Arachnophobia Details

Steven Spielberg's longtime producer Frank Marshall turned director for this tongue-in-cheek, creepy-crawly tale about deadly tropical spiders invading the small California town where phobic doctor Jeff Daniels has just started up a practice. Marshall shows much of his mentor's touch (Spielberg acted as co-executive producer with Marshall), spinning a tension-laden web full of solid scares and well-timed wit in what is virtually a version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, only with eight legs. The black humour mixes with the black widows surprisingly well — John Goodman's exterminator provides some lovely moments — but the shudder content may well be too much for those who can't stand spiders.

Executive producer Steven Spielberg's influence is evident in this effectively scary movie set in a small town threatened by a menace it doesn't understand.