:20)
  19. End Title (3:54)
  20. I Left My Heart In San Francisco - Tony Bennett (3:02)

European release:

  1. Main Title (5:38)
  2. Photus Manlii (2:24)
  3. Bob Hitches A Ride (4:18)
  4. The Casket Arrives (1:53)
  5. Blue Eyes Are Sensitive to the Light - Sara Hickman (5:05)
  6. Molly's Web (3:29)
  7. Arachnophobia - Brent Hutchins (04:48)
  8. Delbert's Theme (2:32)
  9. Spider Lamp Shade (1:55)
  10. Under The Bleachers (2:05)
  11. Along Came A Spider (2:25)
  12. Bugs "B" Gone (3:04)
  13. Canaima Nightmare (3:45)
  14. Life In The Country (:56)
  15. The Cellar (1:17)
  16. End Title (3:52)
  17. Don't Bug Me - Jimmy Buffett (3:27)


Songs that aren't included within the soundtrack are:

Unusually, the A video game version of Arachnophobia was also released in 1991, for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and DOS.[13]

There is also a novelization of Arachnophobia written by author Nicholas Edwards.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Jennie Punter, "HOPE 'THRILL-OMEDIES' DISAPPEAR AS FAST AS THIS FILM," The Whig-Standard, July 27, 1990, pg. 1.
  2. ^ a b Leonard Maltin, ed., Leonard Maltin's 2002 Movie & Video Guide. A Signet Book, 2001, p. 58.
  3. ^ Kenneth Turan and New York Times, "The spiders are No. 1 on this set; Working with a herd of erratic arachnids poses special problems for human actors," Edmonton Journal, April 15, 1990, pg. D.5
  4. ^ Page 44, Nov 2006 issue
  5. ^ Rick Gamble, "A stinging commentary," Expositor, Brantford, Ontario: April 22, 2006, pg. D.7.
  6. ^ a b Michael Walsh, "Less-than-terrific tension in this failed spider's web," The Province, Vancouver, British Columbia: July 22, 1990, pg. 85.
  7. ^ Bill Provick, "Arachnophobia fun- for those who can stand it," The Ottawa Citizen, March 16, 1991, pg. G.7.
  8. ^ a b "Here are the top 40 money-making entertainers; Bill Cosby No. 1 at $60M a year," The Ottawa Citizen, September 18, 1990, pg. D.7.
  9. ^ "1990 Domestic Grosses," Box Office Mojo. URL accessed 19 May 2006.
  10. ^ D. Ansen, "A choice of chuckles," Newsweek, 23 July 1990, vol. 116, issue 4, p. 64.
  11. ^ Roger Ebert, "Arachnophobia," Chicago Sun-Times, July 18, 1990.
  12. ^ "Arachnophobia". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
  13. ^ "Arachnophobia," MobyGames, URL accessed 6 April 2007.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arachnophobia_(film)&oldid=451360805"