Eight legs, two fangs and an attitude

"I will hunt down the alleged arachnid and spritz him to kingdom come."

Delbert McClintock

Arachnophobia

Release Date: July 18, 1990

A movie that’s a proven favorite with those deathly afraid of our eight-legged friends the arachnids, Arachnophobia is a creepy, crawly comedy best watched with a can of bug spray at the ready. When a giant Venezuelan spider discovered by entomologist Dr. James Atherton (Julian Sands) finds its way to a rural California town, it draws the residents into a web of hair-raising horror. The new town doctor, Ross Jennings (Jeff Daniels), deathly afraid of spiders, is the lucky host to the foreign arachnid, who takes up residence in the good doctor’s barn and mates with a local female spider. And when their offspring hatch…

Harley Jane Kozak, Brian McNamara, Stuart Pankin, and an uncredited John Goodman (as the ineffective exterminator Delbert McClintock) costar.

Amblin Entertainment producer Frank Marshall, who helped wrangle the many insects, snakes, rats and other animal thespians throughout the Indiana Jones series, made his directorial debut on Arachnophobia, from a screenplay by Don Jakoby and Wesley Strick (based on a story by Jakoby and Al Williams). The film was produced by Amblin's Kathleen Kennedy, along with Richard Vane, with cinematography by Mikael Salomon (Always) and editing by Steven Spielberg’s longtime editor Michael Kahn.

Arachnophobia was the first theatrical release for Hollywood Pictures, an offshoot of the Walt Disney Company, in partnership with Amblin Entertainment.

About the Film

About the Film

CAST
  • JEFF DANIELS,
  • JOHN GOODMAN,
  • JULIAN SANDS,
  • HARLEY JANE KOZAK,
  • STUART PANKIN,
  • HENRY JONES,
  • PETER JASON
DIRECTOR
  • FRANK MARSHALL
SCREENWRITERS
  • DON JAKOBY,
  • WESLEY STRICK
PRODUCERS
  • KATHLEEN KENNEDY,
  • RICHARD VANE,
  • FRANK MARSHALL,
  • STEVEN SPIELBERG
CINEMATOGRAPHER
  • MIKAEL SALOMON
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
  • JIM BISSELL
COSTUME DESIGNER
  • JENNIFER L. PARSONS
EDITOR
  • MICHAEL KAHN
COMPOSER
  • TREVOR JONES

Where to Watch

Bonus Features

Along Came a Director...

Interview: Director Frank Marshall on the making of "Arachnophobia," the 1990 Amblin Entertainment horror-comedy starring Jeff Daniels and an army of arachnids.