Word: arachnophobia
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While Marshall and the film's writers have consciously drawn themes from Hitchcock, they are not above taking liberties with them, and provide Arachnophobia with welcome comic relief. Marshall's wit (he co-wrote Blazing Saddles) is evident in his direction of a series of suspense-ridden false alarms. He keeps the audience off-balance by allowing it at times to come away with a laugh when expecting another gruesome killing. A typical example is the shower scene, an obvious allusion to Psycho, which comes to a far more humourous conclusion than Hitchcock's version...
Jackoby and Strick take further license with Arachnophobia's classic formula when they comically juxtapose Daniels' Hitchcockian character against the supporting roles, each of which represent the far extremes of man's relationships to spiders...
...town doctor (Henry Jones), mortician (Peter Jason) and others help construct a humorous and more importantly, credible sketch of a town which has come under siege. As much as anything, it is well scripted characters tightly-drawn by the director and almost flawlessly executed by the cast which makes Arachnophobia the success...
...such as his love of wine and his wine cellar, the nail gun and his rotting wood floor--at the beginning of the film and having them figure prominently in its final climax; and like having victims and supporting actors that actually resemble real human beings. But most signifigantly, Arachnophobia possesses a hero audiences can believe...
...unusual circumstances. He is the reluctant hero seeking to protect his family and his newly adopted hometown, motivations which make the flimsly premises supporting this summer's blockbusters seem far-fetched and ludicrous in comparison. Rather than a series of explosions, shatterings of plate glass, or sickening gore, Arachnophobia uses the little things one can't take for granted today, believable characters and good old-fashioned fear, to keep your attention...