“Our brains secrete a neurotransmitter that enables us to deal with them.”
“I don’t think I have that particular neurotransmitter.”
Everyone has their personal phobia, the two most popular being Clowns and Spiders. My wife hates the other one, and yet I’m not as bothered by Arachnophobia because of the lighthearted touch brought to the material. Spiders with me tend to be more effective in small doses. The opening in the jungle creeps me out, and by the time the creatures land in small town USA I’m fine with it, except for the shot where it crawls out of a dead guy’s mouth. A silly film like Eight Legged Freaks never works up a goosebump. 1977’s Kingdom of the Spiders gets me pretty good. Last year there were two of the most effective titles for a spider-phobe like me, Infested and Sting. Both highly recommended.
Getting back to Arachnophobia, Frank Marshall follows the Spielberg tone better and more unapologetically than anyone. The spiders share the screen with a town full of lovable characters, led by Jeff Daniels as a new doctor on the scene that’s terrified of spiders. Similar to Jaws, the spiders are the solution to a mystery our lead is trying to solve and they’re mostly kept off-screen. For a movie about spiders from someone that hates spiders, this is a lot of fun.
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