Word: arachnophobia
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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...could be called Total Recall (so reminiscent are they of previous action hits), the films of July and August could be labeled Presumed Interesting. Moviegoers are looking for something different, and they may have already found it in the postmortem romantic thriller Ghost or the eye-spider horror comedy Arachnophobia. Presumed Innocent hopes to corner the serious market. Even David Lynch is invading summertime with his bizarro-world Wild at Heart. Each hopes to duplicate the surprise-hit status of last summer's When Harry Met Sally, Dead Poets Society, Parenthood and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids...
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...