Arachnophobia (Spider/Humor) 8********skulls

1990/Color/103 Min./Touchstone Home Video & Hollywood Pictures

& Amblin Entertainment & Tangled Web Productions, Inc./Rated R

Director.........Frank Marshall (Alive)

Screenplay.......Don Jakoby & Wesley Strick

Music............Trevor Jones

Producers........Kathleen Kennedy & Richard Vane

Executive Producers.....Steven Spielberg & Frank Marshall

Based on a Story by Don Jakoby & Al Williams

Creature Effects by Chris Walas, Inc.

Men's Costumer...David Powell

Ross Jennings.....Jeff Daniels (Purple Rose of Cairo, Something Wild)

Delbert...........John Goodman(Roseanne, Barton Fink, The Flintstones)

Molly Jennings....Harley Jane Kozak (Necessary Roughness)

Dr. Atherton......Julian Sands (The Killing Fields, Warlock, Gothic)

Chris Collins.....Brian McNamara (Mystery Date)

Sheriff Parsons...Stuart Pankin (Life Stinks, Second Sight)

Dr. Sam Metcalf...Henry Jones (The Bad Seed, Deathtrap, Phyllis-TV)

Milton Briggs.....James Handy (A Dangerous Life)

Irv Kendall.......Roy Brocksmith

Henry Beechwood...Peter Jason (Party Camp, Trick or Treat)

Jerry Manley......Mark L. Taylor (The Ratings Game)

Margaret Hollins..Mary Carver

Blaire Kendall....Kathy Kinney (Party Glances)

Critique: This has big movie written all over it from the beginning, in fact it looks just like Jurassic Park (actually the other way around) and there are many parallels from the location of the opening scene to the theme of man tampering with nature and the ensuing sometimes disastrous results. The direction and production values are first rate. As is apparent in the credits, this is an all-star cast which lives up to its billing. Very strong performances by John Goodman, Jeff Daniels and Julian Sands as well as a perfectly cast supporting group make this the big movie it promised to be. The story is very sound and the pace is like that a spider running, creeping, running relentlessly to the inevitable conclusion for Arachnophobes - the spider is on you and you can't move! The final scene really generates some hair raising chills. If your sleep is sometimes affected by what you see in horror movies, don't watch this one. Creepy.

* No Blood * Not Violent * No Strong Language * No Nudity *

* No Sexual Situations * Not Gory *

Plot Summary: Dr. James Atherton the bug man and Mr. Manley the photographer want samples of every species in the area of the mountain Tapui in Venezuela, Specialty: Spiders. The expedition goes to the depths of a river valley carved in stone where even their Indio guide refuses to go. By fumigating a tree, they get an idea of what's in the area as the specimens fall by the bushel, among them a large number of very aggressive spiders, one of which climbs into Manley's kit bag. The interesting thing about this species is that much like worker bees or soldier ants, they have no reproductive organs. Therefore, they must have a Queen or King or both. Manley is bitten by his guest and dies. The roadies box him up and ship him home to Canaima, California where the none too well preserved body arrives with a deadly cargo in tow which is transported via soon to be dead crow to Ross and Molly's new farm, where they hope to raise their children in a safe environment. When son complains of a big spider and mother is called upon to deal with it we learn that dad suffers from the film's title. However, dad notes they're part of life out here, "You're in the country now." Other problems in the country? Dr. Metcalfe has decided not to retire so the disappointed Ross has no practice, a parking ticket, and when his first two patients die of sudden and very surprising heart attacks, Dr. Jennings thereby earns the nickname "Dr. Death" in the town and receives no cooperation in his search for answers. Dr. Metcalf, too jealous and concerned with public relations to be interested in science, blames Jennings and forbids autopsies, spreading the rumor that Jennings doesn't care and just wants to cut people up, dubbing him "a hotshot who won't accept anyone else's diagnosis." Meanwhile it is becoming apparent that Canaima has a spider problem and with the death of Dr. Metcalf by heart attack and simultaneous bite to the toe, Dr. Jennings exhumes the other bodies to search for spider bites. Dr. Atherton is called in and soon all concerned come to the realization that Manley's body was shipped with a monster on board. With the help of an overzealous exterminator (John Goodman) and Atherton's assistant, Chris, Jennings must overcome his lifelong arachnophobia in a thrilling race to seek and destroy the "general" of the spiders before a new generation of breeders is hatched.