Dr. Ross Jennings (Jeff Daniels) and his family are completing their move from San Francisco to Canaima, California to escape hectic city life. Unfortunately, a deadly Venezuelan spider has also made a move from South America to the Jennings' farmhouse. It soon mates with a common house spider and the offspring are very lethal and aggressive. I almost forgot...Dr. Jennings has a terrible fear of spiders. The events that follow make up the movie Arachnophobia.

For those of you who are looking for a serious animal-themed horror movie such as Alligator or Piranha, this is not the movie for you. Director Frank Marshall intended to make this movie with a lighter side.

There is a lot of comedy throughout the film some of which can be seen in the character Delbert McClintoch, the town's exterminator. This character, played by John Goodman, is a blatant rip-off of Bill Murray's groundskeeper from Caddyshack. The only difference is that Goodman is far from the comedic genius that is Bill Murray.

The entire film is the oldest of horror cliches. 1. Something is killing people. 2. Nobody knows what/who is killing people. 3. One person has an idea but no one listens because he is an outsider. 4. It turns out he was right and is the hero. I've seen it a million times and one million and one was miserable.

I was ready to slam this film in my review until I realized that this film can be used for good. For example, if you have a young child that you would like to introduce to some elements of horror, this would be a good film to use. It will put a little bit of a fright into him/her but not enough to have them waking you in the middle of the night with "scary dreams". However, the seasoned adult horror watcher might want to skip this one.

Spider Trivia
*The largest spider in the world is the Goliath Birdeater. Native to South America, these spiders can be as large as 12 inches in leg span.
*During an average life span, one person will swallow several insects while in their sleep.

5 out of 10 pulsating spider nests

Arachnophobia is one of my all time favorite movies, because it takes a time worn premise and refeshes it with a genuine wit and some tangible style.

The spider sequences are among the creepiest I've seen to date, with a personal favorite being the unfortunate discovery made during a broadcast of "Wheel of Fortune."

Have to totally disagree with SirWiggle on Goodman's role. If his presence in the film had been excessive, then I might have gotten that reaction. As it is, his appearances are parceled out sporadically througout the film, and those moments are actually quite amusing. Awesome central performance by Jeff Daniels, and nice supporting work by Stuart Pankin as an obnoxious deputy.

Arachnophobia is funny, creepy and actually delivers on the promise of the tag line - Eight legs, two fangs and and attitude! Indeed. Definitely a must own.

Ten out of Ten Wicked Webspinners